Biography

The Lima, Ohio-based emocore band Hit the Lights formed in the summer of 2003. Vocalist Colin Ross and guitarist Omar Zehery had previously teamed together in the little-known group Goodbye Session, while guitarist Nick Thompson tenured with the Summer Departure. Bassist David Bermosk and drummer Nate Van Dame (a former roadie for emo favorites Hawthorne Heights) completed the lineup, and after taking their name from a track on Metallica's influential debut LP Kill 'Em All, Hit the Lights earned a fervent cult following on the basis of their feverish live shows. Studio time followed, and the group recorded a split EP with A Day in the Life and Red Affair, 2004's From Ohio with Love. After self-releasing the Until We Get Caught EP in 2005, Hit the Lights signed to the Triple Crown label, which reissued the disc in advance of the band's first full-length effort, 2006's This Is a Stick Up...Don't Make It a Murder. In 2007, Ross parted ways with the band, and Nick Thompson took over as the vocalist for 2008's Skip School, Start Fights. Guitarist Kevin Mahoney joined the lineup for the following year's Coast to Coast EP, and in 2012 the quintet released Invicta on the Sony subsidiary Razor & Tie. In 2014 the band inked a deal with Pure Noise Records and began work on their fourth studio long-player. The resulting Summer Bones dropped in March of the following year, and was followed an acoustic EP, Just to Get Through to You, in early 2016. After the release of Summer Bones, Omar Zehery dropped out of Hit the Lights, and Kyle Maite signed on to play guitar with the group. Maite died in an accident with a truck on September 20, 2022 at the age of 37. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi