Icon for Hire, elijah, and Lauren Babic

After putting up a couple of songs from their EPs, “Icon for Hire” and “The Grey” on Myspace, Tooth & Nail Records got in touch with the band, signing them in July 2010. The band entered the studio in the latter half of the year to record their debut full-length album, which would be called “Scripted”. It was released the following year on August 23rd 2011, and made it to number 7 on the Hard Rock Albums Chart and number 95 on the Billboard 200, selling 4300 copies in its first week and breaking the record for first week of sales on a debut album with Tooth & Nail records. The band’s leading single, “Make a Move” made it to number 13 on the Christian Rock chart too.

Following the release of this album, the band embarked on long international tours promoting their debut album. They toured with I Am Empire and Sent By Ravens, and then P.O.D and Love and Death. At the beginning of 2013, the band headed back into the studio to release their follow up album. The hype began to generate organically following the release of the single “Cynics and Critics”, where afterwards, the band announced that it would be an eponymous album, released on October 15th 2013. It reached number 66 on the Billboard 200, gaining predominantly positive reviews.

Being a female fronted rock outfit, they have always been compared to the likes of Paramore, Flyleaf and Firelight. Singer, Ariel has states that they are in fact not a Christian band despite consistently appearing in Christian charts. It is due to the band writing on the most part, very optimistic lyrics.