So, how did Infected come alive? 👀
Well... the story may surprise you!
It all started nearly a decade ago, when Eric (left) and Joey (middle) first met!
If there's two things that Eric and Joey have always been passionate about while growing up, it's gaming and metal. Gaming because it immerses you in beautiful and epic worlds beyond your wildest imagination. Not only that, but it puts you in the shoes of incredibly badass people who we could aspire to be like!
A great story from a game can take you on the wildest and most intense ride compared to anything you’ve ever experienced in the real world! Especially when that real world can be tough to live in. Sometimes we need to get lost in a better universe.
And metal because it makes you feel something more. Whether it’s to get you energized and feeling like you can take on the world, a release for the anger you may hold about the world, other people, the system we live in… or a way to cope with the anxiety and sadness.
Metal has so many uses that helps us break through the barriers in our lives, and it brings together the most badass, bonded community there is.
And nearly a decade ago, both Joey (18 years old at the time) and Eric (19 years old at the time) took the plunge to focus seriously on taking one of those passions to the next level.
At the time he decided to pursue music, Eric was on a path in life that didn't seem like it was meant for him. Nothing was fulfilling or made him happy quite like music did, but he had always thought that doing anything with music was "unrealistic" or out of reach.
After a long-standing bout with overwhelming anxiety and depression, he was listening to an Ice Nine Kills song when he thought:
"If they can do it, why can't I?"
And so it began. That day, a decision was made that would forever alter the course of Eric's life.
Eric decided that he wanted to start a metalcore band, but had no idea where to begin finding bandmates!
No one he knew wanted to focus on music seriously, if they even played music at all!
He posted online, searching for random members on social media groups and more, to no avail!
After no luck online, he made a sign that said "Seeking Metalcore Musicians" and stood around with it downtown, in malls, and college campuses every spare minute of his free time, desperately searching for the right team to turn dreams into reality.
After a couple weeks of doing that, he eventually found two vocalists (screams and clean vocals)!
It might not have been a full band, but at the very least he could start doing more.
Eric had been writing the instrumental for the first song that his band would release, and he finally was able to start getting vocals in there and helping it come to life.
Soon, the first draft of "The Catastrophe" was born! The name stems from "The Catastrophe" EP that the band eventually put out, a conceptual tale of a man fighting tooth and nail for survival in a post-apocalyptic world.
Not knowing who is friend or foe, all of the songs tell the tale of this man experiencing the post-apocalyptic outbreak, being betrayed and back-stabbed by those he thought were his friends, losing the love of his life, and more.
Whether now or in past bands.. Eric, Joey, and Axel all prefer writing about conceptual stuff and other existing stories more than general topics, and that's why they decided to write about the video games they're passionate about, but more on that later!
Eventually, Eric had found all of the members that became the permanent lineup for his band, which he called Evacuate The City.
And within a year and a half, Evacuate The City had gone on to play on Warped Tour, tour the United States, and even play with Hollywood Undead! Fun fact: Eric ended up fracturing his foot on the U.S. tour and had to play the rest of the shows on a stool!
Don't be fooled though, none of it came without a lot of setbacks and challenges.
Meanwhile, Joey had joined a post-hardcore band in the area called Cold For June!
He was working as a manager at a pizza shop, going to school full time for show production, and in a band. Juggling it all wasn't easy, but he made it work for all that he cared about. Fun fact: before Joey considered anything in the music industry, he was going to become a massage therapist!
Growing up in a small town in South Carolina, Joey never was able to find friends that liked music the same way he did. Feeling isolated and knowing that he needed to get out of that town (shout-out to pop punk) to find the people he was looking for, he moved to Orlando and enrolled in Full Sail! It was there that he got involved with the music scene.
The Orlando music scene was a pretty tight-knit group, where it seemed like everyone knew each other. Because of that, the drummer in Eric's band recommended the vocalist of Joey's band to produce The Catastrophe EP.
Then when it came to a time where Eric needed a guitar tech, the very same vocalist recommended Joey to Eric.
Eric and Joey immediately hit it off.. eventually becoming roommates, pursuing music together, and forming an unbreakable brotherly bond!
They went through several musical projects and endeavors over the years. Some separate from each other, and then some with each other, but with the same goals through them all.
None of the projects seemed to work out and came with their own challenges and learning experiences.
Most of the issue stemmed from the people involved, as it seemed nearly impossible for Joey or Eric to find good people/like-minded musicians who had the same level of seriousness, drive, and passion for music.
Most people thought the road to success would have been a little easier than it actually is.
After years of hurdles and setbacks, they both took a long break from pursuing music. Jaded and burnt out, they took different paths in life but still remained brothers and roommates.
Through it all, they still would game together all the time. That’s always been a constant and forever will be!
After 8 years, they seemed to finally find their groove thanks to the missing link.
Here enters the missing link... Axel!
Joey, Eric, Axel
Axel went to high school with Eric in Miami, and continued living there after Eric moved to Orlando.
Over the years, Joey and Eric have been friends with him. They played games online together, but never did anything serious with music.
Axel was also trying to figure things out with his path in life. Like Eric, he loved music and playing guitar more than anything else, but thought that it could only ever be a mere hobby.
He tried different types of jobs and none of them ever quite hit the mark. One was even so miserable, that there was a time where he broke down and cried in his car one day after work.
"What the hell am I doing with my life?", he thought.
Sometimes Axel would drive up to Orlando to hang out and jam together. And one of those times (when Joey and Eric had just built a recording studio at the time), Eric taught Axel how to record solid demos for the music that he writes.
Axel was hooked from there on out, recording a bunch of music for himself!
Here's a shot of Eric and Joey's studio setup from that time!
That hangout was a very special time, and a pivotal moment for Infected history and tradition! Eric, Axel, Joey, and our friend Khalil (who came up with Axel from Miami) all stayed over at Joey’s place for days, doing nothing but going between LAN party style gaming sessions and recording music all day!
We would go upstairs to the apartment to game and hang out when we wanted to take a break, and downstairs to the studio underneath to record and jam! And on that fateful hangout session, the chip shot was born.
“What in the heck is a chip shot, guys?”
Good question, my friend. Let us tell you!
So.. you know Tostitos scoops, right?
Like any normal human being, you’d expect to be filling up that scoop and/or dipping it in salsa or cheese, right?
WRONG.
So late at night during a sweaty Gears of War session, Eric gets up and says “bet you guys won’t take a shot in a Tostitos scoop.”
The boys were never ones to turn down a bet.
…Never.
So we (hesitantly) all grabbed a scoop and didn’t stop pouring Jose Cuervo in each and every one of them until it was barely overflowing..
And then came the fateful, regretful crunch from everyone.
We all looked at each other, wide-eyed, knowing full well the mistake we all made… but no one would admit it.
“Oh yeah, this is great!”
“Yup, I’m loving this right now!”
“What an awesome time!”
We could have convinced anyone that we were having the time of our lives, but it couldn’t have been farther from the truth. 😢
When you take a bite of that scoop, you can’t swallow the alcohol. You need to take your time and bite/crunch your way through the whole chip before you even have a chance of gulping anything down. So that WHOLE time, the tequila is swishing around, burning the hell out of your mouth.
It’s like a party in your mouth but everyone has flaming hot pitchforks with ghost peppers on the tips, and are spinning them around at terminal velocity.
And from that day forward, we celebrate our victories with a chip shot. It’s a great time, we promise.
Years later, Covid happened...
And it threw everyone for a loop, including Eric, Axel, and Joey.
We lost our jobs, were all pushed and pulled in different directions, and very confused.
None of us knew what we wanted to do, didn't know how to move forward with our lives, and were very depressed with the way things were.
But just when we thought there wouldn't be a light at the end of the tunnel...
Nemesis was born.
The three of us were jobless, and with all that free time we had during Covid lockdowns...
Most of our time was spent gaming with each other to cope with everything that was going on. Axel and Joey especially would play a lot of Dead by Daylight together.
Shortly after the lockdown, when Resident Evil 3 Remake came out, Axel and Joey were talking about how much they loved it to the point where they eventually brought up how cool it would sound to write a song together about it.
They always talked over the years about how cool it would be to write a song together, but never actually did until then.
They wrote online together while being 3 hours apart… sending ideas back and forth until eventually, the first version of Nemesis came to life!
Joey and Axel knew they had something special with this song.
They could feel it.
They knew what they had to do..
They needed to take this further.
All the way.
Joey asked Eric if he wanted to get back into music and be in a band again.
"I thought you'd never ask. Let's go, dude!"
And so Infected was born.
Axel packed up all of his things, moved four hours away to Orlando to live with us in the new Infected house, and never looked back.
Fast forward to today.. we have two EP's out, hundreds of thousands of streams, tens of thousands of listeners monthly, the best team any band could ask for... but the most important part of it all is none other than YOU!
None of this would be happening without you having such a good time jamming to and vibing with the style of music that we put out!
It's an honor to be able to share our combined passion for metal and gaming with you, and an even greater honor that you support us in our journey! You make everything that we do matter and we couldn't be more grateful for that.
Thank you for being part of the journey, Infected One.
P.S. If you want to hear all of our new songs a week before they come out, click the button below to sign up for our email list!
Your support means the absolute world to us, and we literally couldn't be doing this without it!