Amber Pacific began as a group of high school juniors that performed locally in their hometown near Seattle, under the name Follow Through. The band consisted of Will Nutter, Tyler Peerson, and Blake Evans. In late 2002, vocalist Matt Young also joined the band with Justin Westcott. In the summer of 2003, Peerson and Evans left the band to pursue other interests and were replaced by Greg Strong and Josh "Dango" Cellan. In 2004, after changing their name to Amber Pacific, the band released their first EPFading Days under Hopeless Records. In 2005, the band released their debut album, The Possibility and the Promise, still under Hopeless Records. In 2006, Justin Westcott left the band.
Ben Harper (originally in Yellowcard) joined Amber Pacific before the recording of their second studio album, Truth in Sincerity.[4] Recording started in October 2006, but Harper left the band before the end of the year to be replaced by Rick Hanson.[5]
New vocalist and third release
In February 2008, the band left Hopeless Records. Lead vocalist Matt Young and Rick Hanson also left Amber Pacific. Young left to pursue a career in public education as a principal, in "hopes that [he] can better prepare future generations for what lies ahead."[6] The band has since found a new vocalist, Jesse Cottam. Cottam was formerly the lead vocalist of the Canadian band Seven's Angel, as well as a contestant on Canadian Idol. Guitarist/singer Davy Rispoli, a frequent touring member, was officially announced to have joined the band along with Cottam in the band's video blog (MySpace).[citation needed][7][8]
On January 27, 2009, the band signed for Victory. The band then uploaded three new songs to their official MySpace page, featuring Jesse Cottam as their new singer.[9] They later released a self-titled digital EP on iTunes featuring the three songs on February 25.[10]
Return of Matt Young and lineup changes
On February 9, 2011, Amber Pacific left Victory. On their Facebook page it was announced that Cottam and Rispoli had left as it was costing too much for Cottam to come down from Canada, and that Matt Young had rejoined Amber Pacific. The band planned a series of acoustic performances and guitarist Will Nutter stated he'd been writing songs in the same vein as the band's first record. On February 15, 2011, Greg Strong announced on the band's Facebook page that he was no longer in the band. Days later, guitarist and chief songwriter Will Nutter confirmed on Facebook that Strong's departure was because of Matt Young's return.
Justin Westcott also rejoined the band in 2011. The band announced that Mike Herrera of MxPx would be playing bass on their fourth studio album, The Turn. The band also raised money on indiegogo[11] to fund the album. The band announced that they will initially release the album on July 29, 2014 in online platforms. After signing with Digitally Sound Records and Straight 8 Entertainment, the album was released worldwide on September 2, 2014.
Members
Current lineup
Matt Young – lead vocals (2002–2008, 2011–present)
^"Archived copy". www.punkdisasters.com. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
