Homecoming ’07

You’d think that with the level of success Flee the Seen has enjoyed over the past year, the band would’ve made like its name and gotten the hell out of Dodge — er, Kansas City — as fast as their tour van could go.

But the members of Flee the Seen aren’t looking to leave their roots behind anytime soon, even if they haven’t been around town much in recent months. For now, the melodic, hardcore-influenced locals are back home — at least until the new album’s written.

“It feels good to be back, just to sleep in your own bed,” says R.L. Brooks, guitarist and resident screamer, a few weeks after returning home from an East Coast tour with Haste the Day, Calico System and HeavyHeavyLowLow.

Brooks and guitarist Manuel Sanchez recently moved from St. Joseph to Kansas City, joining singer (and one-time bassist) Kim Anderson. Drummer Aaron Crawford lives in Lansing, Kansas, but for all intents and purposes, KC has been a second home for the band — next to the road, of course.

“Wire Tap Out” by Flee the Seen, from Doubt Becomes the New Addiction:

After signing to the predominantly hardcore and metal label Facedown Records, the group released its debut full-length, Doubt Becomes the New Addiction, in March 2006.

To date, the disc has sold more than 10,000 copies and paved the way for four tours in 2006 alone. Add the hiring of a manager, some late-night video play on MTV2 and Fuse, and a spot on Alternative Press magazine’s list of “100 Bands to Know in 2006,” and you have a group that’s made some pretty big strides in less than a year.

But that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been growing pains. Although Brooks says Facedown has been incredibly supportive, the same doesn’t hold true for all of the label’s ultra-hardcore fans.

“There’s a lot of kids that don’t get it — they don’t understand why a hardcore label like Facedown would go sign a band that’s melodic and has more of a mass appeal,” he says. “But there is some crossover. I wouldn’t say that all the fans of Facedown don’t dig us, because we have had a lot of support from the existing fans of the label.”

Now back from the road, Brooks says the band has been able to refocus its sound and begin writing a new album, which he hopes will be released by July.

The band has also made one more big change — the addition of bass player Luke Dills, formerly of Raymore act the Starboard Side. It’s a move that will get Anderson out from behind her bass and onto the front of the stage. The decision came about after the band’s most recent Kansas City show, when a broken string forced Anderson to finish the set without her bass.

“She was like, ‘Not having that bass was so freeing,'” Brooks says. “And I just said, ‘It’s time for a change.'”

It’s the next big step for a band that’s been evolving since the beginning. And if last year’s successes and the promise of a new album are worth anything, it’s doubtful that fans will mind.