July For Kings

July For Kings formed in the late 1990s in the Middletown, Ohio area, just outside Cincinnati. Previously known as Swim, July for Kings were formed in the Middletown, OH area in 1998 by Joe Hedges and high school friends Sam Dobrozsi, T Miller, Jason Morgan and Travis Delaney. The band's first public performances were at Caffiena's coffee house in 1997, then known as Vice, when friends Hedges, Dobrozsi, and Delaney were students. The group's early sound blended melodic hooks with the heavier textures of the post-grunge era, and T Miller's cello playing became a signature element that set them apart from typical guitar-driven rock acts of the time.

The band's rise came through relentless regional touring and word of mouth. Within a few short years the band had released several independent albums and amassed a large following in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, frequently packing venues such as The Mad Frog, which caught the attention of music producers and several record labels including Wind-Up Records, the label that had established itself through the success of the band Creed. July For Kings ultimately signed with MCA Records and had several songs that fared well on radio stations across the country in markets such as Las Vegas, Memphis, Cleveland, Phoenix and Cincinnati. The classic lineup driving this breakthrough included Joe Hedges on vocals and guitar alongside Sam Dobrozsi, Travis Delaney, Jason Morgan, and T Miller, and it was this era that gave the band its widest national exposure.

The band's career arc has been marked by both hard breaks and steady reinvention. July for Kings were dropped from MCA upon the label's dissolution in 2003, and drummer Dobrozsi and bassist Morgan subsequently left the band. Despite this, the band moved ahead with Hedges at the helm, releasing several independent albums including Nostalgia in 2005, which was CD Baby's number one selling album during its initial release. After further lineup changes, frontman Joe Hedges dropped the July For Kings name in April 2006, though by October 2007 he announced the band had reunited and was working on new material. The reunited group released the studio album Monochrome on June 23, 2009, and followed it with Middletown on July 14, 2015. Throughout these years the band also built a touring resume that included dates alongside major national acts, with the band touring frequently performing with bands including Collective Soul, Counting Crows, Nine Days and Muse. In more recent years, July For Kings has remained an active and celebrated fixture of the Cincinnati music scene rather than fading into nostalgia. The band today features founding member Travis "T" Miller alongside veterans Dan McQuinn, John McGuire, and Brian Ives, with frontman Joe Hedges at the helm, and their enduring impact on the Cincinnati music scene was recently celebrated with a sold-out 20th anniversary show at the Woodward Theater and recognition in the Cincinnati Library's "Social Stairs" installation. Building on an MCA Records debut and tours supporting Collective Soul, Counting Crows, and Muse, the band has released new material including the single "24 Vibe," with a music video shot and directed by Brandon Weaver. Their willingness to reunite, reinvent, and keep writing decades after their first coffeehouse gigs speaks to a lasting loyalty between Hedges and the Cincinnati audiences who first embraced the band.

It is fitting that July For Kings holds a place in this archive of Wayne Dennon's concert photography. Wayne caught the band during one show in 2003, right around the turbulent period when MCA Records folded and the group was fighting to hold its lineup together, making that single night a small but meaningful record of a band in transition. The 57 photographs from that performance, viewed more than 40,000 times by visitors to this site, stand as a quiet testament to a hometown band that never stopped believing in its own songs, and to the photographer who was there, camera in hand, to preserve the moment.