Day of Fire formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2003, built around vocalist Josh Brown, who had previously fronted the secular rock band Full Devil Jacket, an Island/Def Jam act that enjoyed a successful, though short, career, made one album and one EP, and toured with Nickelback and Creed. Brown's path to Day of Fire was shaped by personal crisis: in 2000, while in Full Devil Jacket, Brown nearly died of a heroin overdose but was able to recover through a drug rehabilitation program, and while recording the second Full Devil Jacket album he decided to leave the music industry and turn his life around, embracing Christianity. With that new direction, he founded Day of Fire, and the lineup eventually expanded to include Joe Pangallo on guitar, Chris Pangallo on bass, and Zach Simms on drums, solidifying the lineup , alongside early guitarist Gregg Hionis, who co-wrote much of the band's debut material.
The band's breakthrough came with its self-titled debut album, released October 26, 2004, on Essential Records . The record produced the No. 1 Christian Rock hit "Cornerstone" while garnering a Dove Award for Rock Album of the Year , and the album was also nominated for a Grammy Award , cementing Day of Fire's place among the era's leading Christian hard rock acts. Two years later the band followed with its sophomore effort, "Cut & Move," released on June 6, 2006 , whose single "Run" gained mainstream exposure as the theme song for WWE Unforgiven 2006 . Between the two releases, Day of Fire's current career sales grew to more than 150,000 albums , and "Cut & Move" stands as the band's only album as a five-piece .
Throughout the mid and late 2000s, Day of Fire built its reputation as a touring act, sharing stages with a wide range of rock and metal artists. The band toured with Cold, Nonpoint, Edisun, 16 Second Stare, Sevendust, Papa Roach, Saving Abel, and Hail the Villain, and played several festival dates with likes of Thousand Foot Krutch, Pop Evil, We the Kings, After Midnight Project, and Trapt . During 2008 and 2009 the group also toured with bands like Days of the New, Daughtry, and others and wrote a few songs with Chris Daughtry and Brian Cradock to be on their next record . That collaboration bore fruit on the band's third and final studio album, "Losing All," released January 26, 2010, which was produced by Rogers Mason and featuring guest writer Chris Daughtry of American Idol fame , exploring themes of rebirth across 13 ambitious, high-energy rock songs .
Just months after that release, in June 2010, the band announced an indefinite hiatus, leaving open the possibility for a return to the music scene . Josh Brown subsequently reconnected with his Full Devil Jacket roots, and later that year Josh Brown and his Full Devil Jacket bandmate and former Saliva guitarist Jonathan Montoya formed a new band called A New Rebel with David Fraizer of Outspoken, Jarred Mankin of Bobaflex, and Jason Null of Saving Abel . A brief reunion tease surfaced in 2013, when the band posted a picture on Facebook hinting at a reunion, however given the schedule of Full Devil Jacket, no reunion happened . Day of Fire's legacy endures in the post-grunge and Christian hard rock scenes of the 2000s, remembered for pairing arena-sized riffs with Brown's redemption narrative and for launching one of the genre's most celebrated debut singles in "Cornerstone."
That legacy is part of why Day of Fire has a place in this archive. Wayne Dennon photographed the band at one show in 2005, right in the wake of their breakout debut, and the 17 photographs he captured that night remain preserved here as a small but valued piece of his concert photography collection. Visitors to the site have returned to these images again and again, with the band's photos viewed 13,946 times, a testament to both Wayne's eye behind the lens and the lasting fondness fans still hold for Day of Fire's brief but memorable run.
