From First To Last Change Gears And Singer For New Record

Florida punk band From First To Last are still alive, but they've undergone a few changes in recent months, including acquiring a new lead singer.

"Sonny Moore has quit the band and is working on a solo career," guitarist Travis Richter wrote recently on the band's MySpace page. "We (Good, Richter, Bloom and Matt Manning — now an official member, by the way) were in the studio writing for the new record getting ready to fly to Los Angeles to meet up with Sonny to record the record when we got the news about him leaving.

"We know that Sonny's departure is going to be a huge deal to a lot of our fans, and we are sorry that these things continue to happen to us (and you). We all tried to make compromises, but sometimes artists just have to do things for themselves."

The group replaced Moore with singer Matt Good (no, not that Matt Good) and self-produced their as-yet untitled new album.

"The good news is Sonny leaving meant that the band had to make changes, and these changes couldn't have been more positive," wrote Richter.

From First To Last released their Heroine album via Epitaph last year, but endured a few setbacks, including backing out of the Give It A Name festival. The band were also forced off the road while supporting Atreyu after Moore lost his voice following some surgical procedures. They also had their hands tied financially after a short-lived association with Capitol Records.

"To make matters worse, Capitol Records was on the verge of being bought out by another label and bands were being dropped," Richter wrote. "Money was put on hold from the label and with FFTL already in debt due to the Atreyu tour and studio costs... Well, we were pretty much crippled."