WILL HAVEN Signs With BIELER BROS. RECORDS

Bieler Bros Records has announced the signing of metalcore pioneers WILL HAVEN. The band will release its as-yet-untitled Bieler Bros. debut in early 2007. The album will mark the group's first release since 2001's critically acclaimed "Carpe Diem". A 2006 demo track can be streamed on the band's official MySpace page.

In an early 2006 interview with The Sacramento Bee, the WILL HAVEN members discussed their break-up in 2003 and their decision to reunite nearly three years later.

"I was just getting burned out," singer Grady Avenell, 33, said. "I had just got remarried and didn't want to spend time away from my wife. I wanted to try something different."

Avenell didn't talk much with his former bandmates in the post-WILL HAVEN years. It wasn't anything personal — the singer had just settled down.

They started talking reunion when Avenell called guitarist Jeff Irwin to be a job reference.

"I told him that my brother kept asking when we were going to get back and play shows," said Avenell. "And Jeff's all, 'Funny you mentioned that. Everyone keeps mentioning that to me.' It kept rolling from there."

The band got together in mid-December, but no one was sure if that first rehearsal would click. All of the original band members were on board, including drummer Mitch Wheeler, plus GHOSTRIDE guitarist Cayle Hunter.

"When Grady came in, there was some apprehension at first," said Irwin, 32. "We weren't sure how he'd come across. But when he started singing again, it was like the old days again. This is Grady's calling right here. His cadence was right on, his voice was perfect."