Tommy Vext

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Tommy Vext
Birth name	Thomas Cummings
Born	(1986-04-15) April 15, 1986 New York, New York, US
Genres	Heavy metal thrash metal hard rock speed metal groove metal metalcore
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Eleven Seven Century Media Roadrunner
Associated acts	Bad Wolves Snot Divine Heresy Five Finger Death Punch
Website	badwolvesofficial.com

Thomas Cummings (born April 15, 1986), better known under the stage name Tommy Vext, is an American singer and songwriter known for being the lead vocalist of Bad Wolves, Snot, and Divine Heresy. He was also the fill-in vocalist for the multi-platinum selling heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch during their European Arena tour in 2017 when their normal vocalist Ivan L. Moody left the tour to check into a medical facility.

Career

Vext began his music career in Brooklyn, New York as a teenager singing in local hardcore bands and engaging in freestyle rap battles with the neighborhood's preeminent hopefuls. Being too young, he had to sneak into clubs even for his own shows. In 1996, he formed the band "Vext" (a word he found in Wu-Tang Clan's lyrics), which eventually became his nickname after he started to be known as "Tommy Vext" in the New York hardcore scene. Vext was a local buzz band, playing shows at CBGB, The Continental, and Lamours. They also opened for Biohazard, Candiria and many others. In 2005, at the Roadrunner Records 25th-anniversary show, Vext was invited to sing with Corey Taylor of Slipknot.

Divine Heresy

In 2006, Vext was recruited by Dino Cazares of Fear Factory to front his new band Divine Heresy. Their debut studio album Bleed the Fifth was released in the United States on August 28, 2007 by Century Media Records. The album was produced by former Machine Head and Soulfly guitarist turned studio wiz, Logan Mader.

Bleed the Fifth enjoyed a warm welcome from both the fans and the press. Dom Lawson of Metal Hammer summarized his review by saying "All in all, the portly pioneer has hit the bull's-eye and it's going to be fascinating to see what happens next", awarding an eight out of a possible 10. Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic felt the album "strikes a near-perfect balance between confirmation (reminding fans of Cazares' abilities and unique vision) and innovation (he even plays a few guitar solos!)". Scott Alisoglu of Blabbermouth.net summarized his review claiming the album is "one tough son of a bitch that may still have you humming melodies long after you've ejected the disc". Chad Bowar of About.com commented "Great musicianship, good songs and excellent production make this a very respectable debut".

Vext wrote the majority of the lyrics, which are about personal strifes and how people overcome them. Much of the lyrical content was influenced by the Book of Revelation, natural disasters, war, and terrorism.

Due to unresolvable differences with Dino Cazares, Vext parted with Divine Heresy in 2008. The highly publicised split left both the fans and the press confused. In an exclusive "Metal Injection" interview, Vext explained the real reasons behind his departure from the band:

I've been suffering the indignities of Dino's massive ego for as long as I've worked with him, and unfortunately, everything I've heard about him had eventually come to fruition, and he is exactly as he's been portrayed as by his ex-band members. And this happening now is the same reason why he's not in Fear Factory anymore. It was a stepping stone in my life and I'm moving on.

— Tommy Vext

Later bassist Joe Payne and drummer Tim Yeung both broke ties with Dino and on July 27, 2015, in an interview with MetalSucks, Cazares confirmed that he was the only remaining member of Divine Heresy.

Snot

Snot is an American metal band from Santa Barbara, California. Formed in 1995, the band released their debut studio album Get Some with founding vocalist Lynn Strait in 1997 and disbanded after his death in 1998. In 2008, the band reformed, with Vext on vocals. Snot has played a number of shows fronted by Vext, including a fall 2008 tour in the United States, supporting DevilDriver. When later original guitarist Sonny Mayo left the band, Snot went on hiatus again.

On February 11, 2014, Snot reunited the second time at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood. This second reunion line-up once again featured Vext, Mayo, Doling, Fahnestock and Miller. They went on to play three more shows in the Southern California area before once again going quiet.

Westfield Massacre

After his stint with Snot, Vext moved on and formed a new band known as "Westfield Massacre". The band released their self-titled debut album on Urban Yeti Records in 2014. In 2017, some of the members of Westfield Massacre learned that Vext was working on a side project with former DevilDriver drummer John Boecklin and even by music industry standards, a bizarre chain of events ensued. Vext, who had formed and funded Westfield Massacre and owned the band's name was "locked out" of his own band's social media accounts by his band members as a form of retaliation. The break was inevitable and Vext moved forward with his other project, "Bad Wolves," instead.

Bad Wolves

In 2016, Vext formed a new band, known as "Bad Wolves" with former DevilDriver drummer John Boecklin. Guitarists Doc Coyle (Vagus Nerve, God Forbid) and Chris Cain Bury Your Dead, and later, bassist Kyle Konkiel formerly of In This Moment were recruited for the project. During the summer of 2016, they entered AudioHammer Studios with longtime collaborator Mark Lewis (Trivium, All That Remains) and tracked what would become the group's debut studio album. On May 2, 2017, Bad Wolves independently premiered a song titled "Learn to Live" accompanied by a music video The video was streamed over 600,000 times. In November 2017, it was announced that Bad Wolves signed with Eleven Seven Music and Zoltan Bathory, the founding guitarist of Five Finger Death Punch, took them under his wings as the band's manager.

John Hill of Loudwire wrote: The band makes good on delivering a huge impact with their music, offering up a sonic piledriver to listeners within the first 30 seconds of the song. Vext is able to drift between smooth and harmonious singing to wrathful yells. Drums hit at a mile a minute, lining the song with blast beats for days. Everything ends in an apocalyptic breakdown, totally destructive and making you want more.

The band released their debut studio album, Disobey on May 11, 2018 through Eleven Seven Music.

The album reached #22 on the Billboard 200 charts. In May 2017, Bad Wolves released their debut single, "Learn to Live". In November 2017, Bad Wolves released their second single, "Toast to the Ghost". On January 18, 2018, they released a third single, which was a cover of "Zombie" (originally by The Cranberries), which charted on multiple Billboard charts. The Cranberries singer, Dolores O'Riordan, was supposed to have performed the song with the band, but died prior to recording it. A music video was released on February 22. The song topped the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart, while the music video was viewed more than 70 million times. The single is certified platinum in Canada and the United States and gold in Germany.

The band toured with Five Finger Death Punch, Shinedown, Breaking Benjamin, and Starset for the first half of 2018.

References

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