Motionless In White frontman Chris Cerulli recalls band’s early days in Scranton area with old photos
While stuck at home in quarantine, many people are posting old photos and videos on social media to cheer themselves and others up until the coronavirus pandemic has subsided. Motionless In White vocalist Chris “Motionless” Cerulli uploaded a series of photos and a short video yesterday that is a special treat for their hometown fans who remember the frontman from Pittston Area High School and the early days of MIW performing around the Scranton area.
In the Instagram post, Cerulli recalls his first band called New Car Smell, his first “super awkward” MIW photoshoot, their first “big show” opening for Senses Fail at The Staircase in Pittston in 2005, working at PacSun (along with other band members), MIW’s early shows as “One Way Ticket” and “When Breathing Stops,” and more, long before the white makeup, world tours, and Billboard-charting metal albums on big record labels.
“Hey everyone! Hope you are all doing okay with everything going on in the world right now. Thought maybe this post would bring you a smile or a laugh. I’ve been using some of this time off to go through tons of storage, and I found some really great stuff in every category. One of those categories being some photos and mementos from my years in high school, and the years when MIW first started. Had to group them together to get the most, so here’s a description of what you’re seeing,” Cerulli began.
The photos and short video clip are presented below with his corresponding captions.
1. Unreleased solo from our first MIW photoshoot. We didn’t have any photographer friends, so we had to go to the same place I had my senior pictures done the year before. Was super awkward, and the pics are even more awkward HAHA. My friend Steve used to call us “Motionless In White Belts.” HOLY MYSPACE.
2. Top – Some of you may know the name “New Car Smell.” For those of you who don’t, this was my first band. Started in 2002. This was our first logo. The fucking anarchy symbol HAHA. Kill me.
Bottom – Some of my senior pictures. The Gibson Les Paul was my grandfathers guitar.
3. A newspaper write up and ticket from MIW’s first big show ever: opening for Senses Fail in 2005. I had to call the promoter every day for a month and beg to be on this show and he finally cracked. I have yet to ask him if he remembers this at all every time I see him these days. Thanks, Stan!
4. My badge from working at PacSun in the second half of the 2000’s. At one point, everyone in the band except for Angelo worked there and I have no idea how we were able to do that and play weekend shows at the same time. I also joined a grind band playing guitar for one of our PacSun managers, Rev Mike.
5. Top left – My 18th birthday. Went to get an industrial piercing before going to see Thrice and Thursday that night, only to get the piercing punched out in the pit HAHA. (Peep that Atreyu shirt, Brandon Saller!)
Bottom Left – Day I got my second tattoo.
Bottom Right – 2004. One of the few photos of my days as “Chris from toys” at Walmart. I was fired after 2 years. Not hard to see why HAHA.
6. Technically Motionless In White’s first show ever. Summer of 2004. We were called “One Way Ticket.” We played 2 days in a row at the Northeast Fair. We then changed our name to “When Breathing Stops” for the remainder of 2004, before changing it to MIW on January 1st of 2005. Miss you, Angelo Parente!
7. Random flier from a When Breathing Stops show. Handmade by a friend. We used to go to the mall every weekend and hand out show fliers. Myspace was all we had aside from that.
8. Meeting the bassist of Simple Plan at Tink’s in 2002. How about those braces? Total random photo of me in 2000 at Universal Studios with Spider-Man.
9. Assorted photos from local New Car Smell shows in 2003. We played mostly covers. Misfits, Alkaline Trio, AFI, New Found Glory, Green Day, and tons more. Going to have to look for photos of us playing in our high school talent shows.
10. Video of an early MIW rehearsal. This was working on writing our song “Violets Are Blue” that appeared on our first 3-song demo in 2005.
This isn’t the first time Cerulli has taken a trip down memory lane online. Before the final Vans Warped Tour stopped in Scranton in 2018, the band made a video of him walking through The Pavilion at Montage Mountain and talking about their long Warped Tour journey, from winning a contest to play the small Ernie Ball Stage with only a demo CD to a national headliner within 10 years:
Motionless In White has definitely come a long way from those “awkward” years, as they’re now known for releasing five studio albums via Fearless and Roadrunner Records and entertaining millions of fans all over the world. Their latest album, 2019’s “Disguise,” debuted at No. 4 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart, No. 2 on the Hard Rock Albums chart, and No. 27 on the Billboard 200, their third consecutive Top 30 entry on the Billboard 200. The group celebrated the release with their hometown fans in Wilkes-Barre at a sold-out listening party at the F.M. Kirby Center and a meet and greet at the Gallery of Sound.
“We’re a band that came out of the small-town, blue-collar spirit,” Cerulli said at the time. “Both the area we come from and the fan base brought us to this point.”
Following their Diseased & Disguised co-headlining tour with Beartooth, MIW was set to embark on The Black and Blue Tour with Knocked Loose, Stick to Your Guns, and Ovtlier at the end of the month before COVID-19 forced them to postpone the cross-country run.
Today, the band also uploaded a quarantine interview with guitarist Ricky “Horror” Olson to answer fan questions for over 90 minutes:
See Cerulli’s original post below:
