Meet Me @ The Altar

Pop-punk group Meet Me @ the Altar play energetic, pop-savvy, high-energy rock music that’s fun while carrying a fiercely empowering message. Comprised of Edith Johnson, Téa Campbell, and Ada Juarez, the trio came together through social media and initially made their music virtually before finding success in the real world. Formed when they were still in their early teens, early releases captured their youthful passion and joy in equal measure, and as their music had a chance to mature while they found a larger audience, they struck a more precise note on 2021′s Model Citizen. As famous fans repped them as the Next Big Thing, 2023′s Past // Present // Future was an ambitious effort to combine their punk sincerity with a well-scrubbed mainstream production.
Meet Me @ the Altar first came together in 2015, when guitarist Téa Campbell, from Orlando, FL, was killing time at her grandmother’s house and watching videos on YouTube. She was looking for covers of songs by Twenty One Pilots when she found Ada Juarez (from North Plainfield, NJ), who had posted several videos showing off her skills as a drummer, covering tunes from popular pop-punk and emo bands. Campbell liked Juarez’s drumming and sent her a message; the two began corresponding, sending musical ideas back and forth and before long they were writing songs. The duo needed a vocalist, and Juarez posted a video on her channel with the title “I’m In a Band, and We Need a Singer.” Edith Johnson, an emo fan from Peachtree City, FL, saw the video and promptly sent Juarez a clip of herself singing “All I Wanted” by Paramore. Campbell and Juarez were impressed with Johnson’s vocals, but were wary about bringing her into the band – they favored Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential campaign, and her support of Hilary Clinton was considered a deal breaker. Campbell and Juarez began working with a vocalist named Rosalind Vo, who also played bass.
With the three members living in three different states, Meet Me @ the Altar practiced and recorded virtually, laying down their tracks separately and assembling them in the mixing process, and their first EP, Red Walls, was released digitally by the group in December 2015. They began posting their music on social media, and with the support of their parents, they began meeting up in Florida, playing at an Orlando venue called Soundbar and staging short tours. Meanwhile, Johnson was still eager to sing with the band, repeatedly messaging Campbell about why she was the right woman for the job, and when Vo dropped out of the group in 2017, they gave her a chance. In June 2017, Meet Me @ the Altar self-released a nine-song album, Out of Sight, Out of Mind, and the band cultivated an on-line fan base, as well as touring when their schedules lined up. For their 2018 tour, they brought along El Xiques to play bass, while Kaylie Sang joined them for their 2019 dates, playing rhythm guitar. As the group’s following grew, Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low, Dan Campbell of the Wonder Years, and left-field pop singer Halsey all publicly praised the group, and their endorsements attracted the attention of the noted punk label Fueled By Ramen, where Paramore and Dashboard Confessional got their start. Fueled By Ramen signed Meet Me @ the Altar, and their first release for the label, the six-song EP Model Citizen, was issued in June 2021. 2022 saw them playing larger venues than before, as well as appearing at the Lollapalooza Festival and opening shows for Green Day. Producer John Fields, whose resume included recording projects with the Dollyrots, Switchfoot, Demi Lovato, and Miley Cyrus, took the group into the studio for their first album for Fueled By Ramen, and 2023′s Past // Present // Future combined their pop-punk energy with a polished pop sheen. ~ Mark Deming