 From Autumn to Ashes formed on Long Island in 2000 with Francis Mark (drums, vocals), Steve Salvio (guitar) and Benjamin Perri (vocals) — Perri provided screaming vocals, while Mark sung clean vocals. Commenting on the name of their band, Scott Gross (guitar) said, "you are absolutely not going to get the right answer on this one because that would pretty much end the band" and that "no one is going to know the reason and we are going to keep it that way." The term "Autumn" refers to both the season and a fictional character the band created. Mark and Gross planned to use the character in a book. For the first few months as a touring band, From Autumn to Ashes claimed to have sold half of their equipment, a car, and spent between $ 3,000 and $ 4,000 making demos and hand distributing them.
