Some may have discovered Comes with the Fall due to singer William DuVall's association with Alice in Chains, but the group had been around for years and collected quite a few accolades in their own right -- before the singer stepped in for Layne Staley during Alice's 2006 tour. Comes with the Fall's focal point and leader is DuVall -- who also handles guitar duties and is the main songwriter. Having spent the '80s fronting cult punk bands and, later, writing for others (the singer/guitarist co-wrote the pop hit "I Know" for Dionne Farris), DuVall formed Madfly in the late '90s, a band that specialized in a more straightforward hard rock style and issued a pair of albums, Get the Silver and White Hot in the Black, before metamorphosing into Comes with the Fall in 1999. Originally hailing from Atlanta, GA, the group -- which also includes bassist Adam Stanger and drummer Bevan Davies (and for a brief spell, second guitarist Nico Constantine) -- relocated to Los Angeles a year later. Three releases followed (all on DuVall's DVL label), 2000's self-titled debut, 2001's The Year Is One, and 2002's Live 2002, before the group opened for (and served as the backing band for) Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell on his supporting tour for the Degradation Trip album. 2003 saw the release of a live DVD, Live Underground 2002, before an EP followed in 2006, The Reckoning. That same year, DuVall took a brief sabbatical from Comes with the Fall to tour with Alice in Chains (the group's first live dates since 1996) before returning to the group and issuing Beyond the Last Light in 2007. ~ Greg Prato