After leaving Pattern is Movement in 2004, Michael Wade Hampton took hiatus from music for nearly 8 years. In 2011 ‘Wade’ started writing pieces for what would become the album Water from Stone. When Angelo Gonzalez (previously drummer for hardcore band Beyond Control) became available in 2012 and expressed interest in the project their collaboration took off ultimately leading to completion of the concept album Water from Stone in early 2013. They named the band Wade in the Water re-using a nickname and due to the lyrical content being inspired from religious conundrums, societal paradox, ethical dilemmas, and paranoia.
The project took to the live scene of Philadelphia once jazz bassist Dan Scanlon joined the group in 2013. Their live set quickly evolved into a provocative session of colors, shadows, and avante garde film (also captured and custom made by the trio). The art of creating albums and music videos became a trend for the band as they recorded in a custom crafted experimental setting and developed an extensive catalogue of iconic noir short films releasing Darkness, Pathway, Challenge, and Walking the Outskirts and working towards a second album.
Also during this time, the group had involvement with Philadelphia’s growing experimental space rock scene. From 2013-2016 Angelo and Wade performed in The Formless Form and released the album Stillest Embrace in 2015.
In 2016 Patrick Lattanze would join Wade in the Water to write the group’s 2nd album Blood from Stone. Patrick provided the full dual guitar sound that Water from Stone hinted at and performed several live shows with the band. In early 2017 the group affectionately titled their 2nd album Blood from Stone partly because it had developed a reputation for being a laborious masterpiece and because many of the tracks were inspired as early as Water from Stone continuing the story. Paranoia tracks such as Night’s Eyes and Spider Bite were released from the album with the full video work-up. Over the years there were a number of concept tracks that simmered on the back burner. In January 2018 the band revived live tracks Killer at Large, Doppelgänger, and Mausoleum to round out their lengthiest and 3rd album Adrift in the Crypt.
