Some people say the paths we follow in life are decided before birth, and after hearing the story of local metal band Weeping Hour, it’s hard to believe anything else.

“Most of our band is made up of people who have been somehow related for years,” said junior business administration major at ULM, Ethan Prudhomme,   Weeping Hour’s vocalist.

Corey McKnight and McCall Metz, Weeping Hour’s guitarists, knew each other 10 years before joining the band. Prudhomme and Metz were in a different band, Courier, together for two years. Through Courier, Prudhomme met McKnight who was in another band, They Will Fall, with Chris Shifflett who would later become Weeping Hour’s drummer.

When Courier and They Will Fall disbanded, Weeping Hour formed seamlessly. It was as if this was the universe’s plan all along.

“The bands were so closely related that it was a very smooth transition when it happened,” Prudhomme said.

Hunter McBride, Weeping Hour’s bassist, “came out of nowhere.”

“He was just a guy going to our shows,” McKnight said. “We somehow discovered he was a phenomenal musician and asked him to be a part of the band.”

Although music is their passion, being in a band is often physically and mentally challenging for each member.

Prudhomme, who handles Weeping Hour’s official business, said the workload never stops. Whether he is in class or at his nine to five job slinging coffee, Prudhomme finds himself answering phone calls and emails about Weeping Hour.

“It doesn’t seem like a lot, but I’m sending messages constantly,” Prudhomme said. “There are a lot of business elements that add up.”

Whether the members are planning a vacation or a date, they must consider how it will affect the band. Getting time off from Weeping Hour is not really an option.

“It’s not about one of us. It’s about five of us,” Prudhomme said. “It becomes this overarching thing that just doesn’t stop.”

Sometimes, the band won’t get home from a show until the sun has already risen. Then, they will all have to wake up for their “normal” jobs in an hour or less. Yet, this doesn’t bother them. Getting to perform for even 30 minutes makes up for the difficulties throughout the week. 

“When I’m performing, I don’t worry about anything,” Prudhomme said. “It’s the one moment that I get that.”

McKnight said creating and performing music acts as an outlet for each member to pour their hearts into. Every lyric and note holds a piece of one of the five guys. When you listen to any track from their debut record, “Hunger & Thirst,” you are getting to know the members of Weeping Hour personally.

Each member has spent the majority of their life playing music and without it, they would be lost. The truth is, music is all they know.

“It’s the one thing all of us are good at. We suck at our nine to five jobs,” Metz said.

The members of Weeping Hour share the same religious beliefs as well as a passion for music. In many of their songs, Christianity is referenced. 

The messages found within their music is something the band wants to share with people across the world.

“With our intentionality behind all of this music and putting all of this work and effort into it, having the mentality of just being a local band wouldn’t do our work justice,” Metz said. “We want more audiences than just this community to hear.”

And Weeping Hour made a step toward achieving that goal on June 29.

Two days after their first album was released, the band broke the top 10 on the iTunes Metal Album Chart.

“It wasn’t just Monroe that was pulling through,” Metz said. “It was places we had never been before.”