An Interview with Saved By Skarlet: On “Memory Relapse,” Rebranding, and Brotherhood.

Saved By Skarlet. From left to right: Dallen, Nate, Matt, and Brendan

Saved By Skarlet isn't just a metalcore band; it's a brotherhood, led by identical twin brothers at the helm. I was first introduced to these guys through the Kingdom Core podcast, who ranked their independent release, Creation and Crisis in their top 60 releases of 2024. With two top 10 Christian rock hits, “Black Knight” and “Lie of the Pharisees”, this band is making a name for themselves. They've carved their name into the scene with one singular, pounding message: Jesus Christ is Lord.

Saved by Skarlet is soon releasing a new single, “Memory Relapse,” produced with the assistance of Brandon and Jeremy from New Year’s Day. We had the opportunity to sit down with these New England rockers at Uprise Festival and talk about family support, using their band as an outreach ministry, and their new song.

Saved By Skarlet is:

Nate Middleton: Lead Vocals

Matt Middleton: Lead Guitar, Background Vocals

Dallen Shrader: Drums

Brendan Ryan: Guitar

Solid Rock: Last year’s album, Creation and Crisis, did pretty well. You had a couple of top ten hits. What was your thought process for that album? 

Nate: That was a very interesting album, actually, because we were in a transition of band members. The first song, “Black Knight,” until “Memory Relapse” drops, that is our biggest hit. That song we developed with our prior band members, and right around that time after it was released, Dallen actually came on board. He helped track the rest of the EP. All four of the other songs, he’s on. Then after we finished that EP, right at the tail end, when we started performing it, Brendan came on. So Brendan started performing it, Dallen had only been a part of it, and then this brand new song, Memory Relapse, that’s getting released this Friday, September 19th. 

That is the first song that we’ve put out that we feel like is the most solid. It’s not the most heavy, out of all of our stuff, it’s just the most all-around solid and mastered by Brandon Wolf and Jeremy Valentyne from New Year’s Day, which is massive! So we’re really excited about that. They work with Sirius Octane and all different kinds of outlets and connections, so we’re really excited to work with them. They did an excellent job. 

So pretty much this Friday, you’re going to get to see what the new SBS really looks like, what it sounds like. As you’ve probably seen, we’ve updated all of our stuff. We got all of our updated images, trying to follow the direct path to the best kind of release. I’ve been handling that side of things, while Matt’s been handling production, and Brendan and Dallen have been doing the best they can with what they’re doing, which is a lot of different things.

This year Brendan has been taking on more roles as a new member. Dallen has been evolving his craft in the band and his dedication to Brotherhood! 

Dallen: And Barbarians! And Warhammers!

Nate: So that’s kind of an overview of where we are, right here on this couch. You’re seeing right now we have a lot of different transitions happening, evolving a lot from where we first released those two top 10 hits. “Lie of the Pharisees” was on “Black Knight’s” tail, which is really, really cool. Those songs pretty much helped break us out. And we’ve been kind of riding along that wave for a little while now. Now that’s starting to kind of simmer down after a year since we release Creation and Crisis. “Memory Release” is right on cue to pop off, hopefully! We’ll see what happens!

Solid Rock: What’s the story about that song, the new one, “Memory Relapse?”

Nate: It’s funny, because I wrote the lyrics of “Memory Relapse,” Brendan wrote a lot of guitar for this one, whereas Matt has written a lot of guitar for the previous songs. It was a really cool kind of mix-up to see how we blend as a team and make sure everybody’s getting to do different things. And my wife actually helped contribute to a lyric or two that I was really stuck on. I couldn’t get one of the words to rhyme and I was like “I need help!” So she did a great job with that. 

Dallen: Rhyming is hard!

Nate: It is hard, man, it’s hard! The reason that lyricism is hard is because you can follow a simple A-B format of the last word in the stanza is going to rhyme and the next one won’t and the next one will. Or you could do every single stanza is going to rhyme. But it’s hard to do that while also choosing your words correctly to depict a story, which Memory Relapse is about self-reflection. If you look at [the new shirt], you can actually see this is the image that was on our first CD album. So that’s a little secret Easter egg that we put in there.

That, essentially, is kind of like a mirror image, a perfect image in my opinion, of where our music is evolving. We’re looking back on where we came from - our stories, our past - each in an individual way that God has brought us out of darkness and into light, which is what the first album is about. 

Essentially, this song encapsulates that. It’s about self-reflection, mystery, curiosity. It evokes a sense of yearning. Really talking to yourself, trying to figure out where you are in life. This song is not really like our traditional type of talking about God. This is more so about the human aspect of life. And it’s a good one, man. On the back of the shirt, it actually says “For now we only see a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.”

Brendan: That is a paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13:12. I looked it up yesterday, so we got the right one!

Nate: Not “love is patient, love is kind.” Not that Corinthians one. 

Brendan: First Corthinthians. It is part of that whole “love is…”

Matt: Pastor Brendan will be on next! (laughter)

Nate: Essentially, what that scripture is talking about is, I right now am reflecting. I’m paraphrasing of course, but I’m reflecting on my life as a whole - where I stand with God, who I am as a man of God or woman of God. Looking in that mirror, taking upon that self-reflection and seeing, “okay, how can I do better?” But when I see face to face with God, because He knows me fully. I don’t yet fully know myself, but because He knows me, when I look to Him and I seek Him, He shows me who I am. So it’s like such a cool, roundabout way of scripture, a complicated way of saying, look to God. He knows you best, trust Him. That’s the longest explanation I’ve got.

Matt: That’s why we gave Nate the microphone, because Nate really did the lyrics for that song. Dallen, Brendan, and I focused solely on instruments. In the past, there have been times when I’ve helped write, “Lies of the Pharisees,” “When I’m Cold,” “Light it Up,” and even “Out of Darkness,” actually. But for this one, Nate did all of the lyrics and I give him so much credit for what he did, because it came out marvelous. 

Nate: This was a hard one!

Matt: Yeah, this was a tricky one, and everyone will understand once they listen to it. There’s a lot of words and a lot of places to put those words, and he found just the right spots. 

Nate: Thanks Matt. These guys did an amazing job. Dallen with the drums, Brendan on lead guitar. His solo in this song, it’s incredible. Matt just absolutely aced the parts that I had a hard time putting together. 

Brendan: I will say, my favorite guitar parts in this song, Matt wrote. The lead in the chorus is like my favorite part in the entire song. It’s so good. Even in the studio, in the first verse, he was messing around with the part. You weren’t even trying to make it good! It wasn’t even supposed to be good! He’s like “Ah, I’m joking.” I’m like “No! Put that in there! We need that in there! Do it again! Do it again!” 

Nate: I’ll never forget that! I was just jamming on the electric drum set, jazzing away, doing my thing, and all of the sudden Brendan was like “Wait! Stop! Do that again! And I was like “Me?” “No, not you!”

Matt: It’s in the verses, it’s the second half of each verse. You’ll hear just some notes I was fooling around. But sometimes that happens. We go to the studio and we have a vision, but it’s always good to allow enough room for the Holy Spirit to kind of, not to sound weird, but kind of be like “Hey, you might want to try that.” 

And we interpret the thoughts in our mind. We contribute those thoughts always to “I had a thought,” but I am a firm believer that there are intrusive thoughts, both from the enemy and the Holy Spirit, that are God-inspired.” And certain riffs and notes that we find, I personally believe, are from God himself, or Jesus, the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, because he’s technically the intercessor, advisor, the go-between, the bridge between Heaven and earth. 

So yeah, when people are listening, we want to evoke a certain emotion in them, so that they’re feeling what we’re feeling. And that gives them an experience, as opposed to just a sound. I could just stomp my feet on the floor. That’s a sound. But to create and design a song that evokes emotion is an experience, the full package. So, we’re looking forward to how people react to the new song. 

Solid Rock: You mentioned getting to work with Brandon and Jeremy of New Year’s Day. How did that come about?

Nate: Dude, that story is unbelievable! So essentially what happened, Jeremy Valentyne from New Year’s Day reached out to me about two years ago. This is so embarrassing! I thought it was a bot that was hacking his profile, because I did not believe it was him. So I didn’t answer for about six months! He had reached out and said, “Hey, I’d love to get you guys in the studio. Maybe we could talk on the phone about doing something in the studio.” 

At the time, we had just wrapped up Creation and Crisis. I was like, “Oh no, man, we’re all taxied out, blah blah blah.” And I just kind of checked it off my list. A lot of people reach out all the time to do different deals and different things. I vet it, but this seemed definitely way too out there. So I kind of was like, maybe I’ll reach out in a year or so and see if this is actually a legit thing, right? 

So a year goes by, I totally forgot about this. And he reaches back out and he’s like “Hey man, just want to see how you and the band are doing. And then I was like, “wait a minute! A bot wouldn’t do that.” The wording and stuff, that was definitely a real person. So then I was like, “oh shoot!” I go and look, “who is Jeremy Valentyne?” because it was spelled a certain way that didn’t look real. I don’t know if that’s his real name or just a stage name. 

Then I go to his profile and see he’s best friends with Ash Costello, who is the lead vocalist of New Year’s Day and is very famous. So then I go on her profile and I see that he’s literally standing with her in the band picture and I was like “No flipping way!” So I’m combing through and there was Sirius Octane, there was Warped Tour, and I was like “Are you kidding me, dude? I almost blew our biggest chance!”

I messaged him back and I’m like “dude, I am so sorry. I did not realize you were actually legit in all of these things. Surely you can understand with the bots taking over recently.” It’s just insane man. We get so many botting emails and Instagram messages. Crazy!

So he tells me a story of how he added us and found us. We didn’t find him, he found us! Here’s why: when he and his twin brother, just like me and Matt, were young, they wanted to start a band called Something Scarlet. And they were Christian. They wanted to develop a metalcore rock band that was Christian-based with that name in it. Things didn’t pan out, didn’t work out. They ended up getting with New Year’s Day, way down the line. They ended up touring and they just got too busy to create their own band. 

Then he came across our band page somehow. I have no idea how, but they came across our band page, saw that it says Saved By Skarlet, clicked on it. He was really intrigued because it reminded him of his childhood and then saw that twin brothers were in it and that we were a Christian band. He was like “dude, this is meant to be!” So that’s the whole reason.

Now, he didn’t tell me this right out of the gate. If he told me this, I would have answered immediately! I had to dig and find out what was going on. But when he told me his story, it hit me so hard, because that is such a depiction of how God can operate, right? He can take the wildest thing. For me, that’s a dream come true. I love New Year’s Day. My wife, who I’m married to, we love New Year’s Day. 

They’re awesome and they’re so big, it’s crazy! And for him to want to work with us on our music, and he himself is a Christian too, by the way. Even though the band definitely is not, it’s so awesome, that God was able to work through him with his skill. You know, none of us are perfect. If there’s a way that our music can encourage him in his studio, that’s amazing. That it could actually influence even New Year’s Day, would be mind blowing! Like, I can’t even fathom it. 

I hope that the song encouraged them. I know that they loved it. They had great things to say about it and they wanted to work with us on the next song. I mean, it’s amazing, dude. Now Sarah and I are going to Warped Tour in Florida to go meet him! At Warped Tour, behind the main stage. It’s just mind-blowing! 

But I truly believe that it's because of the hard work that Brendan in his own life, Dallen in his own life, Matt, myself, we’ve gone through a lot to get here. We’ve gone through a lot of pain. We’ve gone through a lot of difficulty, finding a band and bandmates that can all work together as a team. It took a lot and I feel like because we’ve invested a lot, the Bible says when you invest a lot, he can invest in you. It’s a mutual relationship and I truly believe that’s why God is starting to really, really use and trust Saved by Skarlet. 

We couldn’t do it without these guys. I could talk to Jeremy all day long. It’s not going to do anything if these guys don’t have their musical talents and everything infused in the music. I mean, it’s incredible how everything’s coming together, you know? We’re really excited.

Solid Rock Uplugged: So with the new single, is there an album coming along with it?

Dallen: So we’ve got ideas cooking. Using jam sessions, online tools, that kind of stuff to come up with ideas. We’ve got a decent one in the works, that we are refining. I know Matt, you have one or two just swimming in your head.

Matt: There’s one that’s definitely, it’s going to land and it’s going to land well. 

Dallen: There’s definitely stuff in the works. I know we want to try and get an album’s worth of music, as opposed to an EP. Like a good ten songs. We’ll see how that pans out. 

Matt: We don’t have any timetable yet, but it’s something that we definitely want. We want to do it. We don’t have it yet, but we’re trying to also just keep some new material coming out, just to tide the fans over and keep it going because we all have jobs. Two of these guys have kids, the other three, not me, are married. There’s life and we aren’t 100% sure what the time table for a full length is going to be. We want to, but we also want to make sure that we’re still telling the fans, hey, we’re making music. We’re trying to make good music and there’s more coming and it’s going to get better. 

Nate: You can bust out songs every year. You can bust out albums every year. But to really soak in it, ask God, take time to reflect, refine, get it really perfected, takes time. Scheduling takes time. Like you said, we all got lives. 

Matt: Once it’s out, it’s out!

Nate: Yeah, that’s exactly right. And you never want to have to go back, because that looks bad for Spotify. That looks bad for every digital distributor you work for. And so many bands do it. They put out demos and things, and they heavily regret it in the future. So we’re just trying to make sure that everything we release, step by step, is getting better and better, higher and higher quality, better campaigns, better advocating for ourselves. We just rewrote our contract and everything. 

Brendan: And even just the musicality, we’re all improving our craft. We’re all getting better. I’m playing stuff today that I wasn’t playing two years ago.

Matt:  And Brendan’s really good at cello. We’ve been talking about maybe getting some cello in some of our music, some symphonic elements. My brother and I have put cello in our music before, but we put it in the background, layered, and we kind of just did it with software. But it would be really nice to have the organic instrument played by an actual band member. It would be cool.

Solid Rock Unplugged: So in the band, you’ve got twin brothers, as well as other family members helping out with what you guys refer to as a ministry. It’s great to see that family support. How much does it mean to have the backing of your family?

Dallen: I’ve been married 13 years in October. I have three children, after September they’re going to be 6, 9, and 12. So I’ve got a full-blown family. I never thought I’d be a musician at all until a couple years ago. Ever since I decided to make that change, my wife has had my back on every single aspect of this. She knows there’s going to be times where I’m going to be potentially touring for a long time and I’m not going to be home. She’s accepted that, because it’s more than just this dude playing drums, it’s the message of what we’re doing is also a very important message. 

So I’ve had nothing but support, even though I’m a full-time dad. The sheer level of support was unreal to me, because I’d never known anything like that before. I could spend an hour as to why that is, but in a nutshell, my wife is the best thing that’s happened to me on this earth. Obviously, Jesus is top dog, but he’s beyond space and time. 

Matt: I’m very, very grateful. My wife has been very, very supportive. She’s made a lot of sacrifices for me to be here as well. I’ve seen Lizzie in action too, covering for Dallen, and she really is a fantastic person. And I'm very grateful for Ariel’s support too. 

Dallen: So in answer to your question, it means literally everything. 

Nate: There are days, like last night I was up till 12:30 at night building our pre-save for Spotify so that we can get it out tonight. I’m going to announce on stage, get people to do it on their phone, message it to fans, the merch booth, and everything. I could have spent that time with my wife after an already insane, long day. 

The sacrifice that comes with it, all of our wives, we’re extremely impressed by their commitment to us and to God. Because they believe in what we’re doing. If they didn’t believe in what we’re doing, and they didn’t agree it was from God, honestly, we probably wouldn’t be here. 

Matt: Yeah, we probably would have been too burnt out to move forward, in all reality. We almost hit that point, even with all that support. You know what I mean? It’s a lot to be an independent label. But, you know, we make more money. No, I’m just kidding!

Nate: It’s a lot more work, but you learn a lot more about your craft and you get to be a part of your music a lot more. Whereas, if we were on a label, we wouldn’t have as much decision making, we wouldn’t have as much ability to grow as individuals. Hopefully, at some point we will be able to get on board with a label that sees our vision and agrees with our vision, and wants to work with us. That would be amazing. 

But until that point, we’re DIY right now! “Black Knight” was #5 for 57 weeks, a stupid long number. So long that by the time our new album came out, [Black Knight] was just leaving charts. That’s mind blowing! I’ve literally got it framed on my bedroom wall, because I never want to forget that. Then in the top 100 for that year. Lie of the Pharisees is at number 10. So it’s just unbelievable what you can do, as long as you really really pour in, do the best you can, release really good, high-quality music, good photos/video/content, make sure it all looks really legit. People will check it out! And if they like it, they like it!

Solid Rock Unplugged: Yeah, I discovered you guys through Kingdom Core. It’s been fun getting to learn new bands through Kingdom Core and to see you guys on that list with bands like Meadows and Bloodlines. You guys are holding your own as an independent band, just going for it! 

Nate: Oh that’s awesome! We love Kingdom Core. Shout out to Kingdom Core!

Solid Rock Unplugged: What would you say to people who can’t seem to wrap their minds around a metal/rock band being an outreach ministry?

Dallen: I forget where specifically in the Bible, so forgive me, but when David is on the streets dancing, and it’s talking about how he ripped his clothes off and he’s dancing crazy in the streets. That’s moshing! Straight up, David was moshing. If King David is moshing, don’t you think it’s appropriate for us to be able to mosh too? 

Matt: It says the clanging of the cymbals. It also doesn’t say signing a clean, perfect note. It says the utterances of the Holy Spirit! 

Brendan: So, I don’t want to hear it! You could be Helen Keller making noises and God still understands it! Not to mention that Paul warns Christians, when he’s writing to the church of Corinth in the book of Corinthians, he’s warning people against the notion of becoming so fixated on a particular type of worship or a particular type of religion. He warns against that and he says, “Remember that the body is made up of different parts. Some are the legs, some are the arms, some are the eyes. But all of them suffer when one of them is absent.” 

I like to think of music genres, unless it’s blatantly satanic, obviously that is wrong, In my opinion. But there’s no scripture, there’s no evidence to show that this is wrong. And in fact, we’re seeing deliverance. We’re seeing miracles. The Bible is very clear about looking at the fruits to see what the tree is like. 

We’re seeing people saved, people being set free. People who we’ve actually called the police for, because they were going to take their life. We’ve gotten requests to do that for them, because they couldn’t bring themselves to do it. Those are the fruits of the Spirit of God. That promotes life. That promotes positivity. And we want to be all about that. 

Dallen: For anyone out there that doesn’t like metal, feel free to contact me! We’ll have a great conversation.

Brendan: You’re allowed to not like the music, but you can’t say that it’s not Biblical. We’re not anti-God because we’re playing metal music. It’s also one of the most untapped markets for Christian music in general. Worship, there’s tons of radio stations. You can find worship. You sing it in your churches. But Christian hard rock, heavy metal, there’s not a lot. You’ve got Skillet, maybe Stryper, a few others, but there’s not a whole lot of huge bands that actually reach out into that one. 

We play with almost exclusively secular artists outside of festivals and it’s such a huge ministry opportunity for us, because we see it all the time. We see different bands coming up to us, saying “hey you guys are awesome.” Outside of that, we get the Christians in those bands, they’ll come up to us and say “thank you guys for what you’re doing.” There’s a level of respect when you’re just trying to make good music. We try to make good music and we keep our messaging, we do our best to keep it in line with biblical truth. 

But we’re spreading a message to an area that doesn’t consistently get it. And even if you don’t like the music, which I understand. I love it, but it’s not for everybody, I totally understand that. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t people in the community who need to hear it. Whether that’s from us, whether that’s from another Christian band, just making that path and letting people know “Hey, there’s another option. There’s someone greater who you can reach out to with your struggles.”

Dallen:  You also have to think that pages like Kingdom Core exist, but you’re not going to find the pop version of that, because it’s so easy to find contemporary Christian music, any Christian artist. You can just Google Christian artists and it’s going to bring you all your Phil Wickhams and Rend Collectives. But Kingdom Core is specifically for metal artists. There’s a dedicated page for that for a reason. I think that’s a fruit of the labor as well, in my opinion.

Solid Rock Unplugged: Any final thoughts?

Nate:  We’re really appreciative that you’re taking the time to do this with us. Like we said before, all the systems, the minor systems that affect the bigger systems - we can’t do what we do without all of our family. And if anyone wants to support my wife, she actually worked incredibly hard on our merch designing this past couple weeks. She helped me big time with “Memory Relapse,” and everything that entails. There’s a lot of stuff that goes into it. 

I’m incredibly grateful for her and some days it’s just so much work. I think it’s in the Bible, it says “Many hands make the burden light.” I know God has put each of us with our partners, and Brendan in the future.

Brendan: Woohoo, single!

Nate:  For now, his family, though. He’s got people who are backing him up. Whether it’s a significant other or someone in that person’s life, that’s just a family member or friend. 

Brendan: The beagle!

Nate: Brendan’s dog is the best! 

Matt: We love his beagle!

Nate: It’s just so important. And the fans are a huge part of that. Man, the fans singing the songs just stirs my heart in such a righteous way. It really, really does, every single time. It would be so lonely up singing up there and [the band] playing their instruments up there with people who don’t know the music, who are engaging in the music. 

We’re just so thankful for all of the team members we have on the team too. Everyone is doing their part to help make this happen. It’s just incredible! We’re so thankful. 

Solid Rock Unplugged: Anything else you guys want to push or support?

Nate: Please follow us on Spotify! Or any music outlet, for that matter. I use Apple Music

Dallen: Jesus is pretty cool, guys. He’s a cool guy. You should read his book! I hear it’s pretty popular. It’s a best seller from what I hear!

Check out Saved By Skarlet’s new single, “Memory Relapse,” dropping THIS FRIDAY, September 19th, 2025! Look them up on Facebook & Spotify.