This was from a blog on the band's Myspace [I edited it for grammatical purposes]: "We had our name because in high school, one of our best friends, Jon Hershey, was also our vocalist at the time. But, right before he joined the band, he was dating this girl named August. The relationship got a bit out of hand, and he really wanted to end it. So, he ended the relationship and instead of just getting sad about it, she got really, really, really, angry, and Jon at the time had a dog named Redd. It was an Irish setter and it had red fur and everything. So, she got really mad, went up to his house, and burned his dog Redd alive, in his dog house. The name and everything comes from, because the next day, the headlines in the newspaper in the local news was “August Burns Redd,” and then we just kind of went with it. It really affected Jon, so when we were picking a band name, that was one that stuck in his head, so he decided to use it. So, our name doesn’t mean anything, it just had a really weird and kind of gross meaning."

And all this time I thought it had to do with brush fires taking place in the month of August. I guess I was wrong.

poor dog

Is that for real...?! That is actually a little disturbing.

I have my doubts about its authenticity.

Yeah, that seems a little out there to me.

nope its true, heard it on their myspace or something a while ago

That is True! I interviewed them for Mass Histeria when they toured with As I Lay Dying and they told me a simliar story, in fact one of the guys still has the newspaper clipping.

Scary.

haha funny! but also a bit weird yea....

I...am...speechless.

i am speechless too! me? was thinking of the weather in nj/pa(where they are from) gets pretty dang hot and humid in august!

I'm going to kill that skank that burned the dog if I ever meet her, but thats still a pretty cool band name. Atleast it has meaning behind it... I mean have yall heard some of the band names people are coming up with these days?

Yes this is true, I've also read it before... These guys are FANTASTIC LIVE... They are not afraid to represent Jesus live either, PRAISE THE LORD!

I don't really care about their name, although it's an interesting story.
They're still one of my favorite bands.

Awesome name origin.
I've known about this for years.

yea they said the same in an interview a while back.
http://www.drivenfaroff.com/2007/05/15/august-burns-red-interview-may-9th-2007/

that's disgusting.

Thats metal

I dont know why people get all mad over relationships ending....That chick took it way too far. Like...I think I could get away with shooting her in Texas for that crap. Sheriff would probably help me bury the body too. This is one of the worst breakup stories ever. Like...wowwwwww. She is konked.

As horrible as that is, I find myself laughing at the fact that they still went through with the name. That August chick is frickin CRAZY sick in the head. lol.

Wow I'm shocked you guys just heard about this haha. I had heard this a long while back.