Half-Life

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japaneseindierock

Биография

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About USA punk band.. 1984—the band o' death begins The Band o' Death (the code name for Half Life) was formed in late 1983 by Mike LaVella and Jeff Lamm after the break-up of Real Enemy, the first hardcore band in Pittsburgh. Realizing that the scene had just started, and should continue, the two set out to continue, not knowing what they would unleash.... The first gig was at the New Group Theatre, May 5th 1984 and consisted of: Jeff Lamm-vocals Mike LaVella-bass Mike Michalski-guitar Blair Powell-drums This was somewhat of a landmark show, as it combined The Five-Pittsburgh's established alternative band with a much younger band and it's (small) crowd. 1983 (the year hardcore happened in the 'burgh) saw very few all-ages gigs, but this was to be the year that Pittsburgh hardcore started it's lift-off. 1985— the noise becomes music In 1985, Blair left, Mike and Jeff got Rick and Ron on guitar and drums, respectively, giving us: Jeff Lamm-vocals Mike LaVella-bass Mike Michalski-guitar Rick Dowdle-Guitar Ron Volpe-Drums This crew produced some pretty decent material, and as Rick was a big fan of the heavy British bands, took a step away from the Flipper-esque proto-noise found in the first set. All ages gigs became common with our general refusal to play bar shows and a desire to play for the kids who formed the majority of the crowd. At this point the What's Right cassette was recorded. Steve Heineman (my bandmate from Real Enemy and White Wreckage) and I were involved with the recording, and I play on several of the songs. Mike Michalski left, and I joined at that time. That put the line up at: Jeff Lamm-vocals Mike LaVella-bass Vinny Curtis-guitar Rick Dowdle-guitar Ron Volpe-drums This version played some pretty powerful shows, but all was not well. There are sayings about bands with 5 people in them, and they're all true. It's always 3 vs. 2. It's dynamic, but always 3 vs. 2. And so in late 1985 we ended up with 3.... 1986—130 decibels can't be wrong Our search for a drummer lead us to Damon, who was in high school at the time. His determination was evident, but he had yet to find his way as a musician. It came to this: we needed a drummer, and he had the energy. We asked him to join, he accepted, and then Mike cut off his new-wave tail (one of those bleached-braided affairs so popular in the 80's). After a few months of practice with Damon, we emerged in 1986 with new songs, and an utter sonic blast of a set. Jeff Lamm-vocals Mike LaVella-bass Vinny Curtis-guitar Damon Che-drums The so-called "metal-crossover" style was just starting to come out, with bands such as Slayer, Venom and Metallica hooking the speed of hardcore with the framework of a metal song. Hardcore songs tended to be short--from 10 seconds to 1 minute, but this crossover thing came along, and suddenly 6 minute multi-part thrashers were the new benchmark. Not to be outdone, songs like Consider the Alternative became the signature of the new Half Life. Gone are the punk anthems. Gone is anything resembling a standard chord change. Not quite metal, but beyond punk. We played our best this year, and pulled together enough cash to record Under The Knife at Blackpond studios in June of 1986. 1987—What Did We Do To Deserve This??? Somewhere around this time life became particulary bleak. I suppose that's going to happen anyhow (and let me tell you, wearing black does NOT make you feel better, so you might as well wear it anyhow 'cause you're so miserable), but somehow as the 80's went on, and though we had a damn good set and could hold our own at any gig, things were to take a drastic change. It was in this time that I wrote the epic Errand of Mercy/By Any Other Name. I consider it to be on of the best things I've ever done, and feel that it acurately describes just about everything I (and we, as a band) felt from 1983 to 1987. We toured the South and West playing such famous places as Gillman's in Berkely, CA, and a pig farm in Texas. Everthing you hear about touring is true. It's fun, but tough, dirty and irritating. It's not a bad trade for the kind of crazy stuff that can only happen to a band on tour, but in the end, it's exhausting. So in the fall of 1987 after our gig with Bl'ast, I retired as a punk guitarist. The guys kept it going for a bit longer, and eventually Half Life came to rest in 1990. But as you know, they won't stay dead.... Vince Curtis, 2003 Ссылка на эту страницу. .
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