Act of Faith - First Demo (+ Bonus)

Here is the download: Act of Faith's First Demo

And while we are at it, let's just post everything:

Act of Faith - Soul of One Single

Act of Faith - Test of Strength CD (includes the Forward tape)

Act of Faith - Gain CD

I would like to thank Carter from The Difference, et al. for being so thorough and posting all the music on HotAtlDIY.com as well as great histories, pictures, etc. from all these 90's Atlanta hardcore bands.

The first Act of Faith demo is special to me, as this is how I first saw them and became a fan of their music as great skate rock from Atlanta. They were very much influenced by O.C.B. at this point, but on changing their singer from Steve Bolton to Rob Fuller in 1990-1991 or so, they left the skate rock vibe behind and came into their own, more aggressive hardcore sound. At the time, Matt Mauldin of Venosity/Bloodspoon sang for a few practices with them, but fortunately did not join the band and instead started Car Vs. Driver with Steve Wishart, which in turn brought me into this scene.

I won't go on too much about these guys, as their music and histories can be found all over the place, but please enjoy their music and leave any comments, stories or messages that you might have for us to enjoy. Thanks.

Here are the artwork and lyrics from that first demo:

And here is a classic from August 29, 1992 - how many of you were at this show?

O.C.B. - Die Trying

Here is the download: O.C.B. - Die Trying Demo

Okay, before I get any further, you need to check out Lawrence from O.C.B.'s Myspace Page (go to his pics section), where he has posted literally hundreds of amazing flyers from the late 80's - early 90's Atlanta shows. It is unbelievable, and is like having your own version of Fucked Up and Photocopied for your home town. Check it out, and make sure you have blocked out enough time in your day to really soak it in.

So back to O.C.B., when I was 15 years old or so, I used to frequent my local skate shop, BC Surf and Sport (later Ollies) in Roswell, and this demo was in the display case along with the first Act of Faith demo as local "skate rock". I never even heard the recording, but just seeing that tape left an impression on me, and made me think of the local music happening in the area just out of my reach at the time. Now, thanks to Steve Wishart, I finally have the demo and can share it for others that might have been in similar circumstances where this music might have been heard. Like the Spiney Norman "Cups n' Coffee" tape, this is a demo that might as well be a full album for the number of songs included, but that was the only way we could get the music out there at that time.

I never personally saw OCB live or knew any of the members, but Matt Mauldin has some experience with them, and can give some personal insight into these guys:

"In late 1989, I was 15 and had been into punk, hardcore, and underground metal for a few years by that point. The problem was my age, I never was able to get to the Metroplex even though I knew of alot of shows happening there. I had just started going to concerts in the past year, but hadn't seen any smaller shows with real underground or good local bands. I would hear about about cool local bands on WREK's Thursday night punk show or Friday night's "WREKage".

One night in the fall of 1989, instead of going to the Milton High School football game in Alpharetta where I lived, a friend and I caught a ride to this crazy place that we had heard about (in Cumming of all places) that had shows. The place was called Visions and it was the first place that I ever saw real grassroots hardcore and metal shows. Some of the Atlanta punk and metal bands would venture up there and play. Jawbreaker even played there on their tour for Unfun in 1990. Needless to say I never went back to another high school football game.

There were two bands that I saw play at Visions multiple times over the course of 1989 and 1990 that made a huge impact on me; they made me believe in the power of "DIY". It was a wild revelation that I could go to this shack in the middle of the woods in Cumming, Ga and see bands play that would blow my mind just as much or more as seeing some huge band play on a huge stage. One of those bands was F.U.C.T., an awesome metal/hardcore crossover band from Nashville. The other was Cumming, GA's own O.C.B. (Overly Compulsive Behavior).

O.C.B. by this time had been playing hardcore shows in Atlanta opening up for touring bands. They had a tape out and were getting played on the WREK punk show. I knew their name, so I anticipated seeing something cool when I saw them for the first time at Visions (I guess this was around December of '89). I remember the opening strains of the song "My Mistake" and these four dudes up there jamming looking kind of disheveled like they had just gotten off of work at a construction job. These were pot smoking, beer drinking, long haired, punk rockers playing classic aggressive but melodic hardcore that made you want to dance. Like a great hardcore band, O.C.B. had an element of danger about them; they seemed like the types of dudes that you might get in trouble for hanging out with. Their "sound man" was named Taco and had a pony tail and wore a hat that said "narcotics officer", classic stuff! Each guy in the band added their own element to the overall personally, and it was total energy when they played.

Basically, it was our own little part of world's take on classic SoCal hardcore like the Adolescents and stuff like that. It was utterly brilliant to see them play and I've never seen anything quite like it since. They did the "Die Trying" tape and also the "Dance Not Destroy" tape (let James know if you have a copy-I'd love to hear this). They started playing alot with F.U.C.T. and even opening for Melvins at The Masquerade, and their sound got heavier and more metallic right before they broke up around the end of 1990. I was in their practice space and remember hearing a song they were working on called "Aftertaste" right at the end that was different from the early stuff but very cool. Anyway, Act of Faith kind of picked up the torch from O.C.B. and the rest is history. Great stuff though and I'm glad James got his hands on this recording.

Visions ended up moving to Buford Hwy late in 1990 for like two weeks before it was gone forever. But while I was going there I got to see alot of cool bands and played my first show there along with Spiney Norman and the Wishart Bros in Such As. Good times."

Here are some O.C.B. flyers for your perusal. Once again, check out Lawrence's page - you will not be disappointed:

August 12, 1990 - O.C.B. with Distemper and Venocity (featuring Matt Mauldin on vocals!) at the Masquerade

November 12, 1988 - O.C.B. with Social Disease, Ghost Story and Cyanide at Excelsior Mill (i.e. The Masquerade under its original name)

May 8, 1991 - Fugazi with O.C.B. and Random Conflict at the Carriage Inn


August 24, 1990 - No Fraud with O.C.B. at The Nite Owl


May 26 - The Accused with Brotherhood and O.C.B. at The Pit


September 7, 1989 - U.K. Subs with Lost Generation, Lastregus Nosferatus and O.C.B. at The Cotton Club

April 7 - O.C.B. with Animosity at Visions

March 27, 1988 - FUCT with O.C.B., Fatal PMS, and Zero Hour at Elliston Square

June 10, 1990 - O.C.B. with Anitschism and Humanicide at Jake's

October 3 - Circle Jerks with The Weirdos and O.C.B. at the Masquerade

October 26 - Nihilist with FUCT, O.C.B., and Skeletal Earth at The Wreck Room

June 1, 1988 - Lastregus Nosferatus with O.C.B. at The White Dot

May 27 - The Melvins with Mercyland and O.C.B. at the Masquerade

November 29 - O.C.B. with FUCT, Skeletal Earth and Gardens Of at The Wreck Room

And here are some O.C.B. live photos:

Attaining The Supreme (Whirled Records Compilation 1995)

Here is the download: Attaining The Supreme

Track Listing:

1: Man Or Astroman - Joker's Wild

2: Whirlybird - Foogatavie

3: M Blanket - Some Other Day

4: Swank - Latin American Negro

5: Teeth - Enzyme

6: Squatweiler - 73 Degrees

7: Shade - In The Battle

8: Quadiliacha - It Happens

9: Hot Water Music - Incisions

10: Waffle Stomper - Berol Giant

11: Maximillian Colby - New Jello

12: Tanner Boyle - Phase To Retired

13: Second Hand - Rose And A Thicket Of Thorns

14: Horace Pinker - Extra Step

15: Water Monitor - User Friendly

16: Less Than Jake - This Is Going Nowhere

17: The Pee Tanks - Santa Gada Da Vida

18: Car Vs. Driver - I Was Bitter

19: The Odd Numbers - So Many Girls (Live)

20: Bug Hummer - Burning Atlanta

This was a compilation put out by Whirled Records out of Richmond, Virginia in 1995, which included a few Atlanta bands (Quadiliacha, Car Vs. Driver) and several regional bands (Bug Hummer from Savannah, Hot Water Music and Less Than Jake from Gainesville Florida, Man Or Astroman from Auburn Alabama). The Car Vs. Driver song "I Was Bitter" was one of our earliest songs and a crowd favorite, although I'm not sure if they really thought it was a great song, or they just liked yelling "Bitter!" through our sets.

Whirled Records was run by the guys in Whirlybird (obviously), and put out some great releases from Richmond bands during this time. This was a high period for Richmond music in the mid-nineties: Hose Got Cable, Maximillion Colby/Sleepytime Trio, Action Patrol, Avail, Hell Mach Four, and Whirled Records was one of the local labels that supported quality releases by many of these.

Listening back on the compilation today, my favorite bands have to be Maximillian Colby and Bug Hummer who were both amazing bands of the time. The Man or Astroman song is classic, of course, being a live song by possibly the best live band of the mid-nineties. I like most of the other songs for what they were, but the Second Hand is so strangely brilliant and hilarious, it has become my new favorite - they really hated god, that much is clear. The song by Shade was one favorite back in that time in the Christie Front Drive vein, but it's lustre has faded a bit over the past 13 years, and my tastes have changed.

Here is the artwork for the release:

Lake Pontchatrain's Very Own Batch of Gimps Quartet

Here is the download: Batch of Gimps Tape

Keeping in the direction of the Spiney Norman discography posted a little while back, here is the tape by Batch of Gimps, which included the two Gregs (Drums and Vokills) for Spiney Norman as well as Brian Kincheloe from The Skats and Chuck Petrakopoulos from Jenkin's Ear. This was also Moodswing Records' first release, which became a great label for releasing local (and some not so local) bands during the nineties straight through to today. The Lay Down Mains record was just recently put out by Moodswing, so Chuck has kept the label going through all kinds of transformations and permutations. In fact, it might be the longest running local label out there today.

This is only a 5-song demo, which is pretty minimal compared to the prolific Spiney Norman, but it is interesting to compare how their sound changed with the switching of the stringed instruments in the lineup. It is clear that Chuck and Brian were more aggressive and not as melodic in their songwriting compared to Spam and John, but Greg Stubs sings right through it and finds a nice spot for his vocals in the mix. I never got to see them personally, as I was playing in 3 bands and going to college full-time during this period, so if Car vs. Driver, Midget Farmers, or the Go-Steadys didn't play with them, I most likely didn't get to see them. I enjoy hearing this now, however, as I have known all these guys to some extent, and their music is such a personal expression of who they are, it is great to see this particular combination as they create their music.

More on this scene/tangent soon.

Please Don't Disappoint Glenn

I am very excited to have Glenn Danzig finally endorse one of our flyers. We're playing tomorrow (Friday) night at Wonderroot on Memorial Drive, so feel free to check it out. Remember when there were no clubs booking our bands and we played at Under the Couch, I-Defy, Liquid Bean, BLTs, etc? This place reminds me of that time - and it's all ages! Bring your kids!

Levelhead - The CD That Will Never Be

Here is the download: Levelhead Discography

Cory from Round Ear Spock mentioned Levelhead in a comment recently, so I thought it was high time to post their LP that was never released as well as the split 7" with Quadiliacha and the "Spooky" 7". This was a great Atlanta band of the west coast melodic punk variety (think Lookout Records), and would put on really fun shows during the mid-Nineties. They actually had a great knack for melody, and rose above the high concentration of pop-punk bands during this era. Many shows were played with Quadiliacha, with Car Vs. Driver, with tons of other bands, and then they were gone. I knew Matt Monroe the bassplayer a bit, and would see him around town every so often, but I believe he never joined another band. If I remember correctly, he was in a project or two that never got off the ground, but it's all a bit hazy right now. I do remember he was a journalism major in college, and eventually moved to the Virgin Islands, where he worked at their local paper, and basically drank every day and stared out at the ocean. For us living in non-tropical Atlanta, this seemed like heaven. Later in the band, they got a second guitarist from the Pullouts named Damien, who also started The Walt Lariat with Brian Lysne from the Midget Farmers, so everything comes full circle.

By the way, Cory has recently started a blog called Under The Muck, that posts obscure records from the Seventies onwards, covering a wide range of styles. Check it out, it has potential to be pretty interesting.

Here are some flyers posted on the Levelhead Myspace page, I vaguely remember playing the Anti-Punkzine Benefit at the Somber Reptile - was that the one where Dan and Dave Punk had mics on either side of the stage and do little pep talks while bands were setting up?


Lastly, here are the lyrics and insert from the split 7" with Quadiliacha. Unfortunately I do not have the artwork for the "Spooky" 7". Thanks also to Steve Wishart for sending me this nicely compiled discography.

Quadiliacha Flyers 1993 - 1998, 2007

I have been preparing a Quadiliacha mega-post with Will Greene for this blog, and one of the main elements is Will's flyer collection, which I have scanned and included here. I will post all of the recordings, release artwork and an interview with Will in the next few weeks, but please enjoy a little trip through the gay nineties with Quadiliacha, and please leave comments on whatever memories you might have from these shows. Also, I don't have a year for some of these flyers, but all of these shows occurred between 1993 and 1999 for the exception of the reunions in 2007, so I just ordered the flyers by day and month. Let me know if you have the years for some of these.

January 8 and January 13, 1996 at the Godless Red house in Athens with Tres Kids, The 4 Squares, I Farm, Damad, Lazy Cain and Hot Water Music. Gray Kiser, B-Rad and Crystal Bradley lived in the Godless Red Athens house (an annex of the Atlanta Godless Red house with Jeff Jawk and Mike Mallory), and had some great shows, including these. One of the best was a Regicide show in which we lit off a homemade fireworks device called the Hell-Fire Chicken Tower and destroyed the carpet. Gray lost his deposit on that one.

January 11 (1997?) at Sea of Timeless Records in Sandy Springs north of Atlanta. I seem to remember things getting out of hand at this show. Either way, I don't remember them doing shows for very long.

January 13, 1996 at Godless Red house in Athens with Damad and Regraped. This is part of the flyers above, but was posted on the day of the show. I guess Lazy Cain and Hot Water Music cancelled.

February 25, 1996 at The Point with Broken, Levelhead and MFR. The Point did all ages hardcore matinee shows near the end of their existence, and let to some legendary shows (including this one). I wasn't at the show myself, but I seem to remember it being a wild time. Weren't a few of these bands banned from the Point after this?

March 25, 1994 at the Somber Reptile with The Queers and Car Vs. Driver. Classic mid-nineties homemade flyer. This is what they looked like before we got computers (and we were retarded). No deadheads allowed I guess.

March 30, 1997 at Full Circle with Assuck, Hot Water Music, The Trans Megetti and Ex Members Of. I am not sure where Full Circle was, but Quad and EMO were both Atlanta bands so it must have been somewhere in the region. Good lineup.

April 4 (1997?) at Under the Couch with Ex Members Of (ex-Act of Faith) and Downpour (ex-Broken). This is like the classic Somber Reptile hardcore shows moved a few streets over to the Georgia Tech Campus. Did The Rod make a guest appearance?

April 6, 1996 at 519 N. Ross (in Auburn) with Damad and Disillusioned. Total college town flyer, as evidenced by the different cover charges with or without keg access.

April 8, 1995 at The Wreck Room with Levelhead and Blindside. Be warned, Greg King will kill everyone who wasn't at this show.

April 29, 1995 at the Somber Reptile with Chokehold, The Difference and Act of Faith. Ricky Martin promotes hardcore.

May 5, 1994 with 7 Seconds, Broken and Stopper. Computers certainly took some of the business out of our homemade flyers.

May 9, 1997 at Dead Body House in Athens with Assuck and Tres Kids. There was some fast drumming going on at this show.

May 13, 1994 at Somber Reptile with Lagwagon, The Difference and Broken. Along with Lookout Records, Fat Records bands did a lot of touring in the Southeast during the 1994 time period, and the Atlanta bands played with all of them.

May 17, 1997 at 403 Chaos in Tampa with Scrotum Grinder and Andromeda. Computers are starting to be used for flyers in the 1996/1997 era, and you can see the design shift.

May 19, 1995 at The Driver Dome with Hal al Shedad, Fragment and Year Zero. I believe this is one of the only times Hal played with Quadiliacha, as there became so many local bands by this time that there started to be sub-scenes within Atlanta, and we drifted apart.

June 14 at the Somber Reptile with Levelhead, Act of Faith and Weston. Even though Weston is the out of town band, I'm sure Act of Faith headlined and packed the place out. During this time they were a bigger draw for Atlanta shows than any other hardcore band in the country.

June 21, 1997 at the Goat Farm in Ohio with John Bender, The Undesirables and The Feds. Quadiliacha hits the road for the Summer.

June 24, 1997 at The Loft in Chicago with Oblivion and Rustweiler. I never knew Oblivion myself, but Q seems to have played with them quite a bit.

June 24, 1995 at Gilman St. in Berkeley, CA with The Bollweevils, White Kaps, Levelhead and The Pomeranians. Playing Gilman St. in 1995 must have been something.

June 25, 1994 at the Somber Reptile with Propagandhi, Levelhead, Habeus Corpses and Smedley & The Space Cadets. 1000 Ken Saluzzi points for this show.

June 25, 1997 at The Legion of Doom (in Ohio) with FMD, Burned Up Bled Dry, Inept and Party of Helicopters. Quadiliacha 1997 Summer Tour.

June 27, 1997 at ABC No Rio in New York with Judas Iscariot, God Awful and MegaWeapon. Like Gilman St., another legendary venue of the era.

June 30, 1995 at Andy Stivers' house in East Lake with Jara and Inkwell. This was Inkwell's first show ever, if I am not mistaken.

July 4, 5, 6, 1997 at the Met Cafe in Providence, Rhode Island with Faithless, Charles Bronson, Lightning Bolt, Lycosa, Drop Dead, Paindriver, Lesion, McVeighs, Unsettled, Ojorojo, Bongzilla, Spazz, Grief, Force Field, Fit for Abuse, Voorhees, Mindflayer, Morning Star, Cattle Press, Saturation, Eat Shit and a few bands I can't figure out. What a fest.

July 5, 1997 at VFW Post 8692 in Colonie, NY with Spazz, Monster X, Devoid of Faith, Judas Iscariot, Dead Baby and Greyland. Show starts at 1:00 PM - remember those?

July 5, 1998 at 403 Chaos in Tampa with Los Crudos, Process Is Dead and Scrotum Grinder. This was a late-period show for them.

July 8, 1995 at Twisters in Richmond with Whirlybird, Christie Front Drive, Levelhead and One Nature. Whirlybird always booked Atlanta bands in Richmond. Great guys.

July 15, 1993 at Somber Reptile with Gauge and Car Vs. Driver. CVDs first show, and Quadiliacha's second. I seem to remember somebody dancing on stage during Quadiliacha's set, but to this day I have not been able to verify who this was.

July 19, 1996 at The Fireside Bowl in Chicago with Oblivion, Sleepasaurus, The Halflings, and The Crumbs. Loved playing there, but have never actually bowled.

July 20, 1998 at WMUC in Maryland with Shoutbus and De Nada. Another late-period Q flyer.

July 23, 1998 at QE2 on Central Avenue (where?) with Seein' Red, Palatka, 12 Hour Turn, Police Line and The Disenchanted. Seein' Red still plays in Amsterdam every month.

July 26, 1998 at Cafe Chaos (Montreal?) with Manner Farm, Face Up Reality and Blue Jacket Rebellion. Q 1998 Summer Tour continues.

July 27, 1996 at Common Ground in Long Island with Drop Dead, Devoid of Faith, Suffer, C.R., and Black Army Jacket. Cool flyer - Worship Your Hardcore God.

July 29, 1998 at 4120 Trumbull in Detroit with Palatka, John Bender and 12 Hour Turn. Nice Big Boys shout-out, but pretty amateur flyer in the 1998 computer graphic era. No Guns or Raver kids, which I guess is an issue at Detroit shows.

August 2, 1998 at Knights of Columbus Hall in Aberdeen (Ohio?) with The Adversives, 4th Grade Nothing and Kinship.

August 9, 1998 at Stage 4 Theater in Portland with The Adversives and Intifada. I like the creature on the flyer.

August 11 (1995?) at the I-Defy house with Hot Water Music, Swank and Walleye. $3 is a pretty good price for this lineup, and in Gavin's living room!

August 11, 1998 at House of He-Man in Boise with The Adversives, Classic A-Holes and Intifada.

August 14, 1998 at Gilman Street in Berkeley with Babyland, Wet Nap, Tres Kids and The Secretions. Another Quadiliacha show at Gilman St.

August 15, 1996(?) at the Somber Reptile with Oblivion and Catchpole. Check out the other upcoming shows on the flyer.

August 17, 1996(?) at The Somber Reptile with Voodoo Glow Skulls, Dog Pound and Levelhead. Voodoo Glow Skulls ruled the Somber Reptile during this era. I was playing elsewhere.

September 29, 1996(?) at Somber Reptile with Face To Face, Levelhead and Five by Nine.

October 5, 1996 at Unity 1605 (Birmingham?) with Exhaust and Tres Kids. I'm surprised Hulk Hogan is on only one flyer in this collection, but it's a good one. I remember Exhaust playing at Dottie's around this time and taking a walk around the neighborhood after soundcheck. They were subsequently mugged.

October 18, 2007 at The Drunken Unicorn with All Night Drug Prowling Wolves and American Cheeseburger. The big reunion show, which was a lot of fun. Plenty of footage on Youtube from this one.

November 6, 1998 at the Hardback Cafe in Gainesville, FL with Asshole Parade and Tres Kids. This must have been one of the last Quadiliacha shows. The Hardback was always a great place to play.

November 8, 1996 at The Dead Body House in Athens with Levelhead and The Martin Family. CD release show for the purple album.

November 8, 1997 at 403 Chaos in Tampa with I Hate Myself. Another great venue in the US. I like the flyer.

November 25, 1995(?) at Somber Reptile with NOFX and Face To Face. This show must have been packed.

December 8, 1996 at I-Defy House with Hickey and Tres Kids. Hickey was great, I never saw a band bum hardcore/emo kids out more.

December 12, 1997 at Magnifico House in Jacksonville with 12 Hour Turn, Cards in Spokes and Tres Kids. Jason still makes this face when he drums.

December 15, 1996 with Hickey and Tres Kids at the Capri Cinema. I have no idea in what city this show took place.

December 17, 1997 at Auto Styling International in Warminster Pennsylvania with Under Privileged Nation, Kill the Man Who Questions and The Jazz June.

December 19, 1995 at The Flag House in Tampa (Ybor City) with Order of Importance. This graphic was used for a Floodgate flyer at the Somber Reptile about a year before this. Where did it come from?

December 26, 1997(?) at The South West Community Cultural Center in the West End with Assuck, Hot Water Music, Reversal of Man, Rent America, Early Grace, Portrait and Tres Kids. What a show - how many of you were there?

Lastly, the Quadiliacha Summer tour schedule for 1996, up through the Midwest and down the East Coast. Good times.