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?
i remember going over to issa's house early before the "test of strength" cd release show so we could learn the lyrics together (his idea, i swear). granted, a lot of the songs had been played at shows already, but rob was impressed when issa and i (and of course hardcorey, but that was nothing new!) knew every lyric to every song. there was a lot of yelling into mics and 2-finger pointing by us that night.
ReplyDeletei will always be partial to the steve bolton era act of faith as i was really into seeing them in the early days and loved the skate rock hardcore era of their music. i sang "flashback" and "modern day hero" when i jammed with them. i probably would have sang for them had they wanted me, but they were wise enough to know that it wasn't the right match.
ReplyDeleteHey Rebecca - That is an awesome story of you and Issa learning their lyrics before the Test of Strength release show. I remember that show, with Car vs. Driver opening at the Somber Reptile. It was a packed house, for sure and a great time.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started going to shows, these dudes were just getting going, and I'm so glad I grew to be friends with all of 'em. AOF led the way for a lot of us younger bands (and the older ones, too), and getting to be part of the band for its last two years was a lot of fun. Jon Dixon is like an older brother to me. By the way, if you ever want to find him, hit up one of the public skateparks around Atlanta on a Sunday morning for "Old Man" day.
ReplyDeleteI spent a lot of Friday nights at the band's Dacula practice spot ("the boom boom room") back in the day and filled in on bass for a couple of practices when Josh was out of town. I jocked them so hard they had no choice but to eventually let me in the band when a spot opened up.
When we were on tour in '95 in Calif., we stayed with a dominatrix who had booked our shows and met a guy who was temporarily in San Francisco, but lived in Germany and was very familiar with AOF.
If there's a reunion I'd like to see/be a part of, this would be it.
Wow, a link to the Test of STrength CD. I was thinking of hitting Jeff Jawk (you guys remember Jeff of course) up to see if he could ISO a disc for me. AOF was the first band I really got into back in my sXe days. I must have been 16 at the time and went to shows as often as possible. Thanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly that is Jeff Jawk against the fence in the album photo. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
ReplyDeleteAhhh, tracks with artwork too.
That is not Jeff. It is the younger brother of the girl that was dating Josh at the time. Did you follow that?
ReplyDeleteI was at that show early to see Spiney Norman as always, and all the other bands of course. Thank you for archiving all this wonderful music, I thought I'd never hear some of it again. My first band played a couple shows with the Atlanta HC bands, we went by Subterra at the time, later we reformed as the Obnoxious Kids
ReplyDeletehttp://www.myspace.com/obnoxiouskids
and played a lot of shows with The Oswalds, Round Ear Spock, and Smedly And The Space Cadets, opening for a lot of touring acts.
hey nice post, love hearing these albums since i lost mine years ago. i was actually the kid on the cover of test of strength. josh was dating my older sister at the time. we took the shot at duluth middle school.
ReplyDeleteHey Karl - that's funny, I guess I never really thought that the cover was a photo, and where the photo came from. Iconic early 90's Atlanta HC imagery. Glad you enjoyed hearing them again, hopefully I can get Brad to write some more Gwinnett themed stuff someday.
ReplyDeleteThey organized a "photo shoot" where we were all to show up with hooded sweatshirts on (but non-band/printed ones) and we were supposed to look like we were judging Karl or confronting him! Of course I'm covered by him so you can't see me in the picture. Rick and Rondal's friend Josh Massey (Knievel) took the photos. He died years back of an overdose.
ReplyDeleteI recently found a copy of the "Ex-Members of" 7". It's pretty damn good. I still have everything AOF put out except for the first demo. I keep up with Rob and JL on Facebook, and keep dreaming we could get all of these bands back for a big reunion show. I think Crisis Under Control is playing ing again, so maybe I'll get to see them at least!
ReplyDeleteTest of Strength was one of the first hardcore albums I ever bought was back in the early 90's, from Very Distro! AOF found their way to an impressionable teenager in the middle of nowhere and I thank you!
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