Boom! SWORN VENGEANCE (US – ex members of TERROR, FIRST BLOOD, LIGHT THIS CITY), ST HOOD (Finland – members of RATFACE, BECOME A THREAT) and Florida’s OLD HABITS (feat. members of MORNING AGAIN, CULTURE, UNTIL THE END! have joined the Knives Out Records army!
Sworn Vengeance was founded by Brian Baumgartner, brothers Adam and Ryan Encinas, Marc Fortner and Nate Olsen in 1998 from the ashes of the San Francisco Bay Area hardcore band Downshift. While
Downshift had some elements of late 80’s youth crew hardcore bands due to all the members being straight edge, Sworn Vengeance wanted their music to be a much heavier sound with stronger influences of the metal they all grew up listening to.
Their first show was in 1998 at the Maritime Hall in San Francisco with Hatebreed. After a Northwest tour in July, Adam left the band for personal reasons and Bob Hookey stepped in as their new bassist.In September 1998, Sworn Vengeance entered the studio to record an 8-song demo CD entitled “My Friend Violence”. The tracks interested Mike Mraz of the Hoods, who contacted the band about releasing the first album on his new label, Westcoast Worldwide.
In January 1999, a week before recording, Nate decided to step down as guitarist. The band decided to continue as a four piece and record a 10 track CD for Westcoast Worldwide entitled “Abbadon.” Even heavier and faster than before, the material took the band to a whole new level of sound, as well as exposure thanks to Mike Mraz’s networking within the hardcore underground.Taking some tracks off their “My Friend Violence” demo, Sworn Vengeance contributed to a split 7″ with All Bets Off. Also released at that time was a 7″ of the Nineteen Ninety Hate demo (original recorded as Downshift) on Back ta Basics (Rick Healey from 25 ta Life’s label). With these releases plus 2 new songs on the first Westcoast Worldwide compilation, crowds at shows began to grow bigger. Soon after, Bob stepped down to take care of personal matters and Brian, Marc and Ryan auditioned new people. The band picked up Dan Coddaire on second guitarist and Carl Schwartz (First Blood) on bass.
While playing countless shows throughout the Bay Area, Sworn Vengeance hit the studio again and recorded “Domination” at the end of 1999 for Breakout Records. International attention grew with this release and helped them establish themselves as one of the heaviest hardcore bands from California.A few months after “Domination” was released, Dan was asked to step down and the band continued as a four piece, touring both the West Coast and East Coast of the United States, playing with bands like Shadows Fall, Buried Alive, Vision of Disorder, Glassjaw, Cave In, Snapcase, One King Down, Redemption 87, Animosity, Punishment, Blessing The Hogs, NJ Bloodline, 25 ta Life, Hoods, Clear, Unconquered, Eighteen Visions, Dysphoria, Over My Dead Body, Papa Roach and Bleeding Through, among many others. Sworn Vengeance was also asked to perform and be interviewed for an Australian documentary on music, with an audience of 6,000,000 people.
Due to personal and band related disagreements, Marc was asked to step down and Sworn Vengeance picked up Tony Barbier on drums and Doug Weber (Terror) on second guitar. Their sound took a new turn with the addition of these members, as the band felt that they had finally achieved a cohesive unit with everyone on the same page. Sworn Vengeance started writing heavier material with a new twist within their genre – adding harmonies to the riffs. Currently an overdone effect, at the time there were very few, if any, bands in hardcore that were merging harmonies with the much more aggressive and heavier sound that Sworn Vengeance was known for.
in 2001, Too Damn Hype Records approached Sworn Vengeance to record their next full length. The band started to record a series of songs, most for the album and some for some splits and comps that were offered. But a lot of personal and internal pressures were starting to weigh on some of the members, and on the eve of playing a handful of California shows with Hatebreed in March 2002, Sworn Vengeance disbanded.
They briefly reunited in 2003 for two shows to honor their friend Donald Perrot and his girlfriend, who were tragically killed in a car accident (Ryan Wilson and Neil Dhawan, friends of the band, handled bass and guitar duties for these shows). In 2003, the band chose to digitally release the unmastered material they were recording at no cost to their fans. Labeled “The Outstretched Arms of Damnation,” this material consisted of the songs set for their Too Damn Hype Records release, as well as various splits and compilation albums they were preparing material for.Carl and Doug went on to form the band First Blood and play in the band Terror while the rest of the band focused on their education and careers. In October 2007, Brian, Ryan and Tony got together with original bassist Adam and long time friend and music collaborator Neil Dhawan and played a reunion show in Reno, Nevada.
Around this time, the band got some unintentional notoriety due to an article in Entertainment Weekly when they were randomly mentioned due to Brian having the same name as an actor on the NBC television show “The Office.” In November 2010, Brian, Ryan, Neil and Tony got back together and played another reunion show and started discussing re-forming Sworn Vengeance. The band added Jon Frost of At Our Heels and Light This City to join them on bass.
In July 2013, Sworn Vengeance stepped into the studio for the first time in 10 years to record new material for a full length album available on Escapist (USA) and Goodlife (Europe), as well as a split 10″ on Knives Out Records (Paris, France). In August, Sworn Vengeance played with Earth Crisis on their West Coast leg of their Firestorm 20th Anniversary Tour. The band is planning on playing more fests and mini tours in 2014.
ST.HOOD is a 5-piece heavy Hardcore band from Helsinki, Finland. Founded in the fall of 2003 by five friends and influenced by 80’s Heavy & Trash Metal and 90’s Hardcore and Hip Hop music, in 2013ST.HOOD is exactly the same band musically than 10 years ago. Only better harder and tighter.
Giving you the best of Finnish Hardcore music with real and proper heavy guitar riffs, pounding drumming and streetwise lyrics and hard vocals, ST.HOOD mixes it all up with a great Groove! Consisting former and present members from such great Finnish acts as MORNING AFTER, DOWN MY THROAT, 7TH LEGION, RATFACE, BECOME A THREAT and HAMMERTIME, ST.HOOD is still truly one of the top Finnish Hardcore acts and still keeping it real and Hardcore in 2013.
ST.HOOD has been honoured to play 100+ shows over these 10 years around Europe with some of the best and leading Finnish, European and US Hardcore acts
The future for this bands is yet unwritten, but in 2014 ST.HOOD will be releasing their 3rd full length album and playing more shows all around the globe to support that yet unnamed release.
In 2013 ST.HOOD stands firmly and proud on the Hardcore ground, still playing that heavy and metallic but groovy, authentic ST.HOOD streetmusic. Still hungry, still angry, still the same one.
OLD HABITS is a hardcore band from Lake Worth in South Florida, a city and a region rife with hardcore history. Starting with the goal to play fast and heavy music along the lines of hardcore from the early 2000’s, the goal has remained to have fun but keep their voice and message true.
Heavily influenced by bands like Sheer Terror, Kids Like Us, and Gorilla Biscuits they keep the feel of these legends while making new material in their own unique style. Following the release of their EP in 2011, they touched on topics such as friendship, recent wars, and the roots of hardcore itself.
Their sound is fast and heavy reminiscent of early Terror and Agnostic Front. A band with a live show known for being chaotic, featuring many pile-ons and hard dancing while keeping the violence between brothers, they’re a must see.OLD HABITS returned in 2013 with Bury Everything, their debut full length much to the relief of their awaiting fans. Featuring 11 new tracks with songs about politics, religion, rampant technology, and criticisms of the current hardcore scene. It sheds a dark and poignant light on the society we live in and how those thought to only rant and hit each other have a real opinion on what’s going today, and they don’t fucking like it.
Featuring members of Where Fear and Weapons Meet, Culture, Morning Again, and Until the End.
