This is the first demo from Downshift, the band that would eventually evolve into Sworn Vengeance. To those unaware, Downshift was a Straight Edge band that was originally formed in 1996 by two brothers; Eric (bass) and Marc Fortner (drums). After placing some newspaper ads, the Fortner brothers eventually hooked up with Brian Baumgartner (guitar) and Ryan Encinas (vocals). The band put some songs together, and played their first show at the Danville Grange Hall in January of 1997.
Downshift continued playing shows throughout the Bay Area and quickly decided it was time to record a demo. The “Flame Still Burns” Demo was originally released in 1997 on cassette and featured 4 songs along with an Undertow cover (“Cutting Away”). This recording is a far cry from the later Sworn Vengeance material, so don’t expect to hear any Viking-metal here, just straight up Hardcore. I’d really recommend this demo to fans of heavy 90’s Hardcore, especially bands like (early) Earth Crisis and Unbroken. The cover artwork has been re-sized for itunes.
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Ah yes, the Flame Still Burns demo. 1997!! A little more background on this...we recorded it at this little dinky studio called Audio Cafe up in Berkeley. It was right down the street from Gilman. I found it in the classifieds of the local free music paper, BAM (anyone remember that?)I don't think the engineer/owner had a clue about hardcore and all of us were extremely green as far as recording in a studio. It came out ok but we could have done better. I think the energy level was low and we played much better in a live setting. I remember making tons of copies of this demo and taking them to skate shops around the Bay Area just to get our name and music out there. I'd just ask the owner/manager if I could leave a stack of them on the counter for whoever was interested. We did get a couple shows from doing that. I also sent one to Mike Hood who got us shows up in Sacto. Thanks Mike! Fun times!!
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