Redemption 87 - The Spidey Sessions 1995

I think most of us would probably agree that Redemption 87 was one of the best and most important Hardcore bands ever to come out of Northern California… along with Second Coming, Powerhouse and Hoods, they were an essential band that played a pivotal role in helping revive Hardcore in the Bay Area (and beyond) during the mid-late 1990’s. Without them, Northern California Hardcore as we know it would not be the same…

Redemption 87 originally formed sometime back in 1995 (thanks due in large part to a mutual friend of the band; Lars Frederiksen of Rancid), with the intention of playing more traditional Hardcore in the vein of bands like Youth Of Today, Bold and Gorilla Biscuits. Having collectively played in such diverse bands as; Unit Pride (Eric), Skankin’ Pickle (Ian), The Hi Fives (Gary) & Token Entry (Timmy) the newly formed group set out to play Hardcore reminiscent of the classic bands that they had all loved so much growing up.

In the following months Redemption 87 would play out whenever possible, often alongside local bands like AFI, Screw 32, Good Riddance and Powerhouse. Touring would prove extremely difficult however, as Timmy Chunks was living in Southern California at the time and was already committed to touring full-time as a guitar-tech and roadie for popular bands like Green Day and L7. Scotty (The Struggle Buggies) would eventually join Redemption 87 as a rhythm and “back-up” guitarist, although he would ultimately be replaced by Jade (later of AFI).

Redemption 87 would eventually go on to release their CLASSIC “self-titled” full length album on New Age Records (Turning Point, Lifetime, Strife, Unbroken) sometime in late 1996. Two years later, the band would issue “All Guns Poolside!” (a collection of unreleased, cover and demo songs) through the legendary Blackout! Records (Sheer Terror, Breakdown, H2O, Outburst) as well. You can hopefully expect to see related-posts for both of those records in the not-so-distant future…

Although these 4-songs (produced by Lars Ferderiksen) were originally recorded sometime back in 1995, this 7” wasn’t released until 1998 when it came out on San Ramon’s Breakout Records (now defunct). Unfortunately, the band was essentially done by this point, and I can vaguely remember them rescheduling their ‘final’ show at Gilman Street several times before “officially” calling quits sometime in late-1998/early-1999 (Redemption 87 would later reunite for a pair of shows in April of 2004).

As we all know, Eric Ozenne later went on to front The Nerve Agents during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s and he subsequently formed Said Radio with fellow Redemption 87 alumni; Gary. This is definitely some classic material from an essential Bay Area band… do yourselves all a favor and check it out.

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