"Direct Expression. Bypass mind. Bypass intellect. Self to Sound. Against the dead trend. The robot me. The modern social entity stripped of color and vibrancy. Not philosophy. Not religion. True self expressed in sound."
Simply put, 108 has meant a lot of things to a lot of people over the past 16 years, but the initial announcement of the band’s arrival on the punk scene in the fall of 1992 remains the most apt description of its guiding spirit. In the 4 years following its formation, 108 constantly toured the US and Europe, releasing 3 extremely popular studio LP's, an EP, a live LP, and various songs on different compilations. When the guitar player decided to intensify his studies in Hinduism in 1996, 108 disbanded.
Fast forward to the summer of 2005 when 108 was asked to play a set at a popular US festival. In preparation for this event, the group holed up in a practice studio during the week of the show and found that there was still a natural spark between them and that their old songs had taken on a new life. Two days prior to the show the festival was canceled. Within 24 hours, however, 2 shows were put together in Philadelphia. It was at these shows that the excitement of the crowds fueled the spark the band felt in reuniting and prompted the arrangement of a 7-show tour, on the East and West Coasts, in the spring of 2006.
The passion and energy they felt earlier was further nurtured when playing these next 7 shows, which confirmed 108’s desire to continue playing and composing again. Over the summer, the band saw the release of Creation. Sustenance. Destruction., a 36-song discography on Equal Vision Records documenting their original output of music, followed by 4 more shows across the US and a quick 10 day, 10-show tour of Europe covering 6 countries. During this period, they began writing new music, and it became clear that the best was yet to come.
The heaviness and intensity of 108’s music, fused with the band’s spiritual, political, ethical, emotional, and intellectual underpinnings, is an unlikely marriage but one that produces a powerful synthesis in the world of heavy music. The new songs which will appear on the bands new LP typify this synthesis, with lyrics that speak to our soul-destroying world:
"Lose our minds, one day at a time when pain is all we see. Void humanity with stories at 11, monetary interests (define the) bottom line. Lose our soul, one verse at a time when words overcome feeling. Not a lack of this nor a lack of that, it's just our kind. Is this what I wanted to be? I'm dying for something I never wanted to be." (from “Our Kind”)
No one can deny that fake fashion posturing and lifeless clone music are on the verge of killing heavy music. Revolted by these trends, those who followed 108, even those who thought they had outgrown the genre, are responding to the band’s psychedelic noise infusion, brutal riffage, and incisive lyrics with enthusiasm and profound relief. Those who never experienced the band before have been given access to a band that changes their perception of what a punk band can be. On an undeniable rampage, 108 is shocking listeners back to consciousness and getting them thinking again, feeling again, and banging their heads in defiance at the near-death of heavy music with a message.
In February 2007 the band recorded their new album, "A New Beat From A Dead Heart", with Kurt Ballou at Godcity Studios (Converge), to be released on Deathwish in June 2007. In support of this new album, 108 also plans to tour and play shows through the US, Europe, Japan and South America in 2007.
In February of 2009 108 flew into Boston, MA for a weekend to record what was originally slated to be a new 4 song EP but by Sunday afternoons departure had turned into a 10 song LP entitled 18.61. From the inception of this recording session there was a desire to record a raw and stripped down record and once in the studio things developed so quickly that it was clear that recording just an EP was out of the question thus the new LP was born. The recording was engineer by Alex Garcia-Rivera (ex-Give Up The Ghost) and features Mike Justian (Trap Them, Unearth) on drums. 18.61 is slated for release on Deathwish Inc. later in 2009.
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