Void (band)

Void was a Washington D.C.-based hardcore punk/crossover thrash band. They were one of the first hardcore bands popular in the D.C. scene that was from outside the Beltway, hailing from Columbia, Maryland, a suburb located between D.C. and Baltimore.

History

The band formed in 1980 with lead singer John Weiffenbach, guitarist Jon "Bubba" Dupree, bassist Chris Stover, and drummer Sean Finnegan. They immediately acquired a cult following, in part due to Bubba Dupree's chaotic guitar style, wild performances, and John Weiffenbach's violent lyrics and frenzied behavior. In November 1981, they cut a demo tape at Inner Ear Studios which was produced by Alec MacKaye of The Faith, with whom they would share a split. They were soon picked up by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson's label Dischord Records. In February 1982, they made their vinyl debut on Dischord with three songs on the Flex Your Head compilation. That spring, they went into the studio to cut twelve songs that were released in September 1982 as half of the Faith/Void split album released by Dischord Records.

By 1983, Void had begun incorporating metal influences into their sound, drawing a crowd that became increasingly violent and resulting in even more chaotic shows. In the summer of 1983, they recorded an as-yet unreleased album for (then) Detroit-based Touch and Go Records. According to Touch and Go, they still periodically attempt to get permission to release the album, but to this day that permission is denied by Dupree. In a 2011 interview with Dupree & Stover, Stover remarked that the album was "better left unreleased. It’s out there on the Interwebs for free if you want it."^[1] Void disbanded in the winter of 1984, citing violence at their shows as a factor in the breakup. In 1992, Eye 95 Records released their December 1981 Inner Ear demo tape as the Condensed Flesh EP.

Drummer Sean Finnegan died of a heart attack on Wednesday, January 30, 2008, at age 43. He was working by himself at his beach house on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Sean played in Void while they were active from 1980–1983 and had been working on the set of The Wire.^[2][3]

Dischord Records announced that in October 2011 they would release a new Void compilation album called "Sessions 1981-83," a 34-track CD, LP and MP3 featuring:

• 20 unreleased tracks recorded in 1981 at Hit and Run Studios in Rockville, Md.;
• 10 tracks recorded in 1981 at Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, Va.;
• 2 tracks recorded in June 1982 at Inner Ear Studios (out-takes from the Faith/Void LP);
• 2 live tracks from 1983.^[4]

Discography

Studio albums

• Faith/Void Split LP/CD (Dischord, 1982)
• Potion for Bad Dreams LP (recorded 1983; unreleased, subsequently bootlegged)

Demos

• Condensed Flesh 7" EP (Eye 95, 1982)

Compilations

• "Dehumanized", "Authority" and "My Rules" on Flex Your Head LP/CD (Dischord, 1982)
• "Get Out Of My Way" on Bouncing Babies LP (Fountain of Youth, 1984)
• "Get Out Of My Way" on Lost & Found 7" (Lost & Found, 1990)
• "Who Are You" on Punk Anderson's Favourites bootleg 2xCD (Starving Missile, 1994)
• "Dehumanized", "Black, Jewish and Poor" and "Authority" (take 1 and 2)" on 20 Years of Dischord 3xCD (Dischord, 2002)
• "Who Are You/Time To Die" on the American Hardcore Soundtrack (Rhino Entertainment, 2006)
• "Sessions 1981-83" (Dischord, 2011)

References

External links

• Void at the Dischord Records official website