AFI

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Hometown:: Ukiah, California, United States
Founded:: 1991
Genre:: Alternative
Label(s):: DGC Records/Interscope

Website:

http://www.afireinside.net

Members:

Jade Puget (Guitar) [(1998-Present)]
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Davey Havok (Vocals) [(1991-Present)]
Hunter Burgan (Bass) [(1997-Present)]
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Adam Carson (Drums) [(1991-Present)]
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FORMER Members:

Vic Chalker (Bass) [(1991-1992)]
Geoff Gresge (Bass) [(1992-1997)]
Mark Stopholese (Guitar) [(1991-1998)]

Biography

AFI (shorthand for “a fire inside”) are a rare thing: A band who came up from the American hardcore underground who made good on their promise to evolve and progress while lesser bands used those very terms to plumb the depths of mediocrity. Formed in Northern California in 1991 by co-founders Davey Havok (vocals) and Adam Carson (drums) as a light-speed hardcore band, epitomized by their 1995 debut for the Wingnut label, Answer That And Stay Fashionable, and its follow-up, Very Proud Of Ya (issued by Nitro the following year), the band would go through both personnel shifts and growing pains. When bassist Hunter Burgan replaced Geoff Kresge for 1997’s Shut Your Mouth And Open Your Eyes, Carson, Havok and guitarist Mark Stopholese were trading speedy tempos for more melodic ideas and darker imagery; think Social Distortion hanging out at a goth club. Stopholese left the band in 1998 after completing the band’s A Fire Inside EP for the Adeline label. The guitar slot was filled by Jade Puget, a longtime friend of Havok’s whose contributions to 1999’s Black Sails In The Sunset and 2000’s The Art Of Drowning ushered in a new chapter in the band’s continued evolution.

In 2002, the band made the jump to the majors, aligning themselves with DreamWorks. AFI’s first album for the label, 2003’s Sing The Sorrow, was a curious mix of post-punk energy and heightened dynamics, all manifested in Havok’s haunting lyricism and Puget’s ability to forge arena-rock hooks. AFI’s ability to galvanize listeners weary of punk-rock clichés and bloodless modern rock carried on with the release of Decemberunderground (2006) and Crash Love (2009). The former disc perfected their sense of the anthemic (“Miss Murder,” “Love Like Winter”), while the latter release contained some of the quartet’s most sonically ambitious work to date. “I don’t feel like we’re a genre band,” Puget told AP in 2009. “Any scene that we were ever a part of doesn’t exist anymore. I don’t feel like we’re part of any scene.”