All Out War - Flyers from the Past

I recently found a bunch of flyers when I drummed for All Out War back in the early 1990s. I thought It would be cool to share these and a blurb about the roots of the band - at least what I can remember...

I made this cheesy flyer for our first show in December of 1991. The line up was me (drums), Jim Antonelli (guitar), Sam Carbone (guitar), John Guerriero (bass) and Mike Score (vocals). As you can see, there's no All Out War logo and my handwriting pretty much sucks. And don't bother calling that phone number - The Class no longer exists.

Mike's flyer (above) is way better and visually more interesting!

This flyer is for a show we played in the winter of 1992. Erik Carrillo had replaced John. His previous band was Violent Plague. This was one of the first flyers that featured the All Out War logo, which the band continues to use to this day. It was only a few months later that Sam would be replaced by Chris Chisholm on guitar.

Za Bar was a small place we played in Dutchess county. I'm almost certain it was a pizza parlor. When you're a new band on the scene, you take what you can get. I do remember  we had written a song called "Sum of All Fears" which we played at this show. We later dropped the song.  A few of the parts can be heard in the song "Show of Force. "

This is a video clip of "Show of Force" from QE2s in Albany, NY (summer of 1993). It was one my last shows with the band. We recorded "Show of Force" with other songs in 1993. We never released the demo. The Dying Gods EP comes with a download of some of the songs from the 1993 Demo.

We opened for a lot of national acts at the skate park in Newburgh. We also played a number of show with Dissolve from Dutchess county. They are an incredibly talented band. I am glad they're still playing shows and recording music.

Above is us performing "Stuck Inside" at the skate park in 1992.

I have no recollection of this Halloween show. But I do know that Rock Fantasy in Middletown, NY is one of the coolest and best places for all things metal.

An interview before a show we played at the Bond Street Cafe in the summer of 1993. You can get sense of where the band was at.

This photo was taken of me in December of 1991 at The Class in Middletown, New York. It was our first show. I can't believe how big my drum set was. Did I really need two floor toms? Sometimes visiting the past can be a blast.

All Out War - Sum of All Fears - 1992 Demo Release - Hardcore

Its been almost twenty years since I left All Out War.  Out of nowhere, I found out that a small record label called Organized Crime Records re-released AOW's first album "Truth in the Age of Lies."  And, to my surprise, our first demo "Sum of All Fears," recorded in the summer of 1992, is included with the re-release as bonus tracks.  Also available is a very cool limited 10 inch record of the demo.

All Out War was influenced by both hardcore and thrash bands of the 1980s.  Back then, fusing these musical styles was something quite new, which only a hand full bands attempted. My memories of recording "Sum of All Fears" was hot, sweaty, and brutal.  A garage converted into a studio in Garfield, NJ, all five us packed inside and everything had to happen in one shot.  No digital machines for us!  If you made a mistake, missed a cue...start over.   My only regret was that we did not record the original version of "Witness The End."   We had other songs written during that period as well, including an aborted "Sum of All Fears" which we played a few times in the Hudson Valley in 1992.  One memorable show was at a pizzeria in a mall in Wappingers Falls that booked local bands at night...that's upstate, NY for ya! I also posted some video clips on YouTube from a show we played in Albany, NY in 1993 - sorry for the sound quality.

"Destined to Burn," "Struggle Within," "Fall From Grace," "Stuck Inside," and "Day of Judgement," these five songs are the roots of All Out War. The only one to go through significant changes was "Stuck Inside." I can only speak to this period of time since I had the left the band at the end of the summer of 1993. And there isn't really much I can add to what Mike already wrote on the sleeve for the 10 inch.  One thing I can state is that I believe that our identity was solidified in the extremely slow and grinding riff in "Destined to Burn" that opens the demo.  Hardcore bands often started with fast riffs, we took a different road that is still being explored by the band twenty years later....