Phobia (band)

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Phobia is a grindcore band from Orange County, California, United States.^[1] The band was formed in 1990 and is heavily influenced by crust punk and grindcore. Their lyrical content focuses mainly on socio-political issues and anarchism.^[2]

History[]

The band was formed in 1990 by founding members Shane McLachlan, Bruce Reeves (), (), Zach Southall, and Marco Soriano, recording the What Went Wrong? demo soon after they formed.

The band followed up with the All That Remains 7" EP, released on Relapse Records. In 1994 Phobia released the Return to Desolation CD/EP and went on a small west coast tour with well-known hardcore punk bands, such as Capitalist Casualties. In 1997 Slap-a-Ham Records released the Enslaved 7" EP and went on another west coast tour.

Phobia's first full-length record entitled Means of Existence was released by Slap a Ham in 1998 as they embarked on a full US tour.

In 1999 the band recorded a split with the Japanese band Corrupted on Rhetoric Records as well as the CD/EP Destroying the Masses. 1999 also brought the band's first European tour, going on for a lengthy two months, playing countries like Belgium, Germany, Austria, Scotland and the Netherlands.

In 2001 the band toured with Anarchus in Mexico.

After returning from Mexico, the band released the Serenity Through Pain CD/EP on Deathvomit Records.

The band toured the US again with then-labelmates Circle of Dead Children on the Grind Your Fucking Head In tour. September 2001 brought another west coast tour with melodic death metal band Darkest Hour.

2002 brought another tour to support Serenity Through Pain and the re-issue of Return to Desolation. The band toured the west coast again with Pungent Stench, returned to Europe in May 2003, and released the Grind Your Fucking Head In CD.

In 2005, founding member Bruce Reeves left the band and was replaced by Leon Delmuerte on bass.

In 2006, the group released Cruel, Danny Walker's first album with the band.^[3] The album was produced by Scott Hull of Pig Destroyer.^[4]

22 Random Acts of Violence was released October 22 on Willowtip Records. Leon del Muerte left the band prior to the album's release in order to concentrate on his Murder Construct project. of Impaled temporarily replaced him for a tour they did following the album's release, dubbed the "War on Everything" tour. The tour featured bands that were exclusively signed to Willowtip and was composed of Impaled, Phobia, Malignancy, Kill the client, , and Illogicist.

The band later parted ways permanently with Danny Walker, and replaced him with longtime Phobia touring drummer Bryan Fajardo (also of Gridlink, Kill the Client, and Noisear). Their new and permanent bass player slot was then occupied by Calum Mackenzie. This line-up was featured on their most recent tour with Municipal waste and others.

In 2016, Decades Of Blastphemy was released on Selfmadegod Records and Melotov Records. This compilation box includes most of the band's discography on four CDs.

Members[]

Current[]

• Shane MacLachlan - vocals, occasional guitar (1990–present)
• Bruce Reeves - guitar (1990–1997, 2016–present), bass guitar (1999–2005)
• Calum Mackenzie - bass guitar (2008–present)
• Danny Walker - drums (2005-2011, 2016–present)

Former[]

• Marco Soriano - drums (1990-1992)
• John Haddad - drums (1997-1999)
• Zach Southhall - guitar (1990)
• Steve Burda - guitar (1990-2010)
• Shawn Bryan - bass guitar (1990-1992)
• Luis Perrera - bass guitar (1993-1999)
• Phil Martinez - drums (1993-1995)
• Matt Mills - drums (1999-2002)
• Ramon Banda - drums (2002-2004)
• Bryan Fajardo - drums (2004, 2009-2016)
• Leon del Muerte - guitar, occasional bass guitar (2005-2008, 2016-2017)

Session/live[]

• Todd Keithling - bass guitar (1993)
• Steve Nelson - guitar (2009–2010)
• Raymond Herrera - drums (1993)
• Dino Somesse - drums (1996)
• Steve Nelson - bass guitar (2010-2011)
• CC Loessin - guitar (2012, 2017)

Discography[]

• What Went Wrong (self-produced demo, 1990)
• All That Remains (Relapse Records, 1992)
• Return to Desolation (Relapse Records, 1993)
• Plutocracy / Phobia split (Misanthropic Records, 1994)
• Enslaved (Slap-a-Ham Records, 1997)
• Means of Existence (Slap-a-Ham Records, 1998)
• Corrupted / Phobia split (Rhetoric Records, 1999)
• Destroying the Masses (Pessimiser/Theologian Records, 1999)
• Serenity Through Pain (Deathvomit/Deep Six Records, 2001)
• Phobia / Resist & Exist split (Ohev/Profane Existence Records, 2002)
• Grind Your Fucking Head In (Deep Six Records, 2003)
• Get Up & Kill (Deep Six Records, 2004)
• My Friends - Our Grind!(Bezerkerwear, 2004)
• Relapse Singles Series Compilation Vol.4 (Relapse Records, 2004)
• Another Four Years of Murder (Crimes Against Humanity Records, 2006)
• Cruel (Willowtip/Deepsix Records, 2006)
• 22 Random Acts of Violence (Willowtip/Deepix, 2008)
• Phobia/Gadget - split CD (Haunted Hotel Records,2010)
• Phobia/Extinction Of Mankind - Fearing The Dissolve Of Humanity (Agipunk, 2010)
• Unrelenting (Relapse, 2010)
• Remnants of Filth (Willowtip, 2012)
• Grind Core 7" (Deep Six Records 2014)
• Decades Of Blastphemy 4-CD box (Selfmadegod Records/Melotov Records, 2016)
• Lifeless God (Willowtip Records, 2017)

References[]

External links[]

• Phobia on Myspace