Inspection 12

Inspection 12 delivers high-energy punk-pop songs that carve out a singular identity inside the most aggressive and groove-driven strains of power rock and roll. Dan McLintock on vocals and bass teamed with drummer Scott Shad to launch the band in 1994 while both were still middle schoolers in Jacksonville, Florida. Guitarist and vocalist Pete Mosely plus guitarist James Trimble, Shad’s cousin, completed the roster by late 1997. Over the ensuing period the quartet shared bills with acts such as No Use for a Name and Man Face. Their self-titled debut arrived in 1997 as the first of four full-lengths issued independently. You’re a Nation followed in 1998 and Step Into the Fire in 1999, after which the group disbanded near the time of McLintock’s high school graduation. He relocated to California to join the Christian punk outfit Craig’s Brother and briefly played with Limp, yet during a western tour he passed a copy of an Inspection 12 album to NOFX’s Fat Mike, who responded favorably. The 2000 self-released EP Home secured a deal, prompting the reunited band to sign with Fat Wreck’s Honest Don’s Barely Legal Recordings imprint that year. Tragedy struck in March 2001 when eighteen-year-old drummer Scott Shad perished in a car accident. The remaining members nevertheless tracked a fifth album, In Recovery, issued in May 2001 with longtime associate Tim Grisnik on drums. They supported the release with shows on both coasts, including dates alongside Whippersnapper, until Trimble exited in spring 2002 to concentrate on his studies. Inspection 12 continued as a trio and began recording the follow-up Ged Rad. Upon completion the next year Honest Don’s declined the project, so the musicians, now expanded to a quartet with guitarist Matt Grondin, put it out independently in fall 2003. They subsequently partnered with the European label Floppy Cow Records, which issued Get Rad abroad and in the United States the year after. In November 2004 the band signed with the California independent Takeover Records, though activity stayed intermittent because Mosely was also performing with Yellowcard and increasingly focused on that group.