Biography
Formed in 1991, the prolific San Francisco punk-pop trio J Church arose when singer/guitarist Lance Hahn and bassist Gardner Fusuhara—longtime friends who had earlier played together in Cringer—decided to launch a new project. Honoring a local bus route with its name, the band cycled through multiple drummers both before and after its 1993 full-length debut, Quetzalcoatl, which was swiftly followed by Camels, Spilled Corona and the Sound of Mariachi Bands, a set compiling earlier singles. Once 1994’s Prophylaxis was finished, Reed Burgoyne joined on drums and made his first appearance on the single “Ivy League College”; the steady stream of 7"s, split singles, and compilation tracks soon produced the second collection, Nostalgic for Nothing. After releasing 1995’s Arbor Vitae on Hahn’s own Honey Bear imprint, J Church surprised many supporters by moving to Honest Don’s Hardly Used Recordings for 1996’s The Drama of Alienation. Burgoyne departed the following year and was succeeded by A Minor Forest drummer Andee Connors. The 1998 singles anthology Altamont 99 appeared before Fusuhara and Connors both exited, at which point bassist Jeff Bursley and ex-Jawbreaker drummer Adam Pfahler teamed with Hahn for 2000’s One Mississippi. The 2001 compilation Meaty, Beaty, Shitty Sounding gathered numerous 7" tracks stretching back to 1993, and Palestine followed in 2002. A split with Storm the Tower arrived in fall 2003, after which J Church made its official debut on Gainesville’s No Idea Records with Society Is a Carnivorous Flower in August 2004. By then the lineup included guitarist David DiDonato, bassist Ben White, and drummer Chris Pfeffer alongside Hahn. Horror of Life surfaced in 2007 without DiDonato. Hahn succumbed to long-term kidney complications on October 21, 2007, after which J Church disbanded.