Throwdown

Orange County, California, has earned recognition over time for fueling the worldwide spread of hardcore, thanks to Insted’s uplifting youth anthems and the intense statements of Inside Out. Throwdown extended that lineage as an uncompromising straight-edge outfit whose heavy sound and self-reliant lyrics left no room for compromise, driving mosh pits without restraint. The group openly confronted in their lyrics those who abandoned the scene’s principles, rejecting the idea of composing riffs merely to spark dancing; instead their tracks delivered unrelenting, full-throttle stomping mosh throughout.

The band assembled in summer 1997 and issued its first release, a self-titled 7-inch, later that year on Prime Directive Records. Guitarist Tommy Love, bassist Dom Macaluso, vocalist Keith Barney, drummer Marc Jackson, and guitarist Javier Van Huss made up the lineup for the EP. In 1998 Throwdown delivered its debut full-length, the ferocious Beyond Repair, via a new alliance with Orange County’s Indecision Records. Following the album Van Huss departed, with Brandan Schieppati stepping in. The next year the Drive Me Dead 7-inch/CD EP appeared, again on Indecision. Schieppati exited to focus exclusively on Bleeding Through and was succeeded by Dave Peters.

During 2000 the band released its second album, You Don’t Have to Be Blood to Be Family, and contributed a tongue-in-cheek metalcore rendition of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” to Radical Records’ Hardcore Takes the Rap compilation alongside tracks from Candiria, Stretch Arm Strong, and the Movielife. Jackson then gave way to Ken Floyd, the drummer from Eighteen Visions. The longstanding connection between Throwdown and the more flamboyant metalcore group Eighteen Visions merits attention: the two acts frequently shared bills and personnel, with Van Huss, Schieppati, Peters, Barney, and Floyd each having participated in Eighteen Visions at various points, a band that shares straight-edge roots yet maintains its own distinct musical character, image, and goals.

Throwdown next joined the established Trustkill roster and returned in mid-2003 with Haymaker. The record broadened the group’s audience and secured them a second-stage slot at Ozzfest 2004. That same year the DVD Together Forever United came out. At year’s end guitarist Love departed amicably, leaving the band to continue as a quartet. Vendetta followed in June 2005. Early 2006 brought co-headlining U.S. dates with the Black Dahlia Murder, after which the group supported In Flames that spring; a short Warped Tour run came later that summer. By then the lineup featured vocalist Peters, bassist Matt Mentley, drummer Ben Dussault, and guitarist Mark Choiniere. Venom & Tears surfaced in summer 2007.