Today Is The Day

Today Is the Day channels the bleak intensity of hardcore, grindcore, and thrash while composing and executing with the exacting craftsmanship and wide-ranging melodic and rhythmic scope associated with progressive and alternative rock. Fronted by guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, and producer Steve Austin across an extended and highly productive run, the ensemble cultivated a devoted following through its demanding output and Austin’s jagged guitar approach. The group launched with the striking 1994 album Supernova, then incorporated keyboards and electronic textures on 1996’s Today Is the Day; samples and loops gained even greater prominence on 1999’s In the Eyes of God. The 2002 double album Sadness Will Prevail expanded their atmospheric experimental tendencies across an ambitious two-disc format, whereas 2004’s Kiss the Pig marked a sharp reversal toward a tighter, more physically forceful presentation. More than twenty-five years after their first release, Today Is the Day entered into a major-label arrangement and delivered No Good to Anyone in 2020, reaffirming their steadfast independence.

Formed in Nashville during the early 1990s by Steve Austin and drummer Brad Elrod, Today Is the Day added bassist Mike Herrell and issued the cassette-only EP How to Win Friends and Influence People in 1992; the recording reached the influential noise-rock imprint Amphetamine Reptile Records, which promptly signed the band and released their debut album Supernova before the year ended. The group traveled to Detroit to record its follow-up, 1994’s Willpower, and that same year contributed to a split EP alongside Chokebore and Guzzard as well as Volume 10 of Amphetamine Reptile’s Dope, Guns and Fucking in the Streets series. By the arrival of 1996’s Today Is the Day, Austin had constructed his own studio, where he produced and engineered the sessions while handling vocals, guitar, and sampling duties; bassist Herrell had departed, and keyboardist Scott Wexton joined the lineup.

After building a substantial underground metal audience, Today Is the Day left Amphetamine Reptile and made 1997’s Temple of the Morning Star its first release for Relapse Records; Chris Reeser contributed bass and electronics while Mike Hyde handled drums and percussion. Austin relocated himself and the studio to Clinton, Massachusetts, and 1999’s In the Eyes of God became the first Today Is the Day album tracked at the new location, with bassist Bill Kelliher and drummer Brann Dailor—later of Mastodon—forming the rhythm section.

During the making of the next studio album, the 2000 interim release Live Till You Die assembled live recordings, unreleased studio material, and covers of songs by Bad Company, Chris Isaak, and the Beatles. In 2002 Austin unveiled his most expansive statement yet with Sadness Will Prevail, a two-hour-and-twenty-four-minute work featuring numerous guest performers and a string section; before year’s end the band also issued the live album Blue Blood, captured at a 1998 Wisconsin concert.

Today Is the Day returned in 2004 with Kiss the Pig, which replaced the expansive scope of its predecessor with a more direct, aggressive approach and a thirty-six-minute duration; bassist Chris Debari and drummer Mike Rosswog completed the new lineup. Kiss the Pig concluded the group’s association with Relapse, prompting Austin to establish SuperNova Records for 2007’s Axis of Eden, a label that would also handle reissues and releases by kindred artists; drummer Derek Roddy joined Austin and Debari for the sessions. A feature-length film based on the album, directed by David Hall, accompanied subsequent tours, with the band supplying a live soundtrack.

Partnering with Black Market Activities, Today Is the Day released Pain Is a Warning in 2011; bassist Ryan Jones and drummer Curran Reynolds participated, and Kurt Ballou served as outside producer and engineer for the first time. Austin resumed production duties for 2014’s Animal Mother after relocating the studio to Maine, where bassist Sean Conklin and drummer Jeff Lohrber contributed, and Southern Lord Records issued the album. In 2015 Austin paused Today Is the Day activities to launch the side project UXO with Chris Spencer of Unsane, releasing an album the following year.

In 2017 Today Is the Day reached an agreement with The End Records, a BMG-distributed label, to manage catalog and new material, thereby securing major-label distribution for the first time; expanded reissues of Temple of the Morning Star and In the Eyes of God appeared alongside Silver Anniversary, a digital sampler containing one track from each of the band’s initial nine albums. Today Is the Day’s first new recording for The End, No Good to Anyone, surfaced in February 2020 with bassist D.J. Cox and drummer Tom Bennett rounding out the lineup.