#afi30

memory #2

“The live scenes of this video were shot at the legendary Berkeley Square. Sadly, years ago, it became a furniture store. AFI put on a free matinee with the caveat that guests would be filmed, offering free pizza and soda for the attendees. Even punks who didn’t like our revivalist hardcore came for the free lunch yet due to the unappealing daylight hour, the room was far from full. The courageous stage diving you see in the video, by local hardcore heroes (RJ Leimpeter, Jeremy Lux and Sammy Winston) was perilous. People were essentially diving straight to the floor. Any injuries sustained were relegated to the pages of long lost zines. I believe the Omar, the owner of the club, solicited his brother to lend us his car for the video’s driving scenes. Our camera rig that was strapped to the hood damaged the paint job. Somehow, our director smoothed it over - figuratively, and likely financially. Who knows where he got the money? Certainly it wasn’t from us. On a final note, I believe there is b-roll of the video wherein a much younger Davey Havok is asked about his makeup affinities, setting a journalistic precedent for years to come.”

memory #1

“There are many important dates in our 30 year history but none more than December 29, 1993. What was meant to be a one-off ‘reunion’ show at the Phoenix Theater in Petaluma, CA (we had broken up earlier that Fall) became the catalyst to reform the band, this time without the distraction of college. That night we pledged to make the band our life, a journey Davey and I (with Jade and Hunter - it took another few years to get the lineup right) are still on. Proud to report I still care as deeply as I did that night. Today, 30 years since our first rehearsal, 28 years on from that night, I still feel the passion to make music in AFI, I still want to make it my life and somehow, I still get nervous before I go onstage.”

5/28/99 @ slim's, san francisco

12/30/95

pic cr: x

memory #3

“We knew most of the 924 crowd that would come to see AFI from ‘93 to ‘95. I still recognize many of the faces in these photos. The boy with his back to the stage is east bay punk hero, Jessie Luscious. Steve from Heckle owned the hat I playfully snatched and briefly adorned. The front of it read “Devil,” its sports affiliation having been edited by Sharpie into something far more appealing. The boy flipping me off (Pete?) was, along with Colby, an editor of an irreverent fanzine called Insubordinator. I could go on and on. During this era, we’d often wear approximations of suits of suits onstage. For countless reasons this was unsustainable however this was no excuse for some of my fashion choices come mid ‘96. It got rather loose until I found the right compact somewhere in ‘97.”