A brief history of: the infamous Gehenna

The title says it all: This is a brief history of one of Hardcore’s most infamous bands: Gehenna. It was written on request by Mike Cheese, Gehenna’s singer. Daniel, a friend of mine, asked him a while back about the history of the band, because the internet is so full of rumors but only few correct information. Keep in mind that this was written before Gehenna’s “comeback” on A389 Records three years ago or so. So the latest news are missing (e.g. about the split 7” with Blind To Faith). Anyway it’s a good read, I’ll just post that unedited:

“I don’t know if there is much of a short history when it comes to Gehenna (hahaha), but I’ll try to give you some details. In 1993 we started playing shows in San Diego, our first real demo came out in 1994. Our drummer quit after recording the Apartement 213 split to focus on his real band Unbroken. We went through about 15 drummers that didn’t work. So in 1995 half of the band moved to Reno NV and we wrote the “Birth…” 7 inch. A friend of ours from Enewetak filled in on drums for some live shows and we added a second guitarist from Bludgeon. We moved down to San Diego and Orange, got a new drummer, released the “Birth…” 7 inch and toured the US that summer (1996) with Fall Silent.

After the tour our drummer quit to form an Emo band (100 Words For Snow) and study at a university (big surprise hahaha). We got a new drummer and worked on writing the “Negotium…” LP. In 1997 we got an offer to release the “War of the sons of light and the sons of darkness” CD on Crimethinc Records and to tour with Catharsis. We also had the release of the split live LP from Wicked Witch Records. The US tour was only 3 shows because of our van exploding, but we managed to record the songs for the “Definetely not the majors” comp. Our new drummer couldn’t go to Europe because of some school shit so we got our friend from Vae Victus to fill in on drums. We toured in Europe for only 3 weeks before we were sent home for being too rowdy and missing some good shows because we wanted to go see sights.

We came home to the west coast and our guitarist quit. So our friend from Vae Victus started to play guitar. After several crimes, arrests and delays that interfered with the recording, “Negotium” came out. We booked a tour but I went to jail instead so the tour was cancelled. Every one in the band worked on other projects (Sangraal, Iron Lung, The Motherfucking Titty Suckers, Fog Spectre, Young Smoke, Gravehill, Artimus Pyle etc.) and moved to different areas of the west coast. The Sangraal demo and LP came out and we played a few shows to support it.

We got back together and started working on “Upon The Grave Hill”. More crime ensued and delayed the release of “Upon…”. A West Coast tour was booked but I went to jail and told the band to do it without me so the singer of Unruh sang instead. We started to write music and work on new projects (Discrete Doll Band, Devil, Beyond the Grave, Pop Horror etc.). There is a new Sangraal record in the works right now. And I think that’s everything.”

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