As Friends Rust
As Friends Rust is an American melodic hardcore band based in Gainesville, Florida. The original line-up, which included vocalist Damien Moyal, guitarist Henry Olmino, bass guitarist Jeronimo Gomez, and drummer Matthew Crum, formed in Davie, Florida in September 1996. After recording a demo tape but failing to secure a record deal, the band parted ways in February 1997.
Following his move to Gainesville, Florida, Moyal reformed As Friends Rust in June 1997, with a new line-up made-up mostly of then-members of his other band Culture, ultimately stabilizing the band with drummer Timothy Kirkpatrick, guitarists Gordon Tarpley and Joseph Simmons, and bass guitarist and backing vocalist Kaleb Stewart. The band released its debut EP, The Fists of Time, via Good Life Recordings in 1998, prior to which Tarpley was replaced by Peter Bartsocas. After an American tour, Bartsocas was replaced by James Glayat and As Friends Rust released a split with Discount, also on Good Life in 1998, supported by a European and British tour. The band signed with Doghouse Records and released the 1999 EP, As Friends Rust, ensuing a series of American, European, and British tours for the next two years, along with reissues of early material.
Inner tensions caused line-up changes in 2000, culminating with Glayat, Kirkpatrick, and Stewart quitting. Moyal and Simmons reconstructed the band by recruiting guitarist and backing vocalist Christopher "Floyd" Beckham, drummer Zachary Swain, and bass guitarist Thomas Rankine. The new line-up recorded As Friends Rust's debut full-length album, Won, for Doghouse / Defiance in 2001, and embarked on extensive American, European, and British tours. As Friends Rust signed with Equal Vision Records and released the 2002 EP A Young Trophy Band in the Parlance of Our Times, by which time tensions had again surfaced, resulting with Moyal quitting the band at the peak of its popularity. Beckham quickly took up lead vocals, until Adam D'Zurilla was welcomed as Moyal's replacement a month later. With D'Zurilla, As Friends Rust toured the United States, Canada, Europe, and the United Kingdom several times, before Beckham, too, quit the band. In September 2002, the remaining members of As Friends Rust announced their continuation under the new band name of Salem.
As Friends Rust reunited in March 2008, with Moyal, Kirkpatrick, Stewart, Simmons, and Glayat reprising the 1998–2000 line-up. The band embarked on a European and British tour in 2008, followed by a Japanese tour in 2014. As Friends Rust has since performed a series of American and European festival dates in 2015 and 2019, supporting its compilation albums Greatest Hits? and The Porch Days: 1998 to 2000. In 2019, Stewart was dismissed; the band has since been without a permanent bass guitarist. In 2020, As Friends Rust released the EP, Up from the Muck, through Unity Worldwide Records and Stick to the Core Records, containing its first-recorded material in eighteen years. The band's second full-length album, Any Joy, was released via End Hits Records in 2023. The material features contribution by bass guitarist Andrew Seward, who also accompanied the band during its European tour promoting the release. 2024 saw the band release another EP, Lightless, which coincided with another European tour.
History
First incarnation (1996–1997)
In September 1996, vocalist Damien Moyal was invited to a band practice in Davie, Florida by guitarist Henry Olmino, bass guitarist Jeronimo Gomez, and drummer Matthew Crum; the three had been playing under the name Wayside, originally with vocalist Robert Rudas, since 1994. Moyal had previously been the vocalist in Culture, Shai Hulud, and Morning Again, and was then simultaneously playing in Bird of Ill Omen, and had just rejoined Culture.Moyal named the new melodic hardcore band As Friends Rust, after the lyrics "as days count down and as friends rust from exposure to exposure," penned in early 1996 while in Shai Hulud, planned for a song titled "Now Ruin Is". Instead of using Moyal's lyrics, Shai Hulud guitarist Matthew Fox wrote new lyrics and the song became "My Heart Bleeds the Darkest Blood". After being kicked out of Shai Hulud, Moyal took the unused lyrics to his next band, Morning Again. While Morning Again did write a song titled "Now Ruin Is" using Moyal's lyrics, it was thrown out shortly after Moyal was kicked out in June 1996. Moyal again re-used the abandoned lyrics for a Bird of Ill Omen song in August 1996, and a month later As Friends Rust was formed. Bird of Ill Omen later recorded the song "Now Ruin Is" for its debut album, Self, Dare You Still Breathe?, but with vocalist William Shane Post, who replaced Moyal in April 1997.
File:As Friends Rust.png|thumb|right|As Friends Rust's first logo, designed by Damien Moyal for the band's demo tape in November 1996. It was subsequently used on As Friends Rust and Eleven Songs in 1999, and a slightly modified version was used on Won and A Young Trophy Band in the Parlance of Our Times.
Moyal later described the meaning behind the band's name:
"It's basically about relationships coming and going. Sometimes you place a lot of energy and focus on your relationships or friendships with the wrong people. Or sometimes you don't place enough focus or attention on your relationships with the right people, and people just come and go out of your life".
As Friends Rust played its first show on September 19, 1996, at Cheers in Coconut Grove, Florida. The event was a Pixies tribute show and As Friends Rust performed covers of the songs "Hey" and "The Sad Punk". After writing nearly a dozen original songs, the band entered Wisner Productions in Davie, Florida to record six of them with producer James Paul Wisner from November 19–22, 1996. Three of the songs, "Encante," "Ruffian," and "Broken Brain," were used on a demo tape shopped to such record labels as Revelation Records, Doghouse Records, Equal Vision Records, Jade Tree, Art Monk Construction, and Network Sound; however, the band only received rejection letters.
By February 1997, this incarnation of As Friends Rust had fallen apart as Moyal dedicated more time to Culture and Bird of Ill Omen. Olmino, Gomez, and Crum opted to continue playing together, renaming the band Red Letter Day and asking Rudas to return as vocalist. After releasing an extended play as Red Letter Day on Eulogy Recordings in October 1997, the same core members later formed The Rocking Horse Winner, while Olmino also played with Anchorman and Dashboard Confessional, Gomez also played with Poison the Well, and Crum also played with Helado Negro and Damien Done.
The "Porch House" era (1997–2000)
''The Fists of Time'' and first tours (1997–1998)
The idea to reform As Friends Rust was brought up in June 1997, by Culture's guitarist, Stephen Looker, who had been a fan of the band's demo. Unbeknownst to Moyal, Looker had been approached by Olmino earlier that year as a potential second guitarist for As Friends Rust shortly before its first break-up. Moyal was still commuting from Miami, Florida to rehearse with Culture, but had made plans to move to Gainesville, Florida in August 1997, following the band's first European tour. To complete the second incarnation of As Friends Rust in Gainesville, Moyal and Looker invited Culture's new drummer, Jason Dooley, and Culture's bass guitarist, Gordon Tarpley, the latter of whom agreed to play guitar in the side-project. Looker then approached Hot Water Music's bass guitarist, Jason Black, who agreed to take up the same position in As Friends Rust. Inspired by the band's proposed line-up, Moyal dubbed a new batch of As Friends Rust demo tapes with updated liner notes announcing its new members, to take with him on Culture's first European and British tour and secure a record deal. Culture's Belgian record label, Good Life Recordings, showed immediate interest in signing As Friends Rust and plans were made for the band to become active again before the end of 1997. However, Culture and Hot Water Music's busy touring schedules and recording agendas kept As Friends Rust on the back-burner for several months, and neither Dooley nor Black took active parts in As Friends Rust's eventual activities.File:As Friends Rust.png|thumb|left|As Friends Rust's second logo, designed by Damien Moyal for the band's debut release, The Fists of Time, in 1998.
In September 1997, drummer Timothy Kirkpatrick replaced Dooley in both As Friends Rust and Culture. Though Looker and Kirkpatrick wrote a handful of new As Friends Rust songs together between Culture tours, the reformed band came to a halt when Looker quit both As Friends Rust and Culture to join Morning Again, moving to Coral Springs, Florida in March 1998. Looker would later join ex-As Friends Rust members in Red Letter Day, and play in Crucible, Poison the Well and Reggie and the Full Effect, until he became a band manager, representing such artists as Further Seems Forever, The Bled and As Friends Rust's successor, Salem. Moyal quickly asked recently fired ex-Morning Again guitarist and former Bird of Ill Omen band-mate, Joseph Simmons, to join both Culture and As Friends Rust, and also recruited Hot Water Music's roadie, Kaleb Stewart, as bass guitarist and backing vocalist for As Friends Rust. With an intact line-up, As Friends Rust recorded the song "Home Is Where the Heart Aches" at Goldentone Studios in Gainesville, Florida in late March 1998, with producer Rob McGregor. Stewart invited three close friends, Chuck Ragan, George Rebelo, and Chris Wollard, to provide backing vocals on the recording.
"Home Is Where the Heart Aches" was combined with four songs from the band's 1996 recording session to make up the band's debut extended play, The Fists of Time, released by Good Life Recordings on compact disc and 10-inch vinyl on July 13, 1998. The cover art for The Fists of Time was painted by Moyal. In April 1998, Tarpley quit both As Friends Rust and Culture simultaneously, leading Moyal to recruit ex-Morning Again bass guitarist and then-guitarist of Bird of Ill Omen, Peter Bartsocas, as As Friends Rust's new guitarist and co-backing vocalist. With Bartsocas, As Friends Rust quickly wrote two more songs in May 1998, "The First Song on the Tape You Make Her" and the never-released "Some Sort of Radio." In promotion of the new line-up, new songs, and forthcoming debut release, the band embarked on a five-week tour of the United States, spanning from June 15 to July 18, 1998, accompanied by Florida punk rock band Discount and Minnesota pop punk band Dillinger Four. The tour included stops to perform at such festivals as More Than Music in Columbus, Ohio, Tin Can Full of Dreams in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Wilkes-Barre Festival in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
File:As Friends Rust Logo.png|thumb|right|As Friends Rust's "guy with gun" logo, discovered and adapted by Damien Moyal in 1998. The emblem was first used on the As Friends Rust / Discount split and has since appeared on the majority of the band's merchandise.
Following this American tour, As Friends Rust was put on hold for a month as Moyal, Kirkpatrick, and Simmons toured Europe and the United Kingdom with Culture from August 14 to September 13, 1998; the latter band would disband shortly after returning home. After replacing Bartsocas with guitarist James Glayat in October 1998, As Friends Rust returned to Goldentone Studios to record "The First Song on the Tape You Make Her" with McGregor; McGregor and local Gainesville musician Keith Welsh provided backing vocals on the recording. The song would appear on a split CD and 7-inch vinyl with Discount, released by Good Life Recordings in December 1998. The release was the first to feature As Friends Rust's new "guy with gun" logo, which Moyal had discovered on a wall while walking through an alleyway in Boston, Massachusetts' Chinatown in early July 1998. As Friends Rust and Discount embarked on a second tour together, this time travelling around Europe and the United Kingdom from December 3, 1998, to January 11, 1999, accompanied by Swedish hardcore band Purusam.