Welcome to the AFI source

Welcome! This is the source for everything related to AFI.The band is called A Fire Inside. Comprised of 4 members.Davey Havok; Birth Name: David Anthony Passaro (front man) Date of birth: 20 November 1975, Rochester, New York, USA Height5' 10" (1.78 m),Jade Puget Birth Name: Jade Errol Puget (Guitarist) Date of Birth: 28 November 1973 Height6' (1.83 m),Hunter Burgan (Bassist) Date of Birth: May 14, 1976Adam Carson (Drummer) Date of Birth: February 5, 1975AFI's BiographyWhether it be punk, rock, or Goth, AFI has offered its fans a perpetually changing image. Founded in Northern California by four teenagers in the early 1990s, the band picked its name as an acronym for A Fire Inside. Espousing a dynamic paradigm that anything goes---except substance abuse---AFI band members Adam Carson, Davey Havok, Hunter, and Jade Puget subscribed to the straight-edge ethic of living free from tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs; they further refused to assign genre labels to their music. Stalwart AFI fans, calling themselves Despair Faction, have found AFI's unpredictable variety of styles invigorating, and have joined forces at concerts to form a crew of diehard devotees. In March of 2003, after five albums and a decade of intensive touring, AFI made a major label debut on DreamWorks. AFI's highly animated performances have earned the band a place in Revolver's ten best live bands ever.AFI founder Havok was born David Anthony Passaro, on November 20, 1975, in Rochester, New York. He changed his name to David Marchand. He grew up in Ukiah, California. Davey got an early interest in punk rock when he was in his early teens, where in 1991 he gathered three high school friends, drummer Adam Carson, guitarist Markus Stopholese, and a bassist known only as Vick, to form a rock quartet. The band set out to find its groove. Later that year Havok brought in Geoff Kresge to replace Vick on bass, and the band played a few local gigs and released a split 7" titled Dork with fellow Ukiah natives Loose Change (a band that incidentally included future AFI member Jade Puget). And the four rockers recorded an EP disc called Behind the Times."We started in the summer of '91 in Ukiah, CA. My friend Mark, Vick and myself wanted to start a hardcore/punk band. I could sing, Mark said that he can play guitar, and Vick could play bass. We had one problem, who was going to play drums?? Mark said that his friend Adam can play drums, and this is when AFI formed. "AFI lasted until the band members graduated from high school in 1993. At that time, three members of the group left for college, and Kresge moved to New Jersey to join Blanks 77. The combo disbanded with little fanfare, and all assumed East Bay's AFI was defunct. However, the band reunited a few months later for a concert in Ukiah at the Phoenix Theatre.... After the excitement of the reunion concert, the band reactivated AFI as a full-time career. Kresge opted not to return to New Jersey, choosing to remain with AFI as well."We recorded a live 7" called Eddie Picnic's All Wet, which was from the reunion show at the Phoenix Theatre. We recorded a 7" called Fly in the Ointment and we put it out on Wedge Records."A couple of singles preceded a record deal with the Nitro label, which issued the band's second album, Very Proud of Ya, in 1996. Two LPs followed in 1997 -- a re-release of their 1995 debut, Answer that and Stay Fashionable, and Shut Your Mouth & Open Your Eyes. Fans, too, were eager for more of AFI and called for a reissue of their 1991 EP disc, which had sold out in area stores.Despite the band's limited exposure, it had accumulated a modest following of fans. Comprised largely of adolescent idolizers, the AFI fan club grew in numbers and adopted the name Despair Faction. Their amazing and powerful live sets combined with their hardworking aesthetic, with many tours including many trips to Europe, resulted in a cult and large fan base, with a giant amount of fans often adorning themselves permanently with AFI tattoos.Some reportedly had tattoos etched on their bodies to match those of the band members. In one unfortunate incident in September of 2004, at a San Diego Street Scene concert in Petco Park, frenzied AFI fans rushed the stage and injured a score of spectators.Encouraged by their cult-like following, in 1993 AFI embarked on a decade-long series of grueling tours. While spending their free time writing and practicing music, they began to develop more cohesion as a group. During these early years Havok adopted an austere vegan lifestyle, and the other band members joined him. All the members of AFI are either vegan or vegetarian. However, only Davey Havok and Jade Puget live the straight-edge life style. Self-described proponents of the so-called straight-edge lifestyle, these musicians dispensed not only with meat, but also with tobacco, alcohol, and other recreational drugs. Their lofty ideals overflowed into AFI's music, permeating the tunes with an introspective bent. An AFI debut album, Answer That & Stay Fashionable, appeared on the Wing nut label in 1995, and a second album, Very Proud of Ya, was released on NIT in 1996.Still growing and evolving, the emerging band underwent a dramatic overhaul in 1997. Kresge departed the group and was replaced by Hunter, a colleague formerly with Badical Turbo Radness. Stopholese also left that year and was replaced by Jade Puget, a former Redemption 87 guitarist, after completing college and earning a degree in social theory. He played in various bands before AFI including Loose Change, Redemption 87, F3BW, and Influence 13. He is the primary writer of the band's music and because of his influence there has been a noticeable change in the band's sound over the years. He's vegetarian.His brother, Smith, is AFI's tour manager. The band became stable with a complete and powerful lineup with the addition of bassist Hunter Burgan and guitarist and new songwriter Jade Puget. Shut Your Mouth & Open Your Eyes was released on NITRO Records in 1997, and Answer That & Stay Fashionable was reissued three times during that year. The revitalized band endured into the 2000s. The band progressed and took on a dark hardcore root, with gothic aesthetics and dark themes. Resulting in the powerful and epic album 'Black Sails in the Sunset'. Releasing Black Sails in the Sunset in 2000 and achieving recognition in a Rolling Stone photo set in 2001. Within two years the band made a breakthrough in securing a major label contract with DreamWorks.The year 2003, was a blockbuster for the band, beginning with a concert at Anaheim's House of Blues in January, and continuing with a major label album debut, Sing the Sorrow, on DreamWorks. Veteran producers Butch Vig (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins). And Jerry Finn (blink-182, Green Day), helped create the album, which earned excellent reviews. Steve Morse in the Boston Globe called it "a smart record made for rock fans who are tired of humdrum formulas and assembly-line bands." Sarah Tomlinson cited AFI's "flair for the darkly dramatic ... cantering drums, arcing harmonies, and electronic embellishments blend[ing] into a menacing sound." The album made its debut at number five on Billboard's Top 200, and spawned multiple hit singles.AFI embarked on Vans Warped Tour, performing concerts in New York City, Denver, and St. Louis, Missouri. Well known throughout Northern and Southern California by then, the AFI musicians were seen at the KROQ Weenie Roast in Orange County that year. Early fall found the band in Albuquerque, New Mexico, returning home to California in November, and receiving high praise for a performance at Bren Events Center in Irvine. Early in December, AFI shared the bill with Dashboard Confessional at Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois. Despite panning the DreamWorks album as "forgettable," Jim DeRogatis reported in the Chicago Sun-Times that "the group's [live concert] set sped by in a blur of sweat and energy."By 2004 AFI had shifted its home base to the San Francisco Bay area. The band toured South Florida in March and later that spring won three CAMA awards, including prizes for Outstanding Group, Outstanding Rock Album, and Outstanding Debut on a Major Label. Brent Baldwin reviewed Sing the Sorrow with enthusiasm in Tulsa World, noting that the album "dabbles [in] many genres of music, not limiting the band to a single style," and calling the debut "thoroughly enjoyable."The band's next record was their most labor-intensive to date, resulting from two years of detailed songwriting. December underground, album number seven, surfaced on June 6, 2006, on Interscope. The album was an instant success, debuting at number one on the Billboard charts. AFI kept the momentum going on the road nationwide that summer, followed by a string of overseas dates in October 2006.AFI are currently in the studio preparing for their next release due out in late 2008 early 2009.The AFI public image depends heavily on a display of black garb, enhanced by make-up and tattoos. Because of this ominous appearance, some observers persist in linking AFI with the gothic vein of punk music. But Havok and his mates have maintained their individuality and refuse to acknowledge their affiliation with one specific movement of punk rock.In 1999 Carson's name appeared on the credits of a young group called Tiger Army, which released a self-titled debut in December of 1999. He exited Tiger Army in 2001; at approximately the same time that former band mate Kresge joined that band. Also during the 1990s Havok organized a second band, featuring Todd Youth, London May, and Steve Zing. Tom Schulte in All Music Guide reviewed this new group, Son of Sam, calling it a metal-Goth-punk fusion. Son of Sam released a debut album on both vinyl and compact disc called Song from the Earth in April of 2001.Famous WorksSelected discographyBehind the Times (EP), 1991.Answer That & Stay Fashionable Wing nut, 1995; reissued, NIT, 1997; reissued, Wing nut, 2000.Very Proud of Ya NIT, 1996.Shut Your Mouth & Open Your Eyes NIT, 1997.A Fire Inside (EP), Adeline, 1998.Black Sails (EP), NIT, 1999.All Hallows (EP), NIT, 1999.Black Sails in the Sunset NIT, 1999.Art of Drowning NIT, 2000. With around 90,000 copies sold.Sing the Sorrow Nitro/DreamWorks, 2003. With around 500,000 copies sold.AFI Box Set Nitro/DreamWorks, 2003.AFI NIT, 2004.AFI's AwardsCalifornia Music Awards (CAMA), Outstanding Group, Outstanding Rock Album, and Outstanding Debut on a Major Label, 2004.