Formation and History

After Destroy broke up I hooked up with Tattoo Shane and Trevor Trend and began jamming with a series of drummers. We put up an ad at Extreme Noise and attracted Criminal Shane on drums. Code 13 was an attempt on my part to move past the grind and metal influence on Destroy back to a more old school hardcore sound. Still, Code 13 is not a retro-80's band by any respect, although the 80's influence is there, many of our songs clock in at speeds undreamed of in '82.

Code 13's music is hard for me to describe because we mix several different styles. I'm not saying we're particularly original or groundbreaking, but our music was far from generic as well. Simply put, we didn't all listen to just one style of music so our playing wasn't rigidly influenced by one style either. We mixed sing-a-long 80's hardcore like early 7 Seconds and Youth Brigade

Youth Brigade (band)

Youth Brigade is a Southern California punk music trio formed in 1980 by brothers Mark Stern, Adam Stern, and Shawn Stern. The band subsequently founded BYO , which served both as their record label and as a statement of their attitude toward the young people involved in the punk subculture, which...

 with fast-core

Thrashcore

Thrashcore is a fast tempo subgenre of hardcore punk that emerged in the early 1980s. Thrashcore is essentially sped-up hardcore punk, with bands often using blast beats. Songs can be very brief, and thrashcore is in many ways a less dissonant, less metallic forerunner of grindcore...

 like Dropdead

Dropdead

Dropdead is a hardcore punk band based in Providence, Rhode Island. Dropdead has been active in the punk scene since 1991. Dropdead tends to address subjects such as animal rights, pacifism, and anti-authoritarianism. The band members are supporters of the ALF.Their name is derived from the demo of...

 and a touch of early DRI

Dirty Rotten Imbeciles

Dirty Rotten Imbeciles is a thrash metal/crossover thrash band from the United States that formed in Houston, in 1982. The band currently comprises founding members, vocalist Kurt Brecht and guitarist Spike Cassidy, as well as drummer Rob Rampy and bassist Harald Oimoen.D.R.I...

, straight edge

Straight edge

Straight edge is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs. It was a direct reaction to the sexual revolution, hedonism, and excess associated with punk rock. For some, this extends to not engaging in promiscuous sex, following a...

 hardcore, Swedish HC/ Japanese Thrash, 80's anarcho-punk

Anarcho-punk

Anarcho-punk is punk rock that promotes anarchism. The term anarcho-punk is sometimes applied exclusively to bands that were part of the original anarcho-punk movement in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s...

 and some grind

Grindcore

Grindcore is an extreme genre of music that started in the early- to mid-1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk....

/power violence for a fast and powerful punk sound. Lyrically I'd have to say the individual versus society and issues of social control

Social control

Social control refers generally to societal and political mechanisms or processes that regulate individual and group behavior, leading to conformity and compliance to the rules of a given society, state, or social group. Many mechanisms of social control are cross-cultural, if only in the control...

 predominate.

The name Code 13 comes from the police radio code for "officer down" and as you can guess our lyrics were heavily anti-police and authority. For a while four out of five of our shows were broken up by the man

The Man

"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise....

, but hardcore survives on the underground and so did we. At the time I felt like the hardcore/punk scene was too complacent and needed some really radical thrashing punk to bring band the anger and energy. I went out of my way to write radical, aggressive lyrics to go with the music. We stirred up no small controversy, posing with automatic weapons and singing about shooting cops. One anarchist squat

Squatting

Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use....

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

actually wouldn't let us play because we were "too militant", I knew we were doing something right then.

EPs

• "Doomed Society" - 1995, Havoc Records
• "They Made a Wasteland and Called It Peace" - 1995, Havoc Records
• "A Part of America Died Today" - 1998, Havoc Records

External links

• Code 13 on Havoc Records