Void was a Washington D.C.-based hardcore punk

Hardcore punk

Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

/crossover thrash

Crossover thrash

__FORCETOC__Crossover thrash, often abbreviated to crossover, is a form of thrash metal that contains more hardcore punk elements than standard thrash. The genre lies on a continuum between heavy metal and punk rock...

 band. They were one of the first hardcore outfits to fuse hardcore and some heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 in a way most hardcore and metal fans could accept, paving the way for bands such as The Melvins

The Melvins

The Melvins are an American band that formed in 1983. They usually perform as a trio, but in recent years have performed as a four piece with two drummers. Since 1984, singer and guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover have been the band's constant members...

. They were one of the first local bands popular in the D.C. scene that was from outside the Beltway

Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)

Interstate 495 is a Interstate Highway that surrounds the United States' capital of Washington, D.C., and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. I-495 is widely known as the Capital Beltway or simply the Beltway, especially when the context of Washington, D.C., is clear...

, hailing from Columbia, Maryland

Columbia, Maryland

Columbia is a planned community that consists of ten self-contained villages, located in Howard County, Maryland, United States. It began with the idea that a city could enhance its residents' quality of life. Creator and developer James W. Rouse saw the new community in terms of human values, not...

, a suburb located between D.C. and Baltimore.

History

The band formed in 1979 with manic lead singer John Weiffenbach, guitarist Bubba Dupree, bassist Chris Stover, and drummer Sean Finnegan. Many keys to their cult following included Bubba Dupree's guitar style and wild performances, and John Weiffenbach's frenzied behavior. In November 1980 they cut a demo tape at Inner Ear Studios produced by Alec MacKaye

Alec MacKaye

Alec MacKaye is an American singer and musician best known as a member of the Washington, DC Hardcore bands Untouchables, The Faith, and Ignition. In the mid-1990s Alec joined the band The Warmers as a vocalist and guitarist. Their album 14 Songs was released in 1996 by Dischord Records. The...

 , and were picked up by Ian MacKaye

Ian MacKaye

Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, label owner, and producer. Active since 1979, MacKaye is best known for being the frontman of the influential hardcore punk bands Minor Threat and The Teen Idles, the post-hardcore bands Embrace and Fugazi, as well...

 and Jeff Nelson

Jeff Nelson (musician)

Jeff Nelson is best known as the drummer for the hardcore punk rock band Minor Threat. He and friend Ian MacKaye formed their first band, The Slinkees, in 1979. Their next band was The Teen Idles. Nelson and MacKaye founded Dischord Records in 1980, whose first record was the Teen Idles. They...

's label Dischord Records

Dischord Records

Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in the independent punk music of the D.C.-area music scene. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release Minor Disturbance by The Teen Idles...

. In February 1982 they made their vinyl debut on Dischord with three songs on the Flex Your Head

Flex Your Head

Flex Your Head is a punk rock compilation album. It was originally released in January 1982, and was re-released on CD in August 1995. A remastered CD version was released in 2002...

compilation. That spring they went into the studio to cut twelve songs that were released in September 1982 as half of the Faith/Void split album released by Dischord Records.

By 1983, Void were incorporating more metal influences into their sound, drawing a crowd that became increasingly violent and their shows became even more chaotic. In the summer of 1983 they recorded an as yet unreleased album for (then) Detroit based Touch and Go Records

Touch and Go Records

Touch and Go Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois, USA.After its genesis as a hand-made fanzine in 1979, it grew into one of the key record labels in the American 1980s alternative and underground rock scenes, Touch & Go carved out a reputation for releasing adventurous...

. According to Touch and Go, they still periodically attempt to get permission to release the album, but to this day that permission is denied by Dupree. Void disbanded in the fall of 1983, with violence at their shows being a factor in the breakup. In 1992, Eye 95 Records released their November 1981 Inner Ear demo tape as the Condensed Flesh EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

.

Drummer Sean Finnegan died of a massive heart attack on Wednesday, January 30, 2008, at age 43. He was working by himself at his beach house on the Eastern Shore of Maryland

Eastern Shore of Maryland

The Eastern Shore of Maryland is a territorial part of the U.S. state of Maryland that lies predominately on the east side of the Chesapeake Bay and consists of nine counties. The origin of term Eastern Shore was derived to distinguish a territorial part of the State of Maryland from the Western...

. Sean played in Void while they were active from 1980–1984 and was recently working on the set of the HBO production, The Wire

The WIRE

the WIRE is the student-run College radio station at the University of Oklahoma, broadcasting in a freeform format. The WIRE serves the University of Oklahoma and surrounding communities, and is staffed by student DJs. The WIRE broadcasts at 1710 kHz AM in Norman, Oklahoma...

 .

Dischord Records announced that in October 2011 they would be releasing a new Void album called "Sessions 1981-83," a 34 track CD, LP and MP3 featuring:

• 20 unreleased tracks recorded in 1981 at Hit and Run Studios in Rockville, Md.;
• 10 tracks recorded in 1981 at Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, Va.;
• 2 tracks recorded in June 1982 at Inner Ear Studios (out-takes from the Faith/Void LP);
• 2 live tracks from 1983.

Albums and EPs

• Void/Faith split LP/CD (Dischord, 1982)
• Potion For Bad Dreams LP (recorded 1983; unreleased)
• Condensed Flesh 7" EP (Eye 95, 1981)

Compilations

• "Dehumanized", "Authority" and "My Rules" on Flex Your Head
  Flex Your Head
  Flex Your Head is a punk rock compilation album. It was originally released in January 1982, and was re-released on CD in August 1995. A remastered CD version was released in 2002...
  
  LP/CD (Dischord, 1982)
• "Get Out Of My Way" on Bouncing Babies LP (Fountain of Youth, 1984)
• "Get Out Of My Way" on Lost & Found 7" (Lost & Found, 1990)
• "Who Are You" on Punk Anderson's Favourites bootleg 2xCD (Starving Missile, 1994)
• "Dehumanized", "Black, Jewish and Poor" and "Authority (take 1 and 2)" on 20 Years of Dischord 3xCD (Dischord, 2002)
• "Who Are You/Time To Die" on the American Hardcore
  American Hardcore (film)
  American Hardcore is a documentary directed by Paul Rachman and written by Steven Blush. It is based on the book American Hardcore: A Tribal History also written by Blush. It was released on September 22, 2006 on a limited basis...
  
  Soundtrack (Rhino Entertainment, 2006)