1984 Jeff Lamm vocals, Mike Lavella bass, Mike Michelski guitar and Blair Powell drums.
1985/1986 Jeff Lamm vocals , Mike LaVella bass, Vince Curtis guitar, Rick Dowdle guitar and Ron Volpe drums.
1986/87 Jeff Lamm vocals, Mike LaVella bass, Vince Curtis guitar and Damon Che' drums.
1988/89 Jeff Lamm vocals, Mike LaVella bass, Rick Dowdle guitar and Ron Volpe drums. Later after Mike left, Troy Mezzio played bass, then Howie Wells. When Jeff left, Howie and Rick did vocals. In 1989 Half Life disbanded, Rick and Ron formed a band called FACER that recorded and released several Half Life songs that were not out before.
2002/03 reunited with the 1987 line-up. Played Pittsburgh and Cleveland.
Influences
Early: Fang, Flipper, No Trend....NYC Hardcore bands, east coast Hardcore bands...Oi! bands.
Mid period: British bands like Discharge, English Dogs, Motorhead.
End: back to American hardcore, Oi! and even a little SKA
This space is run by me, Jeff Lamm. I was the singer from the beginning to the bitter end.....Half Life formed in 1984 after the break-up of Pittsburgh's first hardcore punk band, Real Enemy. I was Real Enemy's roadie, which meant I got to carry equipment to get into the over 21 clubs. Half Life's first line-up was pretty much talentless, but we had drive! Our first gig was with THE FIVE at the Bloomfield theatre in Pittsburgh. We played with several different line-ups and lasted until 1989. We were somewhat apolitical, our lyrics tended to be more about personal struggles and thinking for yourself. Toured the USA once, down south then out to California and back. World famous tattoo artist Brian Corley was a "roadie" for that adventure along with Dan Allen. We played all over the east coast, NYC, DC, Philly and a zillion times in Pittsburgh and Cleveland. We seemed to play alot with Agnostic Front, Circle Of Shit, Government Issue , GBH and the Exploited, which was awesome. We were always poor as hell, never made any money from punk and if we did we put it into t-shirts , more records or equipment. Released our own stuff on Mind Cure records, then later on Skyclad from New Jersey. Played ALL AGES shows only, which at the time was absolutely groundbreaking. We played the electric banana most of the time, never got shot at by Johnny there. We spent alot of time sitting on "the wall" in Oakland when we weren't at our shitty jobs. Some of us were skaters, some of us started out straight edge, we were a mixed bunch. Helped spawn a healthy Pittsburgh scene. We did things like make fanzines and flyers, booked bands, found new venues.....then we went our separate ways, got real jobs, sold-out etc. Some of us stayed involved with music, Mike LaVella started Gearhead records, Damon Che' formed Don Cabellero, I do artwork for bands...Had a couple beers and a few laughs, made a ton of good friends along the way. Re-united with the 1987 line-up in 2002 and 2003 and made new friends. I wanted to do this myspace site to show some old photos and flyers, and to get in touch with people we knew back in the day and our new friends, and to say a huge THANK YOU to anyone who's ever supported us over the years. It means alot to us and is truly appreciated.
Artwork by Jeff Lamm. You can order Half Life t-shirts here, too!
No i dont have anything from back then but it would have been between 83 and 84 just remember haveing a great time in pitt. loved the seen and the always popular electric banana. is it still open?
hey guys, i gotta tell ya, I absolutely love your music and to make shit even better, I saw someone with a sign at the G-20 with your lyrics on it from Go Down Fighting!
