| Background information | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Washington, D.C. |
| Genres | Hardcore Punk Youth Crew Straight Edge |
| Years active | 1990–1998 |
| Labels | Deadlock Records Lost & Found Records Tidal Records Conversion Records Revelation Records Soul Force Records |
| Associated acts | Damnation A.D., Ashes, Worlds Collide, Ten Yard Fight, Better Than A Thousand, Youth of Today, When Tigers Fight, Miltown, My Best Mistake, Far Cry, Fort Knox |
Battery was a Washington D.C. hardcore band that existed from 1990 until 1998. During this time they released a 7", a split 7" with Ignite, two MCDs and three full-length albums on Deadlock, Lost & Found, Tidal, Conversion, and Revelation Records.
The guitarist and main man was Ken Olden, who also played in Damnation A.D., Better Than A Thousand, When Tigers Fight, Worlds Collide, Far Cry and Fort Knox and filled in on bass for Youth Of Today on their 2003 European reunion tour.
Singer Brian McTernan, a well known hardcore record producer, presently owns and operates Salad Days recording studio in Baltimore
and also played guitar in the D.C. emo hardcore band Ashes, as well as Miltown and My Best Mistake.
Battery, originally entitled "Fury", was first established in 1990 and released a 4 song self-titled 7" on Deadlock Records in 1991The record featured Brian McTernan on vocals, Ken Olden and Matt Squire on guitars, Toshi Yano on bass and Zac Eller on drums. The songs from this original 7" were re-recorded and released as an EP entitled "We Won't Fall" in 1993 on the German record label Lost & Found
. The band, as it states in the liner notes of the EP, then turned into Worlds Collide with Matt Burger becoming the new vocalist.
Battery achieved phenomenal success in Europe, especially in Germany, whereas in the USA they were only well known in the D.C. area. The band was eventually reformed with Brian McTernan and Ken Olden, a new bass player (Ben Chused) and a new drummer (Al Rosenberg) and embarked on an extensive European tour. They released their first full length album in 1994, "Only the Diehard Remain", on Tidal Records in the USA and on Lost & Found Records in Europe
. This album featured the cover of 7 Seconds "We're Gonna Fight" and featured Ken Olden performing all of the guitar and drum tracks. In the same year they released a four song E.P. entitled "Let the Past Go" as well as a split 7" with Ignite, both on Lost & Found Records.
By 1996 they released "Until the End", their second full length album, which featured another 7 Seconds cover, "Young Till I Die". By this stage they had a new drummer, Jason Hamacher, who was also a member of the D.C. spazzcore band Frodus. This album saw the refinement of the bands old school revival sound, as they moved towards a more stripped down and melodic style. Ben Chused then left the band and began playing drums in the Boston hardcore band, Ten Yard Fight. He was replaced with Graham Land who had played guitar in Worlds Collide and founded Better Than A Thousand with Ken Olden and Ray Cappo, the singer of Youth of Today. The band then began their first major tour in the United States, headlining with Ten Yard Fight, as well as their second major tour of Europe with Damnation AD
Their third and final full length release "Whatever It Takes" was released on the major hardcore label Revelation Records
. The drums on this album were, for the first time since "We Won't Fall", not performed by Ken Olden, but by Jason Hamacher. This album was by far the softest and melodic of their releases and Brian McTernan explained in an interview that the next record would be "more aggressive sounding". After the release the band toured the United States and Europe with Revelation Records labelmates, Better Than A Thousand, In My Eyes and Speak 714.
Unfortunately another release would never materialise and the band broke up, reportedly due to differences between Brian McTernan and Ken Olden. In 2002, Ken Olden was tired of Europe's Lost & Found Records still bootlegging the band's back catalog and authorized the release of a compilation CD of Battery's best songs entitled "Final Fury: 1990-1997" on the Spanish hardcore label, Soul Force.
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