Representative Albums: "The Music, the Message," "Walk Together, Rock Together," "New Wind"
Representative Songs: "Walk Together, Rock Together," "Regress, No Way," "The Kids Are United"
Biography
Formed in the early '80s, the hardcore punk band 7 Seconds has been among the longest lived of any group from the first wave of Cali punk (forming in Reno, NV, and eventually relocating to Sacramento), though frontman Kevin Seconds has proved to be the only consistent member; changes during the mid-'80s moved guitarist Bobby Adams, drummer Troy Mowat, and bassist Steve Youth (Seconds' brother) into the lineup. The group released several 7" singles just after forming, and Seconds signed the band to the Better Youth Organization label by 1982. The three LPs released on BYO culminated in 7 Seconds' most authoritative album, Walk Together, Rock Together. Signed to Restless in the late '80s, 7 Seconds delivered Soulforce Revolution and Ourselves before moving again, to Headhunter. The band released three albums for Headhunter, but signed with their first major label, Epic, in 1995. The Music, the Message was 7 Seconds' first Epic LP, released in 1995. By 1999's Good to Go, however, the band was back on the indie front, now releasing material through the Side 1 label. In mid-2000, they released Scream Real Loud, followed five years later by their 13th LP, Take It Back, Take It On, Take It Over! Throughout the group's career, Seconds has maintained several side projects, including Drop Acid, Five Feet Ten Inches, and Mustard. He also released several solo efforts starting in the '90s, including a 2002 split acoustic album on Asian Man alongside Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
Jim Diederichsen
Alan White
Tony Toxic
Dan Pozniak
Ron Doig
Belvy K
Spiz Hughes
Josef Bansuelo
7 Seconds is an American hardcore punk band from Reno, Nevada. Formed on January 17, 1980 by brothers Kevin Seconds (guitar, vocals) and Steve Youth (bass, vocals), along with the Borghino brothers Tom Munist (drums) and Dim Menace (vocals). Dim Menace's fist-brandishing scowl on the cover of the Skins, Brains, & Guts EP is one of the most iconic images in punk rock.[citation needed]
Three decades into their career, 7 Seconds continues to write, record, and tour to this day. Their most recent album is Take It Back, Take It On, Take It Over!. Today 7 Seconds remains as one of the longest-lived hardcore punk bands in history. Over the years, the band has been lumped in with other bands as "straight edge" but members of 7 Seconds have never embraced the label for themselves.
They are considered by many around the world to be the definitive "positive hardcore" band.
Currently they are touring, writing and recording new songs.
The band started by releasing some poorly-recorded, but highly energetic, EPs, most of which were later re-released as "alt.music.hardcore" and "Old School" compilation CDs. They also appeared on the 1985 hardcore compilation "Cleanse the Bacteria", in addition to numerous other compilations, such as "Not So Quiet On the Western Front," "Something to Believe In," and "Another Shot from Bracken."
Their first full-length LP "The Crew" was recorded in 1983 and released by BYO Records, as was its successor - the classic hardcore EP "Walk Together Rock Together". With the "New Wind" LP, the band dramatically expanded its sound and style with audible elements of a sometimes quieter, more melodic and accessible sound. Many writers have credited this particular period of 7Seconds' career as being highly influential on many pop punk, emocore and indie rock bands that came along much later. Subsequent LPs moved deeper into mainstream territory with proto-emo and U2-like sounds. The "7 Seconds" LP continued their musical experimentation. However, the band returned to an old-school hardcore sound in 1999 with the "Good to Go" album.
Origins of bandname
In the February, 2005 issue of AMP magazine, in an article titled, "7 Seconds: 25 Years of Our Core," Kevin Seconds explained how the band's name originated:
“We were big fans of The Dils, they had this EP, 198 Seconds of The Dils and I was so in love with punk rock that I would just write album titles on my clothes. This was still when Steve and I lived with my mom. We had this desk in this room we shared and I wrote ‘197 seconds of The Dils’, I miswrote the title. Over time, everything else faded, but the 7 Seconds part was there, and I circled it, I thought it looked cool.”
Influences on newer bands
Bryan Kienlen, bass player from The Bouncing Souls is seen wearing a 7 Seconds t-shirt in the music video, "Gone" from the album How I spent My Summer Vacation.
