Barrit

"In 1993, the band Relm started out. The original members of Relm were Steve Neale (Barrit singer), Zach Jordan (Barrit guitarist), Lou Oliveras (ex-Barrit bassist), Nate Wicka (Barrit drummer) and Jay Petrizak (Relm guitarist). Relm tried to be a metal/hardcore/emo band, but we didn't really know what we were doing and at this point the band was basically bullshit. At that time we were happy to play at the old Espresso Bar with this old band Thundercock. We would pull in about 300 kids which was cool with us, and at the time we thought this was great.

"In 1993, the band Relm started out. The original members of Relm were Steve Neale (Barrit singer), Zach Jordan (Barrit guitarist), Lou Oliveras (ex-Barrit bassist), Nate Wicka (Barrit drummer) and Jay Petrizak (Relm guitarist). Relm tried to be a metal/hardcore/emo band, but we didn't really know what we were doing and at this point the band was basically bullshit. At that time we were happy to play at the old Espresso Bar with this old band Thundercock.

We would pull in about 300 kids which was cool with us, and at the time we thought this was great. We were playing more to alternative/Marilyn Manson kids than to hardcore kids. We did that scene for about a year or so. As Relm progressed (to nowhere) it was going to be a hardcore band instead metal/hardcore/emo band.

So we did the best we could with that. We recorded and put out a demo as Relm. We played for awhile and got a good response, because we were sort of an energetic band and we would jump around like idiots to amuse the crowd. Relm played until sometime around 94/95.

We had band issues with Jay, it was a hassle to practice for most of us, and we just weren't that into it anymore, so we played our last show with Thundercock and Platform, breaking up and calling it quits with each other. Platform was Pete Chilton's (Barrit bassist) old band and this is how we met him. Zach, Lou, and Nate went to college, Steve stayed in Worcester, and Jay went somewhere(?). We didn't play together for about a year.

One day Zach, Lou, Steve and Nate fucked around together and thought it was fun. We went to find Relm guitarist Jay to see if he wanted to play, but he didn't want to do anything. So we started Barrit. It was Zach, Lou, Steve, and Nate (all in Relm).

We started writing metal stuff that was going to be more complex and heavy. We played our first show in Northbridge with Forward, Nimrods, Ember, and Abstain. It was a pretty much a fuck around show. Barrit released a demo in 96 with four songs - Kill The Breed, Godless Disease, Time Worn, and one other.

We played for awhile and people started asking us to put out a seven inch. We met Mike Mannix (he used to make fun of me like everyone else). We decided he would be good to go with for a seven inch, so we put out our seven inch on Ellington Records, Mike's label, with the songs Godless Disease and Transient. Around this time we met Andy Kyte (only 15 at the time) who played guitar for the band Gandiva.

We tried him out on guitar, and he worked out, so he joined the band. We kept writing with him and he contributed tremendously. In fall 96 Steve left to go to Arizona State University. We stopped playing for awhile, but kept selling the 7 inch well.

In April 97 we played the WPI show with Bane, Weston, Cast Iron Hike, Follow Through and Ignite. We ruined the WPI show. We got made fun of and shit on by almost everyone in the scene, and we lost alot of faith in the fans. We wrote new stuff but played badly.

We were going to break up and decided to play one last show at Pearl St. with Hatebreed, All Out War, and others. The show went really well so we decided to stay together. This fall we lost Lou, and got Pete (plays bass for Bane)." Their only full-length release, Smiles Upon The Stroke That Murders Me, was produced by Steve Austin and was released in 1998 on Ellington Records.

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