J Church was an American

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band from

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, formed by guitarist and vocalist Lance Hahn and bassist Gardner Maxam in 1992, after the demise of their former band

Cringer The Masters of the Universe, Masters of the Universe franchise, created in 1982 as a toyline by United States, American company Mattel, contained many characters in its various incarnations as a toyline, the television series ''He-Man and the Maste ...

. The group continued through numerous line-up changes and released a number of

vinyl records A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...

and CDs before Hahn's death in 2007.

History

Hahn and Maxam had played together in Cringer from the band's inception in 1985 to its demise in 1991. This group, whose additional members changed frequently in its short career, was initially based in Hahn and Maxam's native

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

before relocating to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

where Maxam was attending college.J Church Biography
at j-church.com After Cringer disbanded, the pair's new three-piece group, J Church, began. The band was named for the San Francisco

Muni Metro Muni Metro is a light rail system serving San Francisco, California, United States. Operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), a part of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), Muni's light rail lines saw an aver ...

J Church line that Hahn took down Church Street to band practice and to work every day. They went through a large number of drummers in their career; a noteworthy early player was the former Jawbreaker drummer Adam Pfahler. From its inception, J Church embarked upon writing and recording what became an extensive discography including numerous

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

and

splits A split (commonly referred to as splits or the splits) is a physical position in which the legs are in line with each other and extended in opposite directions. Splits are commonly performed in various athletic activities, including dance, figu ...

with fellow

bands including Discount and

Less Than Jake Less Than Jake is an American ska punk band from Gainesville, Florida, formed in 1992. The band consists of Chris DeMakes (guitars, vocals), Roger Lima (bass, vocals), Buddy Schaub (trombone), Peter "JR" Wasilewski (saxophone) and Matt Yonker ...

. The group has released an estimated 150 records. Maxam played in the band until 1998, when he became overwhelmed by the rigors of touring and decided to leave. In 2002, the band relocated to

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, and the group's final line-up included bassist Ben White and drummer Chris Pfeffer of Severed Head of State, Storm the Tower and Signal Lost. Hahn had become active as a "punk rock history writer", writing many pieces for ''

Maximum Rock 'n' Roll ''Maximumrocknroll'', often written as ''Maximum Rocknroll'' and usually abbreviated as ''MRR'', is a not-for-profit monthly online zine of punk subculture and radio show of punk music. Based in San Francisco, ''MRR'' focuses on punk rock and ...

'', the long-running San Francisco punk

zine A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is, as noted on Merriam-Webster’s official website, a magazine that is a “noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject ...

, and working on a book compiling various writings on

anarcho-punk Anarcho-punk (also known as anarchist punk or peace punk) is an ideological subgenre of punk rock that promotes anarchism. Some use the term broadly to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content, which may figure in crust punk, ha ...

groups. He also ran the independent record label Honey Bear Records. Hahn had been suffering from kidney-related medical problems since 1999, and the problems worsened during the following decade. On July 7, 2007, a benefit entitled "Let's Do It For Lance!" was released to help defray the cost of his medical bills. He died on October 21, 2007, aged 40, after falling into a coma nine days earlier due to complications from kidney dialysis.

Members

* Lance Hahn -

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

(1992–2007) * Gardner Maxam -

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, vocals (1992–1998) * Aaron Olson -

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

(1992) * Adam Pfahler - drums (1992–1993, 1998–2002) * Brendan Murdock - drums (1992–1994) * Wade Driver - drums (1994–1995) * Reed Burgoyne - drums (1995–1997) * Andee Connors - drums (1997–2000) * Scott Bradley - bass guitar (1998–1999) * Jeff Bursley - bass guitar (1999–2002) * Ben White - bass guitar (2002–2007) * Chris Pfeffer - drums (2002–2007) * David DiDonato - guitar (2002–2005) ;Touring musicians * Todd Kowalski - bass (1997; Japanese tour) * Chris Hannah - bass (1997; Japanese tour) * Jord Samolesky - drums (1997; Japanese tour) ;Timeline

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Partial discography

The following partial discography of full-length albums is derived from the J Church fan web site.Discography
at j-church.com

Studio albums

*1993: ''Quetzalcoatl'' *1994: ''Prophylaxis'' *1995: ''The Procession of Simulacra/Map Precedes Territory'' *1995: ''Arbor Vitae'' *1996: ''The Drama of Alienation'' *2000: '' One Mississippi'' *2004: ''Society is a Carnivorous Flower'' *2007: ''The Horror of Life''

Singles collections

*1993: ''Camels, Spilled Corona and the Sound of Mariachi Bands'' *1995: ''Nostalgic for Nothing'' *1998: ''Altamont '99'' *2001: ''Meaty, Beaty, Shitty Sounding''

Split albums

*2000: ''Split LP with Discount'' *2000: ''Split EP with Contra'' (traffic violation records) *2001: ''Split LP with Annalise *2003: ''Split LP/CD with Storm the Tower''

Miscellaneous full-length releases

*1995: ''Soul Patch and Cho Chos'' *1996: ''Whorehouse: Songs and Stories'' *1996/7: ''You Think You're Cool'' *1997: ''The Ecstasy of Communication'' *1998: ''Cat Food'' *1999: ''Slanted'' *2002: ''Palestine'' *2004: ''Seishun Zankoku Monogatari''

References

External links

Benefit information for Lance HahnJ-Church's official websiteHoney Bear Records (Hahn's record label)J Church discography''Punk News'' on Hahn's death
{{DEFAULTSORT:J Church Musical groups established in 1992 Musical groups from San Francisco Pop punk groups from California