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Bio

COMBAT ReCORDS

There are a lot of bios out on the web and some are close to being accurate... but here's the real deal.

It all began back in 1982 at St. Augustine Prep School in Richland, NJ. Chris Bombeke (lead guitar) & Bob Perna (rythym guitar) were both seniors at the high school and Dan Hansen (drums) was a freshman. They all joined the music club and found that they shared a lot of the same musical tastes - namely UFO, Iron Maiden, Metallica and many of the other NWOBHM bands. The school students knew that something cool was happening with the music club and the first and only concert performance was highly anticipated. The only song that can be recalled is "Southern Man" by CSN&Y and there may have been a Deep Purple tune in there, too.

4 years would pass before the guys saw each other again. Then in 1985, Dan ran into Chris in the parking lot of the local lounge in Vineland, NJ. They reminisced a bit and talked about metal. Chris & Bob in the mean time had always been the best of friends and Chris then asked Dan to stop over Bob's house to jam. Those early days consisted of Metallica, Dokken, Ratt, Keel, and other cover tunes. Then the name selection ceremony took place (almost weekly), starting with Maggot, then evolving into Maggot Vomit. The lineup consisted of Chris, Bob, Dan, Carlo Gentilleti (bass) and Tim Blackman (vocals).

In September of 1985, Dan left for Widener University. But occassionally on weekends he would come home to visit and see the guys. They had been working on some originals and recruited a freak of a bass player named Clarence Jenkins (a.k.a. CJ). When Dan heard the new songs he knew that something incredible would eventually happen. The songs at the time were more along the lines of Dokken & Ratt, hard but not yet heavy. "Judgement Day" and "Jokes on You" are just 2 of the classics from that era. Dan then "maneuvered" his way back to Vineland and continued studies locally while the band played on.

In 1986, things took a different turn when the band went to Philadelphia to see a band called Anvil Bitch. It was at this show that they first witnessed "slammin," stage diving and REALLY heavy stuff. From that point on, the first string of originals were thrown out the window and they went to work on faster and heavier material. "The Reducer" was the first by-product and was a fast yet melodic tune inspired by metal & sprinkled with beer. Though the full song did not make it to the Punishment Area album, the intro became the intro to "Darkside."

Many shows & parties were played with Philly friends Anvil Bitch and other stagemates consisted of Nuclear Assault, Hallows Eve, Flotsam & Jetsam, and The Crumbsuckers just to name a few. And let's not forget the Wendy O. show that didn't happen because her guitarist had a fit. Things were cruising along very well and then a management company came along and pumped everyone up with hopes and dreams of success. The band recorded the "Dehumanized '88" demo in late 1987 and the title track was put on Metal Massacre IX.

Though the credit was given to Rich Lohwasser on the drums, it was actually Dan playing the drums (read on). 2 nights after playing with Flotsam & Jetsam and the night after playing Reds in Margate, Dan quit unexpectedly. The band was totally blind-sided and had to act fast to find a replacement, especially with a record deal forthcoming- enter Rich Lohwasser who was a friend of Anvil Bitch. The "Dehumanized '88" demo was then released a few months later and the management company thought that it would be better to put Rich's name on it rather than Dan's so the band would not appear to be unstable. Dan was very happy about that!

Then came the deal with Combat Records which led ultimately to the "Punishment Area" album. The band toured with Sepultura to support the album and was part of the live concert video "Ultimate Revenge 2" with Raven, Dark Angel, Death, and others.

Problem was that the management company wanted to go in one direction while the band wanted to go in another. Though there are a couple of other demos that were recorded, Bob had enough and was replaced by another Vinelander Merritt Gant (yes, Merritt went on to play with Overkill). Rich also left and was replaced, but all the changes proved to be the final nail in the coffin of Faith or Fear...UNTIL NOW!

In December of 2002, Dan tracked down Chris via email and they discussed getting the band back together for 'ol times sake. And in January 2003, the first practice with the entire original band since December 9th, 1987 (the Reds in Margate show) took place. Since that time they've had a few jam sessions & did one show on August 23, 2003 at Rumors in Buena, NJ for the public. Tunes included "Punishment Area", "The Shadow Knows", "CDS", "Post Mortem" by Slayer, "Done in Vein," and "Time Bomb" just to name a few. The show was also recorded through the sound board and put on a DVD, but it's distribution to the public has not been discussed to this point.

The band is now preparing a studio in which to practice and already has between 8-10 tunes at their disposal. Signing to a label for a comeback album is certainly an option, but they are also considering producing & administering the distribution themselves via the web. In the mean time, the band wants to thank EVERYONE who has supported them in the past & now. They've seen all the positive feedback on the web, the redistribution of Punishment Area through Century Media was a huge success, and stuff is constantly being bought & sold on Ebay. They hope to have some new (and maybe) old stuff available for ya soon, so keep it here!

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