INTO ANOTHER

Into Another's music was not easily categorized. At once heavy metal, grunge, alternative, and post-punk, the band's arresting melodies collided with their stop-and-go rhythms. They added to that a guitar wizardry steeped more deeply in classic heavy metal bands like Iron Maiden than the New York City hardcore scene that nurtured half of the band's membership early on, and an esoteric, far-reaching lyrical scope delivered skillfully by Richie Birkenhead. Into Another came together in 1990. Birkenhead, one-time guitar player for seminal straightedge flag bearers Youth of Today and vocalist for the reggae-tinged Bad Brains-inspired Underdog, hooked up with drummer Drew Thomas, who he had known for years through the New York City scene. Thomas, himself a hardcore alumni who spent time bashing the drums for Revelation Records recording artists Bold -- shared Birkenhead's desire to abandon the limiting conventions of the hardcore music style and explore other types of songwriting. The pair found exactly what they were looking for in Lower East Side musician Peter Moses, a guitar player who had never performed in a band before. Thomas and Birkenhead next recruited bassist Tony Bono. Bono had done a tour of duty in proto-thrash act Whiplash -- a band about as unlike Bold as one could imagine. Into Another performed their first show at New York's Pyramid, sharing the stage with a budding White Zombie. They were soon after offered a recording contract by Revelation. The following year, they released their debut, a self-titled album displaying Into Another's sharp musical chops and tripped-out spiritual vision, encapsulated by the band's multi-pointed star logo which adorned the album's cover artwork.

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INTO ANOTHER