The Casualties


The Casualties are an American street punk band from New York City founded by vocalist Jorge Herrera, Hank, Colin Wolf, Mark Yoshitomi and Yureesh Hooker in 1990. On July 11, 2017 it was announced on the band's Facebook page that original frontman Jorge Herrera had officially retired from touring. As of July 2017, the band consists of members Jake Kolatis, Marc Meggers, Rick Lopez, and David Rodriguez.

History

Early years (1990-1998)

The Casualties were formed in 1990, with original members Jorge Herrera, Hank, Colin Wolf, Mark Yoshitomi and Yureesh Hooker. The members aimed to return to what they viewed as the "golden era" of street punk, embodied by bands such as The Exploited and Charged GBH which they believed had disappeared by 1985. During the early years, the lineup was fluid, with several changes.
In early 1991 Hank left the band, to be replaced by Fred Backus on guitar to record Political Sin in March 1991 for the Benefit for Beer compilation. Soon more changes were in the works, with new guitarist Fred heading off to school. C Squat's Scott temporarily filled Fred's shoes until he returned a short time later. During this period, guitarist Hank filled in for a couple of shows, and Steve Distraught also played briefly with the group on second guitar. The Casualties stabilized long enough to record the first demo in the fall of 1991 and the 40 oz Casualty EP in the spring of 1992, and was building up a fan base in their hometown of New York City. At the end of 1992, Mark and Fred left the band and were replaced by Mike Roberts on bass and Jake Kolatis on the guitar, followed by the departure of Yureesh and Colin in 1994, to be replaced on drums by Shawn, while the band went down to a single vocalist. 1994 sees the recording of the 4 song EP, Drinking Is Our Way Of Life, however it would not be released. The songs would later appear on the Casualties "early years 1990-1995" CD in 1999. In 1995, the band's second release, the 4 track A Fuckin' Way Of Life E.P. was released on Eyeball Records. After recording A Fuckin' Way of Life, Shawn left the band, and Marc Eggers of the Rivits became the regular drummer. The line-up of Jorge, Jake, Mike and Meggers continued until 1997.
In 1996 the Casualties became the first American band to appear at the "Holidays in the Sun" Festival in London. 1997 saw the release of the band's debut album, For the Punx is released on Tribal War Records, and the band embarks on its first American tour with The Varukers. Mike left the band in 1998, to be replaced with Johnny Rosado, from The Krays. They released their second LP that year, Underground Army, and begin a world tour. Jon leaves the band during the European leg of the tour, to be temporarily replaced by Dave Punk Core.

Later years (1998-2017)

After the world tour, Dave would be replaced by Rick Lopez from the band Manix. The line-up was now solidified for the band, and would continue to the present day. The end of the millennium, 1999, saw the band produce a compilation album, Early Years 1990–1995, which included tracks which appeared on earlier ED's, as well as never before released songs, such as the four songs they had recorded on the never released EP Drinking is Our Way of Life back in 1994.
The 2000s have seen the band to continue to tour and produce albums. They have toured with several other bands, such as The Exploited, GBH, Cockney Rejects, Slaughter & the Dogs, and the English Dogs. In December 2009, The Casualties toured alongside Hatebreed, The Acacia Strain, Crowbar, and Thy Will Be Done as part of the Stillborn Fest. In the summer of 2012, The Casualties co-headlined the Tonight We Unite tour along with Nekromantix, where they played For The Punx in its entirety, the first time they had played the album through since its release in 1997. Later that year, The Casualties released their new album titled Resistance through Season of Mist. In 2013, The Casualties played at the largest punk rock festival in the world, the Rebellion Festival in Blackpool, England, where they shared the stage with The Exploited, Special Duties, Chron Gen and Anti-Establishment, and others.

''Chaos Sound'', departure of Herrera, and new member (2016-present)

On January 22, 2016, the band released their tenth studio album titled Chaos Sound. The album was recorded in Orange County, California at Buzzbomb Studio, produced by Paul Miner and released by Season Of Mist. It is the last album to feature original vocalist Jorge Herrera.
In the second quarter of 2017, Herrera retired from touring amid multiple alleged claims of sexual assault. Frontman of The Krum Bums, David Rodriguez officially replaced Herrera, changing the band's line-up for the first time in 19 years.
Guitarist Jake Kolatis and drummer Meggers are the two remaining long term members of the band.

Members

Line-up


ImageSize = width:970 height:auto barincrement:18
PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:10 right:10
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1990 till:06/01/2020
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
Colors =
id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals
id:guitars value:green legend:Guitars
id:bass value:blue legend:Bass
id:drums value:orange legend:Drums
id:lines1 value:black legend:Studio_albums
id:lines2 value:gray legend:EP
id:lines3 value:magenta legend:Rerecording/Live_album
Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom
ScaleMajor = increment:3 start:1990
ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1991
LineData =
at:06/13/1992 color:lines2 layer:back
at:02/01/1995 color:lines2 layer:back
at:03/20/1997 color:black layer:back
at:05/01/1998 color:black layer:back
at:07/08/2000 color:black layer:back
at:08/21/2001 color:black layer:back
at:02/17/2004 color:black layer:back
at:04/12/2005 color:lines3 layer:back
at:08/22/2006 color:black layer:back
at:09/25/2007 color:lines3 layer:back
at:08/25/2009 color:black layer:back
at:09/25/2012 color:black layer:back
at:01/22/2016 color:black layer:back
at:10/26/2018 color:black layer:back
BarData =
bar:Herrera text:"Jorge Herrera"
bar:Wolf text:"Colin Wolf"
bar:David text:"David Rodriguez"
bar:Hank text:"Hank"
bar:Fred text:"Fred"
bar:Kolatis text:"Jake Kolatis"
bar:Yoshitomi text:"Mark Yoshitomi"
bar:Roberts text:"Mike Roberts"
bar:Kray text:"Johnny Kray"
bar:Lopez text:"Rick Lopez"
bar:Hooker text:"Yureesh Hooker"
bar:Shawn text:"Shawn"
bar:Eggers text:"Marc Eggers"
PlotData=
width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:
bar:Herrera from:start till:07/11/2017 color:vocals
bar:Wolf from:01/01/1990 till:03/01/1994 color:vocals
bar:David from:07/11/2017 till:end color:vocals
bar:Hank from:01/01/1990 till:02/01/1991 color:guitars
bar:Fred from:02/01/1991 till:11/15/1992 color:guitars
bar:Kolatis from:11/15/1992 till:end color:guitars
bar:Yoshitomi from:01/01/1990 till:11/15/1992 color:bass
bar:Roberts from:11/15/1992 till:08/01/1997 color:bass
bar:Kray from:08/01/1997 till:10/01/1998 color:bass
bar:Lopez from:10/01/1998 till:end color:bass
bar:Hooker from:01/01/1990 till:03/01/1994 color:drums
bar:Shawn from:03/01/1994 till:05/08/1995 color:drums
bar:Eggers from:05/08/1995 till:end color:drums

Discography

Studio albums