The year 1985. Ross Barkey and Brian Orr, two angst ridden teens inspired by local hardcore faves Dissonance form a band. A couple of guitarists and a singer later Smiling Sacrifice was born. Paul Wood, guitar, and Mark Allen, drums, rounded out the lineup. Blazing forward with a loud - hard - fast attack on music and themselves. The band developed a unique style and sound along the way. Ross then heads to Europe and Thomas Totten slips into the fold on bass. The band gets stranger and brandishes an aggressive gore driven edge. The live shows that followed not only turned heads, but made Smiling Sacrifice a tough act to follow. The band enjoyed playing with the likes of Repulsion, SNFU, Uniform Choice, The Rhythm Pigs, and Elvis Hitler. Smiling made several recordings, plus performed on both local TV and radio programs before calling it quits in '91.
Fast forward to 2001. The band reemerges with it's original lineup and resumes playing live. Mark Allen departs shortly after to race sailboats. The search for a drummer was a short one. When Shawn "Rookie" Wharton takes over on drums and beligerence. He proves his worthiness by drinking a pint of Newcastle out of a raw whole chicken during a live show. The band continued on with their high octane blood dripping live shows. Smiling Sacrifice also recorded "Pelvic" during this time. The band played until 2003, then called it quits.
In 2005 Smiling Sacrifice reunited to play the first Earpfest to honor friend and mentor Doug Earp. The role of Paul Wood on guitar would now be played by the band's good friend X-mas. Now in 2007 Wyatt Earp Records is releasing an anthology of the band's works. It will include old and new music and art, and never before released audio and video. It's release date is December 20th, Doug's birthday. The band will be taking to the stage, possibly for the last time to rock the third and final Earpfest December 29, 2007. The plan is to promote the release of the CD and kill anything that ain't dead yet.
I once was told by a wiser man than I that " You can't stop a train." In our case that seems to be oh so true. While each show may be the last the fact is we are slowly but surely carying on with our brand of loud, hard, fast punk rock. So don't be shy come out and see us live before that train loses steam. We'll keep you posted here of up and coming events and don't forget to get a copy of our cd.
CALL 810.733.1031 or check out www.myspace.com/wyattearprecordsPAYPAL accepted at [email protected]
