400 Miles Of Shit

Photo still needed Years Active 1996-1999 Members - Donnie Stanley (guitar) - Shane Critel (vocals) - Jason Ader (drums) - Chris Meyers (bass) - Craig Henry (guitar) Interstate 90 spans the entire length of South Dakota. The distance from one end to the other is approximately 400 miles. When B.A.I.L imploded in the fall of 1996, Donnie and Jason imediately started a new band. They called it, 400 Miles Of Shit. The band started as a two piece, with Donnie on Guitar and Jason on Drums. Jason was new to drums and learned how to play as they wrote music together. They didn't take the project seriously at first. That began to change when Chris Meyers joined in on Bass. His Bass playing added character and depth to the music. After playing together for a few months, they managed to cobble together around 8 nascent songs. But, since none of them were comfortable with vocal duty, the band was in jeopardy of becoming a dreaded "instrumental band." Luckily that changed when they met a recent Lincoln, Nebraska transplant named, Shane. Shane was 4 years older than them, and so they sort of looked up to him as an older brother. They asked him to join and he said h's give it a shot. Shane joined the band as a vocalist, but he soon became the band's frontman (in the truest sense of the word). He drove much of the style and aesthetic, while naturally assuming the roll of band manager. He did everything from buying a van to introducing new musical influences. He not only helped locate and purchase better musical equipment (including Donnie's famous zebra-striped BC Rich), he even suggested that Craig Henry join as the band's 2nd guitarist. Craig was a welcome addition. He filled out the sound and rounded out the interpersonal dynamics. Musically, 400 Miles Of Shit was primarily influenced by punk bands in the vein of Discharge, Crucifix, Amebix, Doom, and Disrupt. However, around this time, Black Metal (and other styles of Nordic Metal) were becoming known to (an albeit small number of) people in Rapid City. They guys in 400 Miles Of Shit were very much into this type of music and those influences ended up in the band's sound too, although in much subtler ways. Rotting Christ's album, Triarchy Of Lost Lovers was a band favorite. That album changed the way Donnie approached his Guitar playing from there on out. In 1998, 400 Miles Of Shit went on a 3-week tour, traveling far as far south as Little Rock, Arkansas (opening for Dropdead) and Richmond, Virginia. They broke up in early 1999. Jason, Shane, Donnie, and Craig moved to Oregon in 1999. Donnie ended up in Portland, where he formed Fall Of The Bastards. Jason, Shane, and Craig, ended up in Eugene, Oregon, where they formed Fuckgodintheface with some people they met there. They would wreak havoc in Fuckgodintheface for the next 4 years.

Releases

• 400 Miles Of Shit - Unknown Recording
• 400 Miles Of Shit - Unknown Recording 2
• Four Hundred Miles Of Shit/Hunger Pains Split 7'' (GP Records) (1997)

Live Recordings

• 1997-02-10 - Double Entendre Records, Denver, CO
• 1998-04-08 - Oyahe Center, Rapid City, SD

Links

• Discogs Page

See Also

• Aegisthus
• American Heavy Metal Weekend
• B.A.I.L.
• Born to Suffer
• Ealdath
• Fall Of The Bastards
• Fuckgodintheface
• Human Certainty
• Oakhelm
• Quest for Fire
• Yoknapatawpha

Stickers/Merchandise

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