SUB SOCIETY : OFFICIAL

BIOGRAPHY

Photo by Jenni Kolsky.

Before the skateboard shop and before the EDM promoter there was Sub Society, a four-piece Punk / Skate Rock band from San Diego, California made non-famous world-wide in the late '80s and early 1990s thanks to songs in popular skateboard and snowboard videos.

The band held a strong local following due to constantly playing live and selling thousands of independetly released 7" records, Iceman ('90) and Relaxin' ('91).

Sub Society was Stimy on vocals (Inch, Congress of the Cow, Lakeside Orchestra, Harvey Knuckles), Chris Valle on guitar (Gangbusters), Didier on drums (9,000 Lbs, Furious IV) and Hesh One on bass. Prior members include Mitch Wilson (No Knife) and Tommy Barnes on guitar and Petey X (Rocket From The Crypt) on bass.

Listen to the songs and you can hear high school student Stimy's introspective lyrics and note the change in the band's sound as Chris and Hesh One morphed it from pure punk to something more metal and melodic over the years. Didier's atypical approach to drums further defined the band's sound.

The bands raw demo, No Legs To Stand On, landed five songs in H-Street's influential Hokus Pokus ('90) video including "Rockstar" during the Tony Magnussen segment and "A Lot Less" during the Matt Hensley segment. Inclusion in Hokus Pokus was a really good accomplisihment for four teenagers who practiced in the drummer's parent's garage.

"A Lot Less" was later covered by Millencolin on "The Melancholy Collection" and "Skauch", both on Epitaph Records. (Hey, guys, where are the royalties!?)

Other video credits include H-Street's Not The New H-Street Video ('91) and Next Generation ('92) as well as Life's A Beach's Skaters From Uranus II ('91) and Mack Dawg's New Kids On The Twock ('90), Pocahontas ('91) and Decade ('98).

Sub Society tracks on CD compilations include "1,000 Yard Stare" on Thrasher Magazine's Explicit Sk8 Rok Volume 10 ('91), Palomar College's Immolation ('92) as well as "greatest hits" compilations by H-Street and Mack Dawg released in the late '90s.

Sub Society performed with a lot of great bands including 7 Seconds, All, Amenity, Big Drill Car, Chemical People, Daddy Longleggs, The Descendents, The Doughboys, Forced Down, G.B.H., House Of Suffering, Inside Out, Jawbreaker, Mr. Bungle, Olivelawn, Pitchfork, Rocket From The Crypt, Rollins Band, Samiam, Seaweed, Sprung Monkey, Unwritten Law and Victim's Family.

Michael "Stimy" Steinman: 1972-2010
Chris, Didier, H1, and the extentended Sub Society family lost Stimy too soon on December 30, 2010.