Timeline
Friends, I've put together this timeline of Steve's, Bert's, and my musical history, from our childhoods to the present. I'll keep adding things as I remember them and as Bert and Steve give me more details. I'll also correct mistakes when I find them, so please check back often.
1976-77: John Brenner, aged 9-10, takes up the tenor saxophone at his elementary school, Sacred Heart of Jesus, in his Canton neighborhood in Baltimore. His parents rent the horn for him as part of a program through the school (probably sponsored by the instrument manufacturer). He plays in the school band in the fourth and fifth grades, attends regular rehearsals, and performs at several functions. He eventually develops an aptitude on the instrument, so his parents ask him, at the end of fifth grade, if he wants them to buy the instrument for him. By this time, however, he has discovered rock music. Since the music he listens to doesn't include saxophone, he decides he wants to play drums and turns down his parents' offer.
1977-78: John, aged 10-11, bangs on books and tin cans with pencils, a makeshift drum kit, for over a year, playing along with Kiss, Queen, and Rush records. He asks his mother for a drum set for Christmas, but she turns him down, telling him it will be too loud. She says he can get a guitar instead. He gets his first guitar, a Kay LP Special copy because it looks like Brian May's (of Queen), from Yeager's Music on Eastern Avenue in Highlandtown, and immediately learns every song he can by ear from records.
1978:
Hilton Elementary School in West Baltimore begins a program to have students
participate in clubs. Bert Hall, Jr., aged 11, joins the guitar club and learns 6
chords and several songs, including “Lean on Me” and “Michael Row the Boat
Ashore.”
1979: Now playing clarinet, Bert forms a band, with neighborhood kids on guitar and drums. They suggest that he look into getting a bass.
1980: John plays his first public performance in his first band at St. Brigid's Catholic middle school in his neighborhood (Canton) in Baltimore, at age 13. It is an AC/DC cover band, put together for a one-time "tribute"-type show. John dresses like Angus Young, wears his costume, and acts like him on stage, to the amusement (and consternation) of the nuns and the students. One of the band members' parents films the event on an 8mm camera. Other members include Paul Zdunek (drums), Chris Grzymala (vocals), and Mark Todd (guitar).
1980: John's AC/DC cover band decides to become a permanent band after attending a CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) dance at their elementary school, at which the band members ask the professional band hired for the dance if they can play a song during the band's break. The band (surprisingly) says yes, and John's band plays two AC/DC songs to the enthusiastic kids from their school. After this appearance, their band's singer suggests the name "Riot" for their band, which they adopt until the singer's older brother shows them Riot's (NY) album "Narita." The band breaks up not long afterward.
1980: Steve Branagan, playing guitar, performs in a talent show at his high school with future one-off Revelation bassist Mike Theiss. Songs include covers of Judas Priest's "The Tyrant" and "Breaking the Law." This appearance is filmed by a friend.
1980: For a Christmas gift, after a year of Bert begging him, Bert Hall Sr. gives in and gets his son a bass. Bert Hall, Sr.'s real plan is to use the bass guitar to double on his gigs, as soon as his son gets bored with it. Nothing happens with the bass until older neighborhood kids crash Bert Jr.'s band rehearsal and show the band a song.
1981: John meets Steve, who lives in the same neighborhood and plays guitar in a rival band. He had earlier met Andy Kremer, another neighborhood kid, who plays in the same band. (Andy had let John borrow an amp for the AC/DC show in 1980.) Though rival musicians, they eventually become friends because of their interest in similar heavy music.
1981: Bert forms his first rock band, “Renegade,” with other students at Baltimore Polytechnic High School. The band was named after a Styx song.
1981:
John and Bert Hall meet at Baltimore Polytechnic High School,
where they learn that they are both musicians. Several jam sessions take
place in John's parents' basement throughout the year.
John and Bert both leave the high school after a year but stay in touch and
jam occasionally.
1982: John, Andy, and three other musicians form a cover band they name "Metal Merchants." The band rehearses a few times and then disbands.
1982: In the summer, John and Bert, with John's cousin Alan (a drummer), form a trio that plays nothing but Rush and Triumph covers. John and Alan play a few parties as a duo. They eventually disband.
1983: "Metal Merchants" reforms, this time with John, Bert, a drummer (Bobby Blumberg), a guitar player (Frank "Fern" Sigismundi), and a revolving cast of singers (including Tom Harris, Matt Slowikowski, and Scott Alpigini). They play mostly covers of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden songs.
1983-89: Inspired by the playing of Andres Segovia and Christopher Parkening, John studies the classical guitar and music theory at Peabody Conservatory, later with a private instructor, and later still at a community college. He performs several times at school functions and area events.
1983-84:
After breaking up Metal Merchants, four of the members reconvene and form the
band Rampage (John Brenner, Bert Hall, Scott Alpigini, Bobby Blumberg), which plays covers of Manowar, Accept, Scorpions, and many
other heavy bands. John and Bert make their first, ultimately abortive attempts at
writing original songs. Titles include "Jade" and "The Pit and the
Pendulum."
1985: Rampage breaks up, and John and Bert join Steve (on drums), Andy (on second guitar), and a singer (Bert Ailiff) to form the cover band Panic. The band plays only a single show, a "battle of the bands" at a neighborhood recreation center, in which they win the title "Most Popular Band," before John leaves to join Have Mercy.
1985: Have Mercy, whose singer is John's childhood friend (Lonnie Fletcher) from their neighborhood, recruits John to play guitar after attending the Panic show. They audition him in their rehearsal space in Lonnie's basement and John accepts their invitation to join the band.
1985: Have Mercy (John Brenner, John Knoerlein, Rob Michaels, Lonnie Fletcher, Tom Maxwell) records the "Mass Destruction" demo, a song of which will appear on "Metal Massacre VII" on Metal Blade Records. They play shows on the east coast and gain an underground, worldwide following.
1985: During the summer and fall, Have Mercy plays shows in Baltimore and Brooklyn, NY.
1985: Have Mercy plays its first tour, in November, opening for Blessed Death and Agent Steel.
1985: After the tour, Have Mercy replaces John with their original guitarist, Nick Ellington.
1985: In December, John jams with Baltimore hardcore/death metal band Rancid Decay. The jam is something of an audition, for the band is without a guitarist. The band and John conclude that neither is a good match for the other.
1985: In December, John, Steve, and Andy re-form Panic, this time as a trio, playing cover songs of Metallica, Iron Maiden, Accept, and other heavy music, with John and Andy taking turns singing. They also create joke "bands" that play original songs that parody other bands and various styles of music.
1985-86: From December to March, John and Andy, unemployed, spend most of their afternoons jamming and improvising pastiches of Celtic Frost and Hellhammer songs for fun, in Andy's basement. They realize that the songs would be heavy and interesting if they took themselves seriously, and they play the songs for Steve. Subsequently, they decide to call themselves a doom metal band and write serious songs in the same vein as Trouble, Black Sabbath, and Witchfinder General. All three guys are guitar players, so they decide that Steve will play drums (because his brother is a drummer and has a drum kit), Andy will play bass, and John will play guitar. They also decide that John will sing because neither Steve or Andy is willing to.
1985-86: From December to March, John writes songs for Panic, such as "Salvation's Answer," "Mind Control" (later known as "Confusion"), and "Fatal Blow." These songs are a mixture of influences such as Trouble, Black Sabbath, and thrash metal.
1986: In June, Panic changes their name to "Revelation" in order to reflect their admiration of Trouble and to have a band name that better evokes the music they're writing and rehearsing.
1987:
In December 1986,
Revelation records its first demo tape, "Face Reality," on a Fostex 4-track
cassette recorder, in John's basement and bedroom. They release the demo in
January 1987, sending dozens of
copies to fanzines around the world and selling a few hundred of them for $1
each through the mail.
1987: On March 8th, Revelation plays its debut gig in Washington, DC at the East Side Club, opening for Baltimore locals and friends Death Mask and Rockville, MD band Asylum.
1987: Andy quits Revelation in May and leaves the band without a bassist for the recording of their second demo "Terminal Destiny," which is released in June. John plays bass on the demo out of necessity. Tom Harris designs the demo cover and several designs for T-shirts.
1987: In August, Revelation plays their second ever gig in Morgantown, WV with Mike Theiss on bass, opening for Pittsburgh band Doomwatch. Mike soon afterward decides he doesn't want to be a permanent member of the band, and Revelation is still without a bassist.
1987: A German fan and friend of the band Helmut Metzger designs the original Revelation logo.
1987: Undeterred and still without a bass player, John and Steve record and release their third demo, "Images of Darkness," in November. John once again plays bass.
1987:
The phrase "Doom or Be Doomed" first appears on the cassette cover of the
"Images of Darkness" demo. The band will use this phrase throughout its
career as a slogan.
1988: In February, after much cajoling, John talks Bert into joining Revelation. They immediately write new music in a more progressive vein, as a result of their interest in Rush and their growing abilities as musicians.
1988-91: Revelation begins playing shows in the Maryland, Pennsylvania, and DC area with such similarly-minded bands as Internal Void, Asylum, Dream Death, Penance, Wretched, Iron Man, and other local acts.
1988: On March 8th, Revelation plays a show in Baltimore opening for Dream Death at The New Loft. Dream Death is without a bass player, so John plays bass with the band. The police arrive and stop the show, so everyone retreats to the bands' downtown rehearsal space and the show continues.
1988: Approached by a Maryland underground record label, Doom Records, run by Marshall Levy, Revelation agrees to release a debut record, which the band records in September at a studio in Baltimore. The band, however, are not pleased with the results and shelve the record, losing about $1200 in the process.
1989: In March, Revelation record another demo, the first with Bert Hall, named "The Illusion of Progress."
1989: French fan and friend of the band Florian Berger designs a new logo for Revelation, one they'll use for the next 7 years.
1990: Revelation talks to two friends from Switzerland who are starting a record label about recording a 7-inch single. The plan stalls before anything is recorded.
1990: Rise Above Records, owned by John's friend Lee Dorian in England, offers to release Revelation's debut record.
1990: In March, Revelation writes and rehearses songs such as "Against Nature," "Frustrations," and "Unreal" that will appear on their "The Unbearable Vision" demo the following year.
1990: The band records "Salvation's Answer" in Pittsburgh over two weekends in May and June. The record costs about $800 to record and mix.
1990: On arriving home with the final mix of "Salvation's Answer," the band discovers that Bert's bass is out of tune on the entire record. After searching for a suitable studio for five months, they re-record the bass at Drew Mazurek's "Falling Sound" studio and re-mix the record.
1990: Rise Above Records releases a compilation called "Dark Passages" that includes Revelation's song "Blessed Realm," which was recorded at the "Salvation's Answer" sessions. Other bands on the compilation include Penance, Solitude Aeturnus, and Cathedral.
1991: Without any commitment from Rise Above for a second record or tour, and not wanting to sit on their new songs, Revelation records and releases what they call a "cassette EP," "The Unbearable Vision," in July at Drew Mazurek's "Falling Sound" studio in Baltimore.
1991: "Salvation's Answer" is released by Rise Above Records.
1991: Bert leaves Revelation to pursue his own musical interests. The band auditions several bass players but finds no one suitable. John asks Josh Hart, a fan of the band, to play bass, and Josh accepts. Sharing a love for progressive rock and doom metal, John and Josh work on John's compositions "One Last Step," "Ashes," and an epic named "Never Comes Silence."
1992: Hellhound Records of Germany begins signing many bands from the MD/DC doom metal scene to the label, and asks Revelation to sign a contract.
1992: Revelation records their second record, "Never Comes Silence," at Drew Mazurek's "Falling Sound" studio in Baltimore. The record costs about $1500 to record and mix.
1992:
Hellhound releases
"Never Comes Silence."
1992: Revelation plays several shows in Pennsylvania, Virginia, DC, and Maryland throughout the year. John and Josh also begin to write songs for a third record.
1993: On Jan. 18th, in Frederick, MD, this version of Revelation plays what was to be their final show.
1993: Hellhound Records talks to Revelation about a tour in Europe to support "Never Comes Silence." The band asks long-time fan Dennis Cornelius to jam with them and ultimately plan to ask him to play second guitar in the band. John, however, leaves Revelation and asks Dennis if he wants to be sole guitarist in the band. Dennis accepts. Josh quits soon after and later joins Unorthodox (formerly Asylum).
1993-2004: John retires from playing heavy music, sells his guitars, amp, and gear, and gives away all his records and tapes.
[1993-2004: Revelation III: coming soon.]
1999-2000: John and Bert jam at Bert's apartment, John playing mostly bass and Bert playing mostly guitar. They record hours of improvised jams on cassette tapes and name the results "Music by and for Poets and Fascists."
2004: In May, John and Bert meet to discuss John's return to playing heavy music, and Bert lends John an electric guitar and amp. John writes new songs, some of which were to be on the third Revelation record in 1993, and shows them to Bert. They ask Steve and Josh if they want to get together to jam "for fun." Steve joins them and they rehearse these new songs.
2004: In order to distinguish the music of Against Nature from that of old Revelation, and in the spirit of a something new for them, the band tunes to B (instead of the standard E).
2004: Dennis comes to Maryland to rehearse with Steve and John, who is asked to re-join Revelation. They rehearse once, but nothing comes of the rehearsals and the idea is dropped.
2004: In July, John, Bert, and Steve decide to become serious about their new music and to form a band. Revelation, however, has not officially broken up, so they start over and name their band "Against Nature" after the Revelation song on "Never Comes Silence."
2004-05: Throughout the rest of the year and into the next, John writes and Against Nature rehearses much of the music that will appear on their first two releases.
2005: Against Nature plays the Templars of Doom II Festival in Indianapolis, Bert, Steve, and John's first show together in 14 years. They play a set of their new originals and end with a medley of old Revelation songs.
2005: In September, Against Nature records the basic tracks for two sets of songs at Chris Kozlowski's "Polar Bear Lair" studio in Middleton, MD. John finishes the recording and mixing at home. They release these songs as two records, "Appease" and "Panoply," which are released about a month apart, in September and October.
2005: Against Nature launches its web site, www.againstnature.us, with the help of long-time friend Tom Harris, who designs the pages and layout. The band also begins releasing their music on their own label, "Bland Hand Records," which John runs. All music on Bland Hand Records will be released as free downloads on the band's web site, as part of the philosophy of the label.
2006: In March, Against Nature records its third record, "Safe Dissonance," once again recording the basic tracks with Chris Kozlowski in Middleton, MD and finishing the record at home, releasing it in April.
2006: Against Nature plays its second show ever at the Doom Shall Rise IV Festival on April 9th, in Goppingen, Germany.
2006: The Church Within Records of Germany releases a 7-inch single by Against Nature, featuring the songs "Pluperfect" and "Confusion," a Revelation song written in 1986 but never released on record. This is the band's first entirely home-recorded and produced music. John will record, mix, and produce all of the band's music from this time onward.
2006: Against Nature releases its fourth full-length, "Ghosting," in July.
2006: Against Nature, with Butch Balich (Argus, ex-Penance) on vocals, records the song "Crystal Logic" for a Manilla Road tribute CD on Solemnity Records of Germany. The CD is titled "The Riddle Masters."
2006: For an online contest, the band records a slowed-down and tuned-down version of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" with Butch Balich on vocals. However, they miss the deadline to enter.
2006: Against Nature plays the Stoner Hands of Doom VII Festival in Mesa, AZ in September.
2006: Against Nature plays the Doomed to Fall Festival in San Antonio, TX in October.
2006: Against Nature releases its fifth record "Leer" in October.
2007: Against Nature releases its sixth record, "The Anxiety of Influence" in February.
2007: Leaf Hound Records re-releases "Never Comes Silence" on CD.
2007: In April, John and Josh organize and host the Doom or Be Doomed Festival at The Sidebar in Baltimore, MD, inviting their favorite bands and friends from the local scene and across the country. The festival takes place over three days and features reunions of Penance, Iron Man, and Asylum, and appearances by 24 bands, including Buzzard, Chowder, Earthride, Zebulon Pike, Ogre, Orodruin and many others. Against Nature plays a set, and Revelation plays one set each with the line-up of the band from each of the first two albums.
2007: After many long-running conversations about the future of Revelation, John and Dennis decide that John will re-take over the band name, and John, Steve, and Bert will re-form Revelation.
2007: Leaf Hound Records offers to release a new record by Revelation, which the band titles "Release."
2007: In the summer, John records, mixes, and produces the debut CD by Josh's band Chowder, for Bland Hand Records.
2007: Leaf Hound Records re-releases "Salvation's Answer" on CD. The disc includes the song "Blessed Realm," which appeared on the "Dark Passages" compilation on Rise Above Records in 1990, and a TV appearance by Revelation on the "TV John Show" from 1992.
2007: Against Nature releases its seventh record, "Unfolded" in September.
2007: John mixes and produces the debut CD by Germany's Tortured Spirit, titled "The Mentally Ill," for Bland Hand Records.
2007: For their newest recordings in early October, the band tunes "up" to D to enhance the sound and direction of their new songs.
2007: Warning, Against Nature, and The River tour in England and Ireland in October, playing 8 shows in 8 days.
2007: Against Nature and Electric Magma play a short tour across the US in November that culminates in an appearance at the Stoner Hands of Doom VIII Festival in Mesa, AZ.
2008: Against Nature releases its eighth and ninth records, "Much in Little" and "Descend," in January.
2008: Revelation records its new record, "Release," in January and February. The CD is released in June on Leaf Hound Records of Japan.
2008: Revelation plays the Declaration of Doom festival in Baltimore, MD on July 5th, organized by John and Josh Hart. The roster includes Orodruin, Earthride, Blizaro, The Gates of Slumber, Valkyrie, Pale Divine, Iron Man, Chowder, and OGRE.
2008: From July 11-13, Revelation plays a headlining tour in Japan with Church of Misery and Eternal Elysium.
2008: From April through August, Against Nature records its tenth and eleventh releases, "Natural Blue" and "Accumulus." For the first time, the covers are hand-printed, individual artworks by John. The band is also using standard tuning (E standard), for the first time since "Salvation's Answer" in 1990. The two records are released in September and October, respectively.
2008: Revelation plays the 20 Buck Spin III festival in Washington, DC in November.
2009: Against Nature releases "Action at a Distance" and "The First Rain."
2009: In April, Revelation tours in Germany with Lord Vicar, Mirror of Deception, and Lord of the Grave. The final show is a co-headlining bill (with Pagan Altar) at the Doom Shall Rise VI festival in Goppingen, Germany.
2009: Revelation and Against Nature play the Born Too Late festival in Rochester, NY, organized by John Gallo of Orodruin and Blizaro.
2009: Revelation releases "For the Sake of No One" in September on Shadow Kingdom Records.
2010: Against Nature releases "Drawing Arrows" in January and "Chasing Eagles" in February.
2010: Against Nature releases "Cross Street" in June.
2010: Revelation plays two high-profile shows: the Dutch Doom Days IX festival in Rotterdam, Holland in November (headlining the first night) and the Montreal Is Doomed festival in Montreal, Canada in December.