Album Notes

Penalty Killers were born of four musicians who were unknown to each other prior to the potential destruction of the Portland music scene. Over a year after the first two members met, their patience has paid off—the result is a high energy sonic boom of rock n’ roll consisting of hook laden classic metal and punk and that has been harder and harder to find on stage in recent years.

When drummer Steve Kneivel’s want-ad was responded to by Bootsy, a guitar player who had since left Black Market Babies, the duo immediately clicked, decided to cut the shit, and began laying down the blueprints for what was to become. Steve has been a part of the Portland music scene for the last decade and a half while playing with such bands as the Iowa Hawkeyes, then to Pisswild Horses (with Jerry A and Charlie from Poison Idea). It was a perfect match—a point missed by neither— and the search began to fill the remaining positions on the roster.

After spreading a 4-track demo around town, the two met a shaggy, blonde-haired transplant to the Portland scene who impressed them by showing up and nailing every song with his arms tied behind his back. Bassist JMF joined the band that week. He adds virtuosic bass melodies to the mix, and can trade solos on his five-string bass with anyone armed and willing with a six-string guitar. His time spent with Van’s Warped Tour act “10 Minutes Down” and other touring bands, like Washington’s “The Ukiah Front”, have given him the experience to outright impress anyone within earshot of the stage night after night.

The three began writing and arranging songs immediately, banging out new tunes by the fistful when Wang, an Alaskan union worker, put down the sledgehammer, punched winter in the face, swaggered into the basement, and started screaming incoherently. His voice has an element of hard-bitten adamance to it that soars into octaves rarely visited since the hey-days of Barry White and Stephen Hawking. Possessing the type of stage presence and musicianship that the band required, Wang was asked to join, and Penalty Killers hit stage the following month of January.

The month of June led Penalty Killers to team up with the mysterious and legendary Mike Lastra of Smegma Studios to record a full length thirteen track album which saw the light of day in December of 2008...and the people rejoiced from the good news...