Against The Grain (3)

Against The Grain is a New York Hardcore band started by hardcore veteran Rob Kabula (bass) of Agnostic Front and Carlos Diaz (guitar) in 1996. Additional members included hardcore veteran Stan Ambro (drummer) formerly of Cause For Alarm. This original line-up consisted also of Rob Portvliet (guitar) and Adriano "A.G." Garcia (vocals). In the beginning, Against The Grain's metallic sound derived as a 1980's crossover style in which their 7-song 1996 Demo sounded similar to Agnostic Front's Cause For Alarm album thanks in part to Rob Kabula's influence and Billy Milano (vocalist for S.O.D. / M.O.D.) managing and producing the band. Towards the end of 1996, Agnostic Front would plan a reunion that would consist of their old school lineup, which would see Rob Kabula reunite with his old fellow bandmates. In 1997, with big tour plans ahead for Agnostic Front, Kabula was unable to continue with Against The Grain due to the time constraints. Upon his exit, Dave Urban (bass) of Faction Zero briefly took over but this lasted only one show. Rob Portvliet would take over bass guitar duties and the band would continue as a four-piece for the next few years. During 1997, Against The Grain would release a split 7" record on Guillotine Records with fellow NYHC upstarts Downlow, with the Against The Grain side titled "Caco Raspado". 1998 saw Against The Grain put out their first full-length 17-song CD entitled Mentiroso on Too Damn Hype Records which garnered notoriety around the world. The sound on Mentiroso differed from the original demo as the band changed their sound to a more old school hardcore sound with a touch of oi, punk, and but only a small metal influence as would A.G.'s vocals change, going from a deep growl you would hear on the demo to a more straight up raspy clearer legible style. The band would quickly move away from the trendy metal sound which they felt over-saturated the New York Hardcore scene. The music would become much shorter derivative of the old school type hardcore bands. Special guest vocals on Mentiroso would consist of Roger Miret of Agnostic Front and Billy Milano. The rest of the year saw the band purposely laying very low on the radar and playing part-time. Due to this and personal differences Rob Portvliet would exit the band. In '99, following the death of Raybeez and alongside new member Shawn Urscheler (bass), the band would record Warzone's "Will You Ever Come Back" for the Tribute to Raybeez and Warzone compilation on Hatecore Records. The next year Shawn would leave the band, and be replaced by Jim Marshall of Home 33 on bass guitar duties. Against The Grain would return to a 5-piece band and recruit Chris D'Alessandro (lead guitar), founder of veteran NJHC hardcore act Faction Zero. This line-up would record two split CD's: Between The Lines / Against The Grain split CD with Belgian hardcore band Between The Lines on Funtime Records and self-releasing a split CD on Chris D'Alessandro's Faction Zero / Wasteland Recordings label entitled Against The Grain / Faction Zero War Stories. After '02, vocalist A.G. would leave for college to Los Angeles and the band would go on hiatus until '03 when they would play certain select shows across the tri-state area. '05 would see the departure of bassist Jim Marshall and the band would be reunited with the return of a semi-retired Rob Kabula. One year later the band would stop performing and at this time, it is unknown whether the band is on hiatus or quit other than occasional songs popping up on various compilations. As far as lyrics go, Against The Grain were more middle of the road politically as they would go up against right wing and left wing views, from bashing neo-nazis to having a strong anti-communist stance, to singing meatheaded style quick numbers of threatening violence, sexual favors, sarcasm, and humor. Against the Grain would take on a part-time basis as the band saw this as a hobby and took to their respective careers outside of the hardcore scene and personal lives more seriously. The band was strong on the belief of hardly advertising themselves and keeping a very low profile as of fear of getting too big (even within the hardcore scene) and following on the belief that in hardcore you must find the band yourself and word of mouth advertising as it was in the old days. This low profile would deem them as a cult band or the underground band's underground band. Usually, this would lead to confusion whether the band was broken up or not and their whereabouts. == MEMBERS == Adriano "A.G." Garcia - Vocals Carlos "Carlooch" Diaz - Guitar Rob Kabula - Bass Pete "The Beat" Barrera - Drums == FORMER MEMBERS == Chris D'Alessandro - Lead Guitar Rob Portvliet - Guitar / Bass Jim Marshall - Bass Shawn "The Giant" Urscheler - Bass Dave Urban - Bass Stan "The Man" Ambro - Drums