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REPROBATION BAND PAGE
 REPROBATION
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CURRENT NAME
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Reprobation | |
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FORMER NAMES
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- | |
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ORIGIN
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Illinois, USA | |
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STATUS
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Active | |
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FORMED IN
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1993 | |
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LABEL
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Forever Underground Records | |
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GENRE
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Death metal | |
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STYLE
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- | |
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LYRICAL THEME
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- | |
| BAND ADDED | 2003-03-24, 00:00 | |
| LAST UPDATE | 2008-06-12, 07:55 | |
Biography | Band members | Discography | Shows | Forum
| Band biography |
Reprobation's history dates back to 1992 in Dolton, IL, when high school friends Rob Whitworth (guitar), Mike Rees (drums), and Jeremy James (bass & vocals) first jammed together in the thrash outfit V.I.G. (Violence is Golden). Although this project did not last long it started the initial bond that would later become Reprobation. Around the same time in Hickory Hills, IL, three more high school buddies: Chuck Herrholz (bass), Carl Pavesich (vocals), and P.J. Fournier (guitar) were jamming in a thrash/death band with no name just for fun.
THE MYSTERIOUS JACK KOVINCKI & SHURGARD STORAGE: 1993
In the spring of '93, Carl, P.J. and Chuck decided that the time was right to start "doing it for real" and put out ads for a lead guitarist and drummer to complete their outfit. Around the same time Rob had split from Jeremy and Mike. While they found drummer Tony Moneran pretty quickly, they had trouble finding a suitable lead guitarist. Finally one day they received a call from a man called Jack Kovincki claiming to be the manager for a "hot, new guitarist" called Rob Whitworth. Hesitant to call him back at first, they finally called Rob up for an audition at their practice space at Shurgard Storage in Bridgeview, IL. To this day Rob denies any knowledge of the mysterious "Jack" but with the addition of Rob they finally had a complete lineup.
During this period a friendship was formed between Carl, P.J., Rob and Chuck that would last for a number of years, and the first song that would later become a Repro' song -- "Immolation of the Church" -- was penned. Although things were fine between the four of them, Tony was not quite working out as the drummer and was released from the band. Unfortunately, with the loss of Tony also came the loss of a rehearsal space, and the band soon fell apart.
REPROBATION, TAKE ONE: 1993
In the late summer of '93, after the demise of this outfit, Rob returned to Mike and Jeremy to reform their old band with a new focus and a new name. The switch was made to death metal, and the moniker Reprobation was chosen. Rob had also taken over the vocal duties and these Repro' songs were penned: "Under Darkness," "Devoid of God," " Dilapidated Autopsy," and "Godscum." Eventually a second guitarist was added Kevin Neighbors from the Lansing, IL-based Caustic Butchery, but unfortunately Mike had decided to leave the band. A new drummer was found in "Bile" Ed, who hailed from Hammond, IN, but the band soon fell apart again.
MEANWHILE... : 1993
After the demise of the Shurgard outfit, Carl and Chuck kept jamming. Guitarist P.J. had left the Chicago area to join the U.S. Army, but they found a new guitarist in Mike Kveck; however, they were still unable to find a drummer despite numerous ads plastered all over the South Side of Chicago and the suburbs. During this time Chuck and Rob kept in touch, and it was Chuck who actually recommended "Bile" Ed to Rob after Mike left since he lived much closer to Rob and Repro' than to Chuck and Carl. Not entirely happy with Mike Kveck as a guitarist and unable to find a drummer, this outfit, too, fell by the wayside.
REPROBATION, TAKE TWO: 1994-1996
With the demise of both bands at about the same time as well as a few months of inactivity, Jeremy suggested that he and Rob team up with Carl and Chuck. Since they were all friends and were tired of answering fruitless calls to replies to our ads, it was decided that this was the best solution. Although this choice left two bass players in the mix, Jeremy decided he would switch to rhythm guitar and Rob took over lead guitar duties. Carl took over the lead vocal duties from Rob and Chuck played bass. Eventually Mike Rees was reenlisted into the ranks on drums and Reprobation was reborn in the spring of 1994.
The first new song written in this period was appropriately titled "Reprobation." Later in the year Jeremy decided to leave the band, and the band decided to carry on as a four piece with just one guitarist. More songs soon followed in 1995: "Shallow," "Done," "Fuck the Rotted Meat," "The One They Hate," "Cold Reality" and "Mummification." In the spring of '96, Jeremy came back into the fold and two more songs followed: "Salvation (Is Not Free)," and "Cum Covered Coma Patient."
This was probably the band's most fertile songwriting period (to date). With the exception of a few house parties, no real shows had been played, but, with the band returning to a five piece, they embarked on their first real shows. Unfortunately, just as everything started to finally get going for the band tensions began mounting within the ranks. In December 1996, this phase of Reprobation called it quits.
REPROBATION, TAKE THREE: 1998-Present
Although 1997 was completely inactive for the group, members began talking to each other again and in the spring of 1998 Reprobation was again reborn. Jeremy decided not to join in the reunion, but longtime friend from the Shurgard days P.J. had just finished his stint in the Army and took over on rhythm guitar while Rob, Mike, Carl and Chuck all returned to their former positions in the band.
Two new songs quickly followed: "Angel of Deception" and "Eat the Shit." By the fall, with everything progressing nicely, the band decided to start playing out again, but in grand Repro' fashion as soon as things looked up, things got fucked up. Carl and P.J. decided to leave the band. Although the band could carry on with one guitar, it still needed a singer.
Initially the band decided to use longtime friend Joe Yearsich on vocals. Although never officially in the band before, he sang back-ups from time to time and occasionally would fill in for Carl. In an attempt to "keep it in the family," Joe was recruited to take over the vocal duties. Unfortunately, this situation did not work out.
Not really looking forward to putting up ads again, Mike's girlfriend, Jessi Virtusio, stepped in to save the day. She had met guitarist Terry Martin online, who in turn introduced us to vocalist Shawn Connors, his former bandmate of the Orland Park/Tinley Park, IL based Burning Nevaeh, and in November 1998 with the addition of Terry and Shawn a new lineup of Reprobation was solidified.
We started out 1999 with a new song, "Abort the Lie," and an opening slot on the Chicago stop of the Malevolent Creation/Jungle Rot US tour in February, and also embarked on a number of local shows showcasing the new lineup. "Lament Suffering" was also added to our repertoire in the spring, and in late July we were given the opportunity to share a bill with Malignancy, Skinless and Cephalic Carnage, but in August of 1999 the "Repro' Curse" struck again when rhythm guitarist Terry Martin decided to end his tenure with the band. Not missing a step, the band decided to simply carry on as a four piece.
The band continued doing shows, and wrote another new song, "Butchered Souvenirs" and began recording their first proper demo, One Rotted Autopsy, which was released in September. We also snagged another opening slot, this time for the Chicago stop of the Mortician/Skinless US tour in October, and in November the band celebrated a full year together with vocalist Shawn Connors, and added one more new song to our catalog before the year's end, "Sins of the Sick," and even more still in the works.
2000 started out with the song "Entropy" which was quickly followed by the song "Crippled Minions." Aside from writing these two new songs, the winter months were a rather inactive period for the band with only one show being played in February, but as the spring and summer approached we began to fill up our show schedule.
Unfortunately, just as we were about to start a string of shows we were faced with yet another lineup change. Luckily for us this next lineup change was more of an addition, or shuffling of duties than an actual change. Vocalist Shawn Connors was also the guitarist of Inhuman Gestation which he had formed with his former Burning Nevaeh bandmate & drummer Eric Riordan. The band was rounded out with former Iniquitous members Mike Crothers on vocals and Louie Hoelle on guitar. In April both Louie and then Eric had decided to leave Inhuman Gestation which left Shawn & Mike in the position of disbanding Inhuman Gestation. With Inhuman being no more Shawn had suggested that we recruit Mike on vocals and that he would switch to guitar & vocals.
So in May of 2000 we formally added Mike Crothers as our new lead vocalist and Shawn switched to guitar & vocals. With Shawn being both a competent vocalist and guitarist this not only gave us two guitarists again bringing us back to a two guitar lineup, but this now gave us a new duel vocal lineup. So on May 27th we debuted our new lineup live.
In June we had a show booked with both Lividity & Waco Jesus at Smiler Coogans here in Chicago, but were forced to cancel at the last minute when drummer Mike Rees injured his foot at his day job the night before the show. The show went on without us and I would like to take this opportunity to send our condolences to the members of Lividity & Waco Jesus as they lost their drummer Nick Null when he passed away in late July. Although we were not close friends with them we did get to meet Nick and were shocked when we heard of his passing.
We continued doing shows throughout the summer months with such bands as Nunslaughter (OH), Unborn, Cianide, Disinter & Unhallowed (NJ), and in September we prepared to enter the studio to record the EP The Colour of Gore. We were eager to record material with our new & improved lineup as not only did our One Rotted Autopsy demo get far more exposure than we had ever imagined, but we had begun to get a bit of a "buzz" around the band due to the new lineup. So on September 1st we entered Sheffield Studios in Hammond, IN and recorded The Colour of Gore. We would also like to thanks Mike Sheffield for making our first real studio experience a comfortable and enjoyable one.
In mid September we had a show booked with Incestuous, Avernus, and Somnus (OH) at Riley's Rock House in Aurora, IL. We had run off some "promo copies" of our new EP to give out to our friends and one had managed to get into the hands of Bill Smith from Forever Underground Records. Liking what he heard a few weeks later Bill contacted us and offered to sign us. So on September 30th we signed with Forever Underground Records, and rounded out 2000 with the opening slot for the Chicago stop of the Mortician/Goatwhore/Malignancy US tour at Smiler Coogans on November 4th.
2001 began with the release of our The Colour of Gore MCD on February 17th, and we also began the year by sharing the stage with Anal Blast, Waco Jesus and Screaming Afterbirth at Smiler Coogans in Chicago, IL. In April we played what was unfortunately our last show ever at Smiler Coogans (the club closed it doors at the end of April 2001) opening for Florida's death metal legend's Monstrosity, and we prepared for our first appearance at the world famous MILWAUKEE METALFEST.
Summertime arrived and METALFEST proved to be a positive experience. We played to a fairly decent sized crowd, which was a great accomplishment as we were playing at the same time as more established bands (including a secret unplugged set from Macabre that wasn't very secret), sold a good number of CD's and got to play to a bunch of people who had never seen (or heard of) us before. Summertime ended with a mini-fest type show at Rube's in Harvey, IL (south suburban Chicago) opening for Macabre on Labor Day Weekend, this time getting to play right before them (and a packed house) instead of opposite them.
In late September we got to open for Mortician (again, lol) and Exhumed at Riley's Rockhouse in Aurora on the Chicago area stop of "The Gore Tour". At this show it became fairly obvious that we had finally begun to make our mark on the Chicago death metal scene as the majority of the crowd not only knew who we were, but we actually signing along to the songs (well, as much as you can sing along to a death metal song). In late October we played the HALLOWEEN MASSACRE in Bunker Hill, IN (north of Indianapolis). We got to play with some great bands including Lividity, Fog, Rupture Christ, Unhallowed, Psychomancer, Lust of Decay, Blokhed and Enrapture, and the people there actually knew who we were, a good sign that our CD was actually selling well.
We rounded out our 2001 performance year with a pair of shows at Rube's in Harvey, IL. In late October we played with Waco Jesus & Unhallowed, and in November we played The UNHOLY DEVASTATION FESTIVAL which was a benefit show for the World Trade Center disaster on September 11th, and began preparing material for our full length CD Undoing Creation.
We began 2002 by reentering Sheffield Studios in Hammond, IN in February to record Undoing Creation, and right after its completion we got top play the MIDWEST SHOWCASE OF SICKNESS, a mini-fest featuring Fleshgrind, Disinter, Screaming Afterbirth, Dyscrasia, Bound And Gagged, Enmortem, Rellik, Gorespawn, In Pieces and Putrid Pile.
In April we tapped tattoo artist Jon Zig to do the artwork for our upcoming Undoing Creation CD and opened the Chicago date of the Beheaded/Leukorrhea US Tour, and in May we performed at the JAMES MURPHY BENEFIT SHOW at the Emerson Theater in Indianapolis with Corpsevomit, Gorgasm, Summon, Serberus, Dead of Night, Dwelling Madness, Skullview, Soulless, Summer Dying, Freek, In Pieces, Rune, 1 Shot 1 Kill and Blokhed, and in June we got to play at the first ever CHICAGOLAND DEATHFEST along with Monstrosity, Dying Fetus and Origin.
In July we got to perform once again at the MILWAUKEE METALFEST which brings us to the present with the release of Undoing Creation which was finally released on September 15th, once again through Forever Underground Records. Chuck Herrholz left the band October 2002, bring the band back to it's roots, having to seek out a new member. The band will continue to play shows and write music minus a bassist. When a permanent replacement is found, we will report back. For more updates be sure to check out our News Page.
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