Discordance Axis

Discordance Axis
Origin	East Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres	Grindcore
Years active	1992–2001
Labels	Hydra Head, Slap a Ham Records
Members	Jon Chang Rob Marton Dave Witte
Past members	Steve Procopio Rob Proctor
Website	studio-grey.com/da/

Discordance Axis was an American grindcore band formed in 1992 in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Their songs employed themes of inner struggles, science fiction, comic books, anime, and literature.

History

Discordance Axis was originally formed in 1991 by Jon Chang under the name of Sedition, after recruiting guitarist Rob Marton and drummer Dave Witte. The band didn't have a bassist, however, and would change their name to Discordance Axis in 1992. The band commonly avoided photographs and live performances.

The band split up multiple times, with Rob Marton leaving due to health issues. After the band eventually disbanded in 2001, members Jon Chang, Rob Marton, and Dave Witte continued to collaborate in other projects. Discordance Axis would be the forerunner to the band No One Knows What the Dead Think founded in 2016 by Jon Chang and Rob Marton. Jon Chang later joined the band Gridlink as a vocalist in 2004, and Dave Witte would become known for his role as a drummer in other bands such as Human Remains, Black Army Jacket, and Burnt by the Sun.

Biography

Frontman Jon Chang stated on the history of the band:

"Discordance Axis was a three piece grindcore band that started in East Brunswick, New Jersey around 1992. The band started after me and Rob's previous band disintegrated, and we found Dave at a Human Remains show. We asked him to play a split 7-inch with us and it snowballed from there.

The pattern was, we got together and wrote and recorded some material, then would part ways. We never really played live much because...well we couldn't manage to sell more than 500 copies of any of our records and we all had conflicting schedules.

We get asked why we only toured Japan. That's easy. That's where all our records sold. And most of the bands we liked were from over there.

Steve Procopio played live a lot with us and recorded the guitar tracks on the Necropolitan EP. Rob Marton plays guitar on every other recording we produced. Steve and Rob were two really gifted people and I feel fortunate to have played with both them and Dave.

There's a much more detailed band history in the Original Sound Version and Jouhou reissue CD's that Hydrahead released, but in brief, Discordance Axis started in 1992 and broke up in 2001. All of our music has been re-issued on CD except for our tracks on the Necropolitan EP (because the master is lost) and our track from the Snarl Out Vol 2 7-inch comp record.

Jon Chang now sings for Gridlink. Rob Marton writes lots of music but isn't in a band. Dave Witte plays for Municipal Waste (among others)."

Style

In the beginning, the band played straightforward grindcore influenced by acts such as Napalm Death. However, later releases showcased a more original style. Robert Marton guitar lines were both technical and dissonant, and added creative overdubs to augment the melodies. Dave Witte added complex rolls, fills, and jarring rhythmic shifts to the usual barrage of blast beats found in grindcore. Jon Chang alternated between a shrill shriek and a "gastrointestinal" roar, and based most of his metaphorical lyrics on novels and anime. The band had no bassist, and the majority of their full-length recordings were released in DVD cases rather than CD cases, accompanied by unusually large booklets with long liner notes for each song, usually longer than the lyrics.

Members

Current members

• Jon Chang – vocals (Gridlink, Hayaino Daisuki, No One Knows What the Dead Think)
• Rob Marton – guitar (No One Knows What the Dead Think)
• Dave Witte – drums (Burnt by the Sun, Human Remains, Municipal Waste, Black Army Jacket, Melt-Banana, Exit-13, Deny the Cross, Hope Collapse, East West Blast Test, Birds of Prey, Phantomsmasher)

Former members

• Steve Procopio – guitar (1997–1998, 2001)
• Rob Proctor – drums (1995)

Discography

Studio albums

• Ulterior (1995), Devour Records/Pulp Records
• Jouhou (1997), Hydra Head Records
• The Inalienable Dreamless (2000), Hydra Head Records

EPs

• split with Cosmic Hurse (1992), Pulp Records
• split with Hellchild (1993), HG Fact
• split with Capitalist Casualties (1994), Pulp Records
• split with Def Master (1994), HG Fact
• split with Melt-Banana (1995), HG Fact
• split with Plutocracy (1995), Slap a Ham Records
• Necropolitan (1997), HG Fact
• split with Corrupted and 324 (2001), HG Fact

Compilations

• Original Sound Version 1992–1995 (1998), Devour Records
• The Inalienable Dreamless Perfect Version Box Set (2000), self-released
• Our Last Day (2005), Hydra Head Records

Videos

• 7.62mm (1997), self-released
• Pikadourei (2002), Hydra Head Records

External links

• Official website
• Discordance Axis at AllMusic
• Discordance Axis at MySpace
• Interview with Dave Witte at Lambgoat.com