Christie Front Drive
Formed in Denver, Colorado in the autumn of 1993 by singer/guitarist Eric Richter, guitarist Jason Begin, bassist Kerry McDonald, and drummer Ron Marschall. Influences included Superchunk, Jawbreaker, Jawbox, Buffalo Tom, and Drive Like Jehu.
The band’s music was slow-paced and melancholic, with drawn-out guitar passages that built into shimmering climaxes. Their style bears more similarities to post-rock and slowcore than to punk or hardcore. As Kerrang! put it, “Christie Front Drive had the drawn-out, melancholic guitar passage down to a fine art.”
The band released a self-titled EP and a 7” on Freewill Records in 1994, followed by split records with Jimmy Eat World, Sineater, and Boys Life, and appearances on compilations including (Don’t Forget To) Breathe from Crank! Records. Richter sang backups on Jimmy Eat World’s major label debut, Static Prevails. Their only official full-length, a self-titled album commonly referred to as Stereo, was released posthumously by Caulfield Records after the band broke up in 1997. Caulfield also released the Anthology CD compiling their earlier material.
Richter resurfaced in Antarctica, The 101, and Golden City. Begin and Marschall formed The Blue Ontario. Marschall was also credited as an engineer on The Apples in Stereo’s The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone. McDonald went on to form The Mighty Rime, who released a self-titled record on Caulfield in 2002.
The band reunited at the Marquis Theater in Denver for DenverFest III in September 2007, with all four original members. They reunited again in 2014 for Pouzza Fest. Magic Bullet Records released a remastered Stereo in 2010 with a DVD of the band’s 1996 final show, and reissued the debut EP in 2013. Dark Operative Records re-released the debut on vinyl in 2019 and issued a 25th anniversary edition of Stereo in 2021.
Members
- Eric Richter - Guitar, Vocals
- Jason Begin - Guitar
- Kerry McDonald - Bass
- Ron Marschall - Drums
