- Uniform Choice
Uniform Choice is an
Orange County, California hardcore punk band.History
Uniform Choice was started by Guitarist Myke Bates, Bassist Hanson Meyer and Drummer Eric Hanna during the Spring of 1982. Bates had been playing with a couple of bands previously in Palm Springs. His band, Funeral Information, had played early punk shows with
Sin 34 andBlack Flag (band) and his other band, Target 13, had written the songRodney On The ROQ forKROQ DJRodney Bingenheimer which appeared on the compilation album Rodney On The ROQ, Vol 2 under the independent record label Poshboy.Bates left his skateboard shop, Bates Skates, behind in Palm Springs and moved to Newport Beach. He looked to start a band in Orange County and found Meyer and Hanna who were playing with a local punk band called Moral Sin.
They together created
Uniform Choice and as a power trio started playing a number of songs already written by Bates. Meyer and Bates wrote a number of songs together over the course of the next two years including "War is Here" and "Don't Take the Car You'll Kill Yourself." Bates played lead guitar and sang lead vocals in the beginning until the group landed on lead singer, Elliot Cola, a former classmate of Meyer and Hanna's from Corona Del Mar High School. The band experimented with other singers before Cola. Newport Beach local, Eric Whittick, sang for a short while. And later in the tradition of X-Ray Spex, young 14 year old Jennifer Harper fronted the band for a short time. In 1983 the band experimented with an additional second lead bass player, Brent Turner. Turner only played several shows with the band and left the group to record an album withThe Vandals (punk) . The band made it's first recordings and finally a demo with Cola heading up vocals. The recording sessions were engineered and produced by Tom Springston of Burnt Party Host and were recorded at Hanna's home in Corona Del Mar, CA. Over the course of the first two years the group performed with other established punk acts such asBlack Flag (band) , Circle Jerks,Shattered Faith (band) ,Bad Religion , Circle One andAngry Samoans .In early 1984 Hanna and Meyer decided to disband and Bates enlisted an entire new line-up which would be fronted by
Pat Dubar with drums being played by Hanna's friend and classmate Pat Dyson. Meyer went on to play with other groups such as the Finks and Peace Corp. Bates left the group later in 1984 to pursue other endeavors in Hollywood, CA.The group with this final line up went forward as Uniform Choice and continued to record, gain momentum and perform throughout California and beyond bringing the group to their current level of fame and recognition in the Southern California punk subculture.
"
Screaming For Change " is their most acclaimed album.Fact|date=July 2007 They also recorded another less well received LP called "Staring Into The Sun " and their demo has been bootlegged several times.Pat Dubar was a graduate ofPepperdine University and created the labelWishingwell Records , which released albums byUniform Choice ,Blast! , andYouth of Today , among others.Uniform Choice is historically among the first fiveStraight Edge Hardcore bands to emerge fromSouthern California .Fact|date=July 2007Early Members
* Myke Bates (1982-1984)
* Hanson Meyer (1982-1984)
* Eric Hanna (1982-1984)
* Elliot Cola (1983-1984)Members
*
David Mello (1984- )
*Pat Dubar (1984- )
*Victor Maynez (1984- )
*Pat Dyson (1984- )
*Patrick Longrie (1984- )Discography
* "Demo #1" demo (1984)
* "Uniform Choice " demo (1984)
**reissued in 1990
* "Screaming For Change " (Wishingwell Records , 1986)
* "Region of Ice " giant records(1988)
* "Staring Into The Sun " (1988)Related Bands
*
Corporate Avenger -Pat Dubar
*Mind Funk -Pat Dubar
* Unity -Pat Dubar ,Patrick Longrie External links
* [http://bandtoband.com/index.php?Page=Search&BandId=67 Uniform Choice] on bandtoband.com
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