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Self Defense Family (shortened to Self Defense and previously known as End of a Year) are an American rock band with members from across the United States and England. The band has released six full-length albums and several EPs and splits. Their sixth and latest studio album Have You Considered Punk Music was released June 29, 2018, on Run For Cover Records.
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (May 2015) |
Self Defense Family | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | End of a Year, End of a Year Self Defense Family, Self Defense, Barf Spectrum, The Actuaries, World Shut Your Mouth, Comforter, Weird Field, Pewter Wizards |
| Origin | Cohoes, New York, United States |
| Genres | Post-hardcore, post-punk, indie rock, emo |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Labels | Run for Cover, Deathwish, Revelation, Protagonist |
| Members | Patrick Kindlon Andrew Duggan Chris Tenerowicz Alan Huck Mark O'Brien Benjamin Tate Kaila Stone Adam McIlwee Caroline Corrigan Andy Rice E. Tobin Mary Brulatour Mathew Morand Mike Fenton Nick Warchol Brandon Wegg Anikke Myers Tyler Bussey Alex Morton Callum Barry |
| Past members | David Zeidman Mike Brandenburg Steve Hegner John Van Urgent Eric Busta Hans Leibold Sean Doody Seth Sauca Ted Cruz Ian Shelton Harry Bartrum |
| Website | selfdefensemusic |
End of a Year started as a side project for a number of musicians based in Albany, New York already involved in full-time bands. Having spent time in heavier bands, the initial End of a Year line-up was interested in trying something more overtly melodic. Taking their name from an Embrace song, the band's original sound was highly influenced by the Revolution Summer-era DC bands.
The band recorded a boombox demo to give out at their first show, which took place at SUNY Albany. Shortly thereafter, a more formal demo entitled "Warm" was recorded. A full-length, Disappear Here, appeared on local labels Oneohfive and Losingface Records. The band later released a split 7-inch with western Massachusetts band Three Fifteen on another local label, Slave Union. It was this record that caught the attention of Revelation Records, and the band made the jump in 2006, recording their first full-length for the California label in the spring of that year.
Sincerely was recorded with Don Zientara at Inner Ear Studio, adding to the perception that the band was striving for a DC-centered sound; the actual music, however, strayed further from that model than on previous releases.
In the spring of 2009 the band released an EP for Deathwish Inc. and announced plans for a full-length release for the label. In 2010, Deathwish Inc released the band's third full-length album entitled You Are Beneath Me.
The band regularly names songs after actual people with lyrical content that, though oblique, seems to reference the person. Some people the band has given song titles to include:
- Audrey Kishline, former proponent of Moderation Management
- Micheal Ray Richardson, former NBA basketball player and current coach of the Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry
- Michael Larson, notable for his record-breaking winnings on the American game show Press Your Luck
- William Kennedy, author and Albany, New York-area resident
- Charles Rocket, late comedian and actor
- Marissa Wendolovske, contemporary artist
- Eddie Antar, one time proprietor of Crazy Eddie Electronics
- Phillip Jose Farmer, American sci-fi/fantasy author
- Emanuela Orlandi, teenage girl whose Vatican City disappearance remains unsolved
- Dave Sim, Canadian cartoonist and publisher
In late 2010, the band announced that they would be "reformatting" the group to officially include all touring and session musicians they had worked with up to that point as well as changing the group's name to Self Defense Family. To go along with this announcement, they posted four songs from the You Are Beneath Me LP with Patrick Kindlon's lead vocal track removed and replaced by vocals from Caroline Corrigan, including one song that was also reworked into an acoustic version.[1] The band's tours have since been done on the basis of whoever is available at the time, with the same attitude being taken towards picking line-ups for their studio output. This format was taken to its furthest extent early on when one line-up of the band played a gig in Connecticut while another line-up traveled to Jamaica to record music for the first 7-inch in their Island Series of singles. As such, no member of Self Defense Family has played every show or played on every recording.
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The group formed in 2003 under the name "End of a Year" derived from an Embrace song of the same name. After the release of their 2010 album You Are Beneath Me, the group wanted to change their name to "Self Defense". As an interim name to ease the transition between names, Self Defense went by the name "End Of A Year Self Defense Family", and occasionally "Self Defense Music". Vocalist Patrick Kindlon likened the transition to Will Oldham's name changes. According to Kindlon, Oldham's band name went from "Palace Brothers to Palace Songs to Palace Music to Bonnie Prince Billy to Will Oldham."[2] On various vinyl releases, Self Defense used several "also known as" monikers including: Barf Spectrum, Meredith Hunter, Comforter, Pewter Wizards, and Weird Field.[2]
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The band is known for its prodigious output, often releasing a full-length album and several short efforts in a single year, normally through several different labels. Among them includes 4–5 songs EP[clarification needed] sometimes with specific themes, like the relationship focused Duets and "Superior" which is centred on the movement to make the Upper Peninsula the 51st state.[3] They also have an ongoing series of 7-inch singles recorded on Islands like Jamaica and Iceland, and have put out splits and collaborative EPs with a wide variety of bands including post-hardcore band Touché Amoré, post-punk band Creative Adult, hardcore punk band Axis, and even themselves under the pseudonym Meredith Hunter.[4] They have likened these shorter outputs to "one night stands".
| Self Defense Family discography | |
|---|---|
| Studio albums | 6 |
| EPs | 17 |
| Singles | 10 |
| Splits | 17 |
Studio albums
| Album | Year | Label | Band name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disappear Here | 2004 | Oneohfive | End of a Year |
| Sincerely | 2006 | Revelation | End of a Year |
| You Are Beneath Me | 2010 | Deathwish | End of a Year |
| Try Me | 2014 | Deathwish | Self Defense Family |
| Heaven Is Earth[5] | 2015 | Deathwish | Self Defense Family |
| Have You Considered Punk Music | 2018 | Run For Cover Records | Self Defense Family |
Singles and EPs
| Album | Year | Label | Band name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warm | 2004 | self-released | End of a Year |
| We Understand Europeans Are a Sexual People | 2007 | Blacktop | End of a Year |
| End of a Year | 2009 | Deathwish | End of a Year |
| More Songs about Transportation and Intercourse | 2010 | Hex | End of a Year |
| The Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Emanuela Orlandi | 2011 | Disposable Culture | End of a Year |
| End of a Year with Caroline Corrigan | 2011 | self-released | End of a Year |
| "I Heard Crime Gets You Off" | 2011 | Run for Cover | End of a Year Self Defense Family |
| Bacha Bazi | 2011 | CumHard420 | Self Defense Family |
| "I'm Going Through Some Shit" | 2011 | Deathwish | Self Defense Family |
| "Self Immolation Family" | 2012 | Deathwish | Self Defense Family |
| Live From Krazy Fest | 2012 | Head2Wall | Self Defense Family |
| The Corrections Officer In Me | 2013 | Family Drugs | Self Defense Family |
| You Are Beneath Her | 2013 | Iron Pier | Self Defense Family |
| Two Genuine Oddities From Our Distant Past | 2014 | Driftwood Records | Self Defense Family |
| I Tried To Make Something You Would Enjoy | 2014 | Triple-B Records | Self Defense Family |
| "Indoor Wind Chimes" | 2014 | Deathwish Inc. | Self Defense Family |
| Duets | 2014 | Iron Pier | Self Defense Family |
| Talia | 2015 | Deathwish Inc. | Self Defense Family |
| When The Barn Caves In b/w Alan | 2015 | Iron Pier | Self Defense Family |
| Superior | 2016 | Run For Cover | Self Defense Family |
| The Power Does Not Work In the Presence Of Nonbelievers | 2016 | Bad Paintings | Self Defense Family |
| Colicky | 2016 | Iron Pier | Self Defense Family |
| Bastard Form B/W Maybe You Could Explain It To Me | 2017 | Alternative Labels | Self Defense Family |
| BBC Session | 2017 | Deathwish Inc. | Self Defense Family |
| Wounded Masculinity | 2017 | Triple-B Records | Self Defense Family |
| Working People (Part 1) | 2018 | Run For Cover Records | Self Defense Family |
| Performative Guilt | 2019 | 6131 Records | Self Defense Family |
| Kitten Beach | 2020 | Run For Cover Records | Self Defense Family |
| Jesus Of Nazareth | 2020 | Run For Cover Records | Self Defense Family |
| Leeds | 2020 | Run For Cover Records | Self Defense Family |
| Long Island | 2020 | Iron Pier | Self Defense Family |
| Make Me A Pallet Fire On Your Floor b/w Local Clerics | 2020 | Run For Cover Records | Self Defense Family |
| Run The Dungeon | 2021 | Z2 Comics | Self Defense Family |
Splits
| Album | Year | Label | Split with | Band name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| We Mate for Life | 2005 | Slave Union | Three Fifteen | End of a Year |
| End of a Year / Fire Team Charlie | 2006 | Sticky Translucent Goo | Fire Team Charlie | End of a Year |
| End of a Year / Kids Explode | 2007 | Narshardaa | Kids Explode | End of a Year |
| Adorno / End of a Year | 2008 | Existencia | Adorno | End of a Year AKA Comforter |
| End of a Year / Red Tape Parade | 2008 | Cobra X | Red Tape Parade | End of a Year |
| Shook Ones / End of a Year | 2008 | Runner Up | Shook Ones | End of a Year |
| End of a Year / Segwei | 2010 | Alliance Trax | Segwei | End of a Year |
| Split Recording | 2011 | Trouble Monkey | Fires | Self Defense Family |
| Tigers Jaw / The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die / Code Orange Kids / Self Defense Family | 2013 | Run For Cover | Code Orange Kids, Tigers Jaw, The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die | Self Defense Family |
| Stalwart Sons / Self Defense Family | 2013 | Revolution Winter | Stalwart Sons | Self Defense Family |
| Self Defense Family / Goodtime Boys | 2013 | Palm Reader | Goodtime Boys | Self Defense Family |
| Least Violent Time In Human History | 2013 | Harm Reduction | Axis | Self Defense Family |
| Run For Cover Records - Mixed Singles Vol. 1 | 2013 | Run For Cover | Creative Adult, Anne, Grey Zine | Self Defense Family |
| Self Defense Family / Meredith Hunter | 2014 | Run For Cover | Meredith Hunter | Self Defense Family/Meredith Hunter |
| Self Love | 2015 | Deathwish Inc. | Touché Amoré | Self Defense Family |
| Self Defense Family / Creative Adult | 2015 | Deathwish Inc. | Creative Adult | Self Defense Family |
| Split 7-inch | 2016 | Protagonist Music | Null | Self Defense Family |
Compilation albums
| Album | Year | Label | Band name |
|---|---|---|---|
| German Industrial Ballads | 2015 | Bad Paintings | Self Defense Family |
Live albums
| Album | Year | Label | Band name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live From Krazy Fest | 2012 | Head2Wall Records | Self Defense Family |
| Law of Karma Live: Fake Shit Wins But Not Tonight | 2023 | Landland Colportage | Self Defense Family |
Videos
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