is an American crossover thrash band that formed in Houston, Texas in 1982 and would later relocate to San Francisco, California.

The band is currently composed of two of its founding members, lead vocalist Kurt Brecht and guitarist Spike Cassidy, as well as bassist Greg Orr and drummer Rob Rampy.

never gained a mainstream audience, but the integration of their hardcore punk roots with thrash metal influences was a stylistic catalyst for their contemporaries – most notably Suicidal Tendencies, Corrosion of Conformity, Stormtroopers of Death, the Cro-Mags, Nuclear Assault, Adrenalin O.D., and Cryptic Slaughter – alongside whom they are considered to be one of the major pioneers of what would later be called "crossover thrash".

Despite this, the band has continued to tour almost every year, and gone on hiatus intermittently, notably between 2004 and 2009, when Cassidy was diagnosed with colon cancer.

The noise made by the band allegedly drew regular complaints from Kurt and Eric's father.

This was also an inspiration for the song "Madman," which featured a clip of Kurt and Eric's father interrupting a band practice to complain about the noise.

[citation needed] Two months later, on July 2, 1982, the band played their first show at Joe Star's OMNI, in Houston.

relocated to from Texas to San Francisco,[4] where they lived in their van and ate at soup kitchens between gigs.

[1] After the tour, Josh Pappe was brought in to replace Sebastian Amok who would eventually join The Dicks, another Texas band.

toured relentlessly throughout 1985 and 1986 in support of Dealing with It!, and it was on this tour that the band gained a wide audience by performing with thrash metal bands such as Slayer, Anthrax, Exodus, Overkill and Hirax, while continuing to perform with their hardcore punk peers, including Discharge, Corrosion of Conformity, Bad Brains, T.S.O.L., JFA, Descendents, Verbal Abuse, Gang Green and Cryptic Slaughter.

the major band of the "crossover" movement, a style that combined hardcore punk and thrash metal.

's popularity worldwide, including touring Europe and Australia for the first time, and opening for a variety of bands such as The Exploited and Anthrax.

[4] The band toured worldwide again to support the 4 of a Kind album, first in North America with Kreator and Holy Terror, and Europe with The Exploited and Gang Green.

The band toured for almost two years in support of Thrash Zone, mainly in Europe and North America, performing with numerous bands such as Nasty Savage, Sick of It All, Corrosion of Conformity, Mordred, Excel, Uncle Slam, Cryptic Slaughter, Dead Horse, Atrophy and Bitter End.

But in April, two band members ran into trouble trying to enter Canada, because they had both been previously charged with driving under the influence in the U.S.

announced that they were writing songs for the follow-up to Full Speed Ahead, including "Against Me", "As Seen on TV", "Bad News", "Brick Wall View", "Destructive Power", "Insanity Plea", "Saddam Insane", "Sweaty Deli Tray" and "Wrong as Usual";[3] the former of the two would be released 18 years later on But Wait...

had demoed at least four new songs for a potential eighth studio album, including "Against Me", which was available downloading at the "record news" page from their official web site for several years.

's first show ever and footage from the band's only performance at New York's famous CBGB's from the 1984 Violent Pacification tour.

; the CD contained the original album plus never-before-heard bonus tracks as well as live video footage including a mid-80s interview from a San Francisco Public-access television cable TV show.

After another tour in 2004, the band released Live At CBGB's CD and DVD, and the reissue of the Crossover album, all on Beer City.

In March 2006, Cassidy was diagnosed with colon cancer, which put the band's performances and recording on hiatus until his recovery.

In December 2006, Cassidy had completed all radiation and chemotherapy; a one-foot section of the large intestine (colon) was removed through an eight-inch incision in his stomach.

On April 13, 2010, Beer City Records reissued "Crossover – Millennium Edition" on LP and CD.

The CD version contains eleven bonus tracks including five songs from their performance at NYC's The Ritz.

The COVID-19 pandemic canceled or postponed dates in 2020 but the band returned to the road in 2021 and planned for a 40th-anniversary tour in 2022 across the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Central America.

entered a Southern California studio in October 2014 to begin recording an EP containing new material.

The company claims it connected to the defendants' BitTorrent clients and downloaded a full copy of the album, later verifying that they were identical to the original copyright works.

In 2017, the band parted ways with their longtime bassist Harald Oimoen, who was replaced by Greg Orr (ex-Attitude Adjustment).

They are often cited as one of the key bands that helped create the crossover thrash genre, along with S.O.D., Suicidal Tendencies and Corrosion of Conformity.

[18][19] Allmusic.com has claimed that, "Starting off as a speedy, straight-ahead punk band, they gradually mixed more elements of heavy metal into their sound; as they did so, their songs got longer and featured more sections and more variety in tempo.