Defiance was formed in 1985 by guitarist Brad Bowers, drummer Matt Vander Ende, and bassist Mike Kaufmann.
Doug Harrington joined later but left the band not long after due to conflicts with Bowers, and was replaced by Jim Adams.
[1] At Roadracer's insistence, the band traveled to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to record their debut album with Annihilator guitarist Jeff Waters.
After playing a few dates in the Bay Area, Elkington was fired due to lack of commitment and former Laughing Dead vocalist Steev Esquivel was added to the group and finished the band's tours for the album.
The band's overall sound became a little more progressive but stuck to the Bay Area thrash ideals, though many compared Esquivel's singing style to Chuck Billy of Testament.
The band went into the studio with Rob Beaton to record their third album in 1991, but problems arose when Steev Esquivel's drug addictions became over the top and he left the group.
The personal management for the artist, Defiance, during the period including the albums, Void Terra Firma and Beyond Recognition, was Greg Burnham of FTC Entertainment Group.
Matt Vander Ende briefly joined Laaz Rocket, and later in 2004 he moved to New York City to become the drummer for the Broadway show Wicked.
[3] White, Harrington, Adams, and Kaufmann and new drummer then created the groove metal band Inner Threshold, which later evolved into Under.
Meanwhile, Esquivel achieved considerable success in the late 1990s with the groove metal group Skinlab, who released three albums before splitting up in 2003, although they have reunited occasionally since 2007.
In November 2006, tragedy struck Defiance when guitarist Doug Harrington died of cancer, which he had been battling secretly for years.
Following the release, Esquivel once again quit the band, claiming he only intended to record some material with Defiance because that was what Doug Harrington had wanted him to do before he died.
On September 26, 2019, Defiance announced on their Facebook page that they were going to reunite for an appearance in April 2020 at the Blades of Steel Metal festival in Milwaukee;[5] this show was ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.