Excel came out of the West Side Los Angeles crossover thrash scene as did many others in California like No Mercy, Beowülf, Suicidal Tendencies and Cryptic Slaughter.

Evan Warech joined as drummer, while the bass was occupied by a lot of different musicians that year, with Clements later saying "We had a different bassist every four months, and people just figured we were unstable.

Excel had performed live in L.A. in recent years, but the June 16, 1987, they gave their first official concert in the Fender's Grand Ballroom of Long Beach, California, and a second time March 18, 1988, to promote their new album.

Also in 1991, Excel piqued interest in taking legal action against thrash metal band Metallica over the song "Enter Sandman", which they claim borrows heavily from Excel's song "Tapping into the Emotional Void",[9] originally included on The Joke's on You LP, released in 1989, two years before the release of Metallica's Black Album (it was most eventually echoed by Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine in a 2004 interview[10]), but nothing moved forward due to improper legal counsel.

In 1993, Siegel returned to Infectious Grooves to record the album Sarsippius' Ark on February 16 of the same year; then he and Greg Saenz got together to form the power trio My Head, leaving Excel definitely.

Vic Caruso joined Excel as drummer and toured with the band in support of the album, playing at the Board in Orange County festival at the CSU Dominguez Hills Velodrome in Carson, CA in May 1995.

In May 2006, singer Dan Clements joined forces with original Suicidal Tendencies members Grant Estes (guitar), Amery Smith (drums) and Louiche Mayorga (bass) and the former No Mercy Kevin Guercio (vocals) to form the band Against to record two tracks for a new split album called Welcome 2 Venice.

Involved in the reunion at the time were Dan Clements on vocals, Shaun Ross on bass and Greg Saenz on drums; guitarist Adam Siegel was asked to participate but he declined the offer,[14] and the band replaced him with Alex Barreto.