Twelve Gauge started their run from the ashes of another local St. Paul band, "Warhead" that broke up in 1994. Between then and the Inception of TW in 2001, Both Nick Warhead and Eric Lofquist played off and on in such bands as "Chemical Imbalance" and "Warhead 2000". In 2001, former Warhead drummer Dan Kobilka, was back into music again, and was looking for a band. An Idea was thrown around for a "Warhead" reunion, but when they got together things were a little different than years before.
The band started writing material for their Debut Cd "Violent new world" in June 2001. Nick, now on Bass & Vocals, and Eric on guitar, made for some different sounding affair then the band before, bordering on NWOBHM, punk, and old school thrash metal. The Cd was released independently through their own Label "Isotope Records" in June 2002, with their first gig that same month. The band played shows in the Twin Cities throughout 2002-2003.
In 2004, the band was busy writing and recording material for their upcoming release "The city is burning". Its was a slow process, but the songs are a step in a heavier direction. In August 2004, The band added bass player Nate Chambers, with Nick Warhead switching to guitar, giving Twelve Gauge a twin guitar attack and a thicker, more dense sound than ever before.
In spring 2005, Twelve Gauge released their sophomore album, The city is burning which is a slab of authentic old school 80s thrash metal, complete with 1980s production values. Twelve Gauge is the only band out in metal right now, which puts out truly authentic 80s thrash the way it should be done. You'd swear these dudes have been hiding under a rock since 1989 and have crawled out in 2005 to kick everyones ass with the real metal. Other classic bands have put albums out in the last few years, and none of them have captured the true spirit of the old days. All this and more coming from a largely unknown Minnesota band with a particular distaste of all the stupid formalities and bullshit in the music industry. They have always taken a DIY approach, and could care less what people think. They dont care what other bands are doing or what is the flavor of the month. No stupid face paint, no masks, no keyboards, no rapping, no 7 strings guitars...none of that shit, just raw ass in your face thrash. They know what they like to play and ignore the trends.
In 2007, Nate Chambers dropped out of the band and was replaced by Andy Conroy, And the band continues writing songs for their 3rd CD, which will be more complex and even heavier then the last release, as well as playing shows in the Twin Cities area.
The Bottom line for Twelve Gauge is: If you want to hear real metal done 80s style, without pretension, check it out.Myspace Layouts by Pimp-My-Profile.com