biography
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Guilt's impact and overall relevance went largely unrecognized
during their six-year tenure as an intense and emotive
über-indie-noise-metal-hardcore band. Their songs combined the best
elements of several genres without sounding contrived, and managed to
evoke soulful emotion and raise thought-provoking questions within the
confines of a musical style typically confined to mundane "evil" topics
and horror imagery. Guilt evolved from the band Stepdown, which formed
in 1991 with former Endpoint drummer Lee Fetzer and Endpoint bassist
Kyle Noltemeyer on guitar, Christian McCoy on bass, powerhouse drummer
Jon Smith, and Endpoint guitarist Duncan Barlow on vocals. Stepdown were
fiercely political and rabidly confrontational, going head to head with
the Nazi faction of the Louisville scene on more than one occasion. As
Barlow's own personal battle with depression set in, however, the
group's focus shifted and soon the name was changed. Fetzer left the
group and Barlow picked up second guitar in addition to vocal duties.
The Empty 7" was recorded at Mom's Studio and released by Initial, a
small record label then based in Michigan. After a handful of shows, the
band dissolved for almost a year, eventually re-forming and recording
several new songs at DSL Studios that would later become the Synethesia
10"/CD EP on Initial. The record was heavy and intense, with darkly
poetic lyrics and song titles named after colors picked to represent
various moods. McCoy was replaced by Telephone Man's Ashli State before
the band signed a deal with Chicago's Victory Records label. Guilt
entered the studio with producer/Shellac member Bob Weston, who helped
the band hone their sound by enhancing the drums, bringing down the
metal element in the guitars, and eliciting top-notch, emotional
performances. The end result was Bardstown Ugly Box, the band's
masterwork, so named for a street in their native Louisville, KY. It was
years ahead of its time in the hardcore/punk scene, fusing elements of
noise, melody, heavy metal, punk rock, indie rock, and poetic
storytelling seamlessly, with intensity yet class and style. Shortly
after the album's release and subsequent touring with labelmates Earth
Crisis, Noltemeyer left the group, with State soon behind him, the
latter moving to Philadelphia and joining the ranks of "vampire"
obsessed punk rockers Ink and Dagger. Barlow and Smith, together with
Noltemeyer as a guest, recorded the Further EP, an odd collection of
untitled songs that borrowed a bit from the heavy percussion and
meditative drone of Neurosis and avant-garde, atmospheric and
experimental music in general, though it still retained the band's
trademark heaviness. In 1996, the band played one more show with By the
Grace of God/Elliott guitarist Jay Palumbo on bass. Guilt reformed a
year later, with State and Noltemeyer returning, to record two final
songs and release them as a 7" single (a split release between Barlow's
fledgling Nerd Rock and the now Louisville-based Initial) and play a
final show on Halloween of 1997. In 1999, Nerd Rock compiled a
collection of previously released Guilt compositions and rare recordings
with a Stepdown demo (and more), releasing it as A Comprehensive Guide
to Anger Composed in Drop D. A Stepdown reunion show in Louisville
celebrated the collection's release, with the original lineup taking the
stage.
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