Good Riddance

Good Riddance was a Santa Cruz, California hardcore band that formed in 1986. For the next seven years the band played a bunch of shows, lost and gained a bunch of band members, and at times went dormant. It wasn't until 1993 when things began to pick up, they started playing more shows, put out a demo, and Little Deputy Records in Austin released their first single. In 1994 they signed to Fat Wreck Chords and released their second single, "Decoy." The following year, Fat released Good Riddance's debut album, "For God & Country." This is the first record I heard by the band, my zine 10 Things was in full swing and Fat Mike and his label were very supportive with advertising, sending all new releases, lining up interviews, etc., so I had every Fat release early for review and absolutely loved the new Good Riddance album. Hell, I still play it all the time. The music was heavy and crunchy, often political, but at times pretty emotional and melodic. The band toured in support of the album, this photo is from a show they played in '95 at the Old Firehouse in Redmond, with labelmate Tilt. The band went on to release tons of records on Fat and tour everywhere, releasing seven full-length CDs between 1993 and 2007, when they finally called it quits. A year ago this coming weekend they played their three final shows. In March, Fat Wreck Chords released "Remain in Memory - The Final Show," a live album of the last Good Riddance concert. Rumors of a DVD release of the show are denied by the band on their MySpace page, but would rock.