A COMPLETE HISTORY OF GENERAL STRIKE

A LONG STORY OF THE BAND, WHO GOT FIRED, WHO QUIT AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN! 

    The grueling history of General Strike. Well, where to begin, for it is a long story. General Strike is a rock and roll influenced punk band from Ohio. General Strike

is sometimes political as well as comical.

     General Strike was formed sometime around April 1998, after J. Chaos left his former band Day of Decision. J. started writing the first few songs his senior year

in high school in 1997, but the band wasn't formed until April of 98. When J. told his long time friend Mike Alcohol that he was starting a band, Mike said that he

would be interested in playing bass. With J. as the lead singer/guitarist and Mike as the bass player,  they still needed a drummer. J. had an acquaintance named

Kyle who played drums and was interested in playing in J. and Mike's band. J. auditioned Kyle and the rest was history. Kyle Bile became the band's first drummer

and General Strike was born. The band moved into J.'s Garage and started practicing.

     General Strike played it's first few shows in 98 around December and decided that it was time to go into the studio and record some songs. In May of 1999, the

band went into Stoney Ridge Studios to record their first album, thus the self titled album "General Strike" was released in March of 1999. The band continued

to play shows promoting their album until late of 1999 when they started writing and rehearsing new songs for a follow up album to "General Strike".

   The band went into Stoney Ridge Studios once again to record their next album in March of 2000. The band continued to play shows during this time and moved

practice spots from Kyle's basement to J.'s grandmothers's upstairs spare bedroom. In June of 2000 General Strike released "No Hope for Better Days" their second

album. This was the album that became the cornerstone for the band's unique style of punk rock, which they still follow to this day. The band played for another month

or so promoting "No Hope For Better Days", when suddenly Kyle left the band. Kyle just wasn't happy playing drums any more and actually wanted to start playing

guitar. Without a drummer it stuck General Strike in a rut and they had to cancel the rest of their shows for the summer of 2000.

     After Kyle had left the band, J. and Mike instantly went out and put up flyers for a new drummer. Mike and J. also decided that the band could use a lead guitarist,

and posted flyers for that as well. About a week later a dozen guitarists had called but alas, no drummers. J. and Mike went and auditioned all the guitarists and one of

them shone above the rest. Shawn Mayhem who was originally in the North Carolina based band Regatta 69 and The East Coast Bullets from Florida, passed the

audition and became the band's first lead guitarist. Now the band still needed a drummer to get themselves back on their feet. J. had talked to his old time friend Jason,

who had played drums before with J. in a few bands before the days of General Strike. When Jason was asked to play drums in General Strike, he didn't seem very

interested because he was playing drums in another band called the Spastic Children. After lots of encouragement Jason left the band he was in and began playing

drums in General Strike as Jason Riot.

     The band's first show with it's two new counter parts took place in October 2000. The band continued booking shows and rehearsing new songs, to record yet

another album. In early 2001, the band let Bob Idol, who was originally with a band called Symplex, join the band as the rhythm guitarist, making J. Chaos the lead

singer. In March of 2001, the band went into the studio as a five piece, and recorded the single for "Bicycle Helmet" which wasn't released until May of 2001. The

band continued to book shows and sell albums when the decided things weren't working out with Bob Idol. Bob left the band and J. went back to playing guitar.

The band moved into a loft for their practice space now known as General Strike HQ. The band started working in the studio on their next album. After the

recordings were complete and the band was in the mixing phase, Jason Riot was outed from the band and General Strike took Darrin Detour as their new drummer.

Darrin was the drummer for the Columbus band the Jeffs, and had known the guys from General Strike for a year or two after the band had started playing

shows more frequently in Columbus.

     Soon after Darrin joined the band, the album that they had been working on called "Throw Up" the band's third album was released, the band booked several CD

release shows for this album. After that, the band writing new material for a new album to record with new drummer Darrin Detour. But before they did, they released

the single for their long time cult classic "Your Mom".   

     In May of 2004, instead of going back to Stoney Ridge Studios, the band went into Work Book studios and began recording a brand new album. During the mixing

phases of the album, Shawn Mayhem was going into the army and would have to leave General Strike. Shawn finished all of his parts in the studio and his last few shows

with the band in early June of 2004. Jason Timebomb which was General Strike's roadie and the former guitarist for the local band "The Hell's Satans" Became the lead

guitarist in late June of 04. Before the album was released, the band put out the first single for this new collection of songs called "Bill Mohawn". In September of 2004

the band finally released "Beyond The Valley Of Death EP" the band's fourth album. After the CD release shows for "Beyond the Valley Of Death EP " and the rest of

the shows for 2004, they played their last show on October 2nd and went on a long hiatus, a little break that they all needed.  

     In the year 2005 the members did different things. There was the birth of Mike's son, Jason and J. worked on the Acoustic Devastation project, J. got engaged and

Darrin played for a short time in a band called "Devil In Ohio" and Darrin also guest hosted a few episodes of " Antique Roadshow".

       In March of 2006 the band finally reformed and began practicing again and soon after, started playing more shows.........

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