Self Defense Family (shortened to Self Defense and previously known as End of a Year) are an American rock band with members from across the United States and England. The band has released six full-length albums and several EPs and splits. Their sixth and latest studio album Have You Considered Punk Music was released June 29, 2018, on Run For Cover Records.

Self Defense Family
Also known asEnd of a Year, End of a Year Self Defense Family, Self Defense, Barf Spectrum, The Actuaries, World Shut Your Mouth, Comforter, Weird Field, Pewter Wizards
OriginCohoes, New York, United States
GenresPost-hardcore, post-punk, indie rock, emo
Years active2003 (2003)–present
LabelsRun for Cover, Deathwish, Revelation, Protagonist
MembersPatrick Kindlon
Andrew Duggan
Chris Tenerowicz
Alan Huck
Mark O'Brien
Benjamin Tate
Kaila Stone
Adam McIlwee
Caroline Corrigan
Andy Rice
E. Tobin
Mary Brulatour
Mathew Morand
Mike Fenton
Nick Warchol
Brandon Wegg
Anikke Myers
Tyler Bussey
Alex Morton
Callum Barry
Past membersDavid Zeidman
Mike Brandenburg
Steve Hegner
John Van Urgent
Eric Busta
Hans Leibold
Sean Doody
Seth Sauca
Ted Cruz
Ian Shelton
Harry Bartrum
Websiteselfdefensemusic.com

History

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End of a Year started as a side project for a number of musicians based in Albany, New York already involved in full-time bands. Having spent time in heavier bands, the initial End of a Year line-up was interested in trying something more overtly melodic. Taking their name from an Embrace song, the band's original sound was highly influenced by the Revolution Summer-era DC bands.

The band recorded a boombox demo to give out at their first show, which took place at SUNY Albany. Shortly thereafter, a more formal demo entitled "Warm" was recorded. A full-length, Disappear Here, appeared on local labels Oneohfive and Losingface Records. The band later released a split 7-inch with western Massachusetts band Three Fifteen on another local label, Slave Union. It was this record that caught the attention of Revelation Records, and the band made the jump in 2006, recording their first full-length for the California label in the spring of that year.

Sincerely was recorded with Don Zientara at Inner Ear Studio, adding to the perception that the band was striving for a DC-centered sound; the actual music, however, strayed further from that model than on previous releases.

In the spring of 2009 the band released an EP for Deathwish Inc. and announced plans for a full-length release for the label. In 2010, Deathwish Inc released the band's third full-length album entitled You Are Beneath Me.

The band regularly names songs after actual people with lyrical content that, though oblique, seems to reference the person. Some people the band has given song titles to include:

In late 2010, the band announced that they would be "reformatting" the group to officially include all touring and session musicians they had worked with up to that point as well as changing the group's name to Self Defense Family. To go along with this announcement, they posted four songs from the You Are Beneath Me LP with Patrick Kindlon's lead vocal track removed and replaced by vocals from Caroline Corrigan, including one song that was also reworked into an acoustic version.[1] The band's tours have since been done on the basis of whoever is available at the time, with the same attitude being taken towards picking line-ups for their studio output. This format was taken to its furthest extent early on when one line-up of the band played a gig in Connecticut while another line-up traveled to Jamaica to record music for the first 7-inch in their Island Series of singles. As such, no member of Self Defense Family has played every show or played on every recording.

Band name

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The group formed in 2003 under the name "End of a Year" derived from an Embrace song of the same name. After the release of their 2010 album You Are Beneath Me, the group wanted to change their name to "Self Defense". As an interim name to ease the transition between names, Self Defense went by the name "End Of A Year Self Defense Family", and occasionally "Self Defense Music". Vocalist Patrick Kindlon likened the transition to Will Oldham's name changes. According to Kindlon, Oldham's band name went from "Palace Brothers to Palace Songs to Palace Music to Bonnie Prince Billy to Will Oldham."[2] On various vinyl releases, Self Defense used several "also known as" monikers including: Barf Spectrum, Meredith Hunter, Comforter, Pewter Wizards, and Weird Field.[2]

Discography

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The band is known for its prodigious output, often releasing a full-length album and several short efforts in a single year, normally through several different labels. Among them includes 4–5 songs EP[clarification needed] sometimes with specific themes, like the relationship focused Duets and "Superior" which is centred on the movement to make the Upper Peninsula the 51st state.[3] They also have an ongoing series of 7-inch singles recorded on Islands like Jamaica and Iceland, and have put out splits and collaborative EPs with a wide variety of bands including post-hardcore band Touché Amoré, post-punk band Creative Adult, hardcore punk band Axis, and even themselves under the pseudonym Meredith Hunter.[4] They have likened these shorter outputs to "one night stands".

Self Defense Family discography
Studio albums6
EPs17
Singles10
Splits17

Studio albums

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Album Year Label Band name
Disappear Here 2004 Oneohfive End of a Year
Sincerely 2006 Revelation End of a Year
You Are Beneath Me 2010 Deathwish End of a Year
Try Me 2014 Deathwish Self Defense Family
Heaven Is Earth[5] 2015 Deathwish Self Defense Family
Have You Considered Punk Music 2018 Run For Cover Records Self Defense Family

Singles and EPs

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Album Year Label Band name
Warm 2004 self-released End of a Year
We Understand Europeans Are a Sexual People 2007 Blacktop End of a Year
End of a Year 2009 Deathwish End of a Year
More Songs about Transportation and Intercourse 2010 Hex End of a Year
The Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Emanuela Orlandi 2011 Disposable Culture End of a Year
End of a Year with Caroline Corrigan 2011 self-released End of a Year
"I Heard Crime Gets You Off" 2011 Run for Cover End of a Year Self Defense Family
Bacha Bazi 2011 CumHard420 Self Defense Family
"I'm Going Through Some Shit" 2011 Deathwish Self Defense Family
"Self Immolation Family" 2012 Deathwish Self Defense Family
Live From Krazy Fest 2012 Head2Wall Self Defense Family
The Corrections Officer In Me 2013 Family Drugs Self Defense Family
You Are Beneath Her 2013 Iron Pier Self Defense Family
Two Genuine Oddities From Our Distant Past 2014 Driftwood Records Self Defense Family
I Tried To Make Something You Would Enjoy 2014 Triple-B Records Self Defense Family
"Indoor Wind Chimes" 2014 Deathwish Inc. Self Defense Family
Duets 2014 Iron Pier Self Defense Family
Talia 2015 Deathwish Inc. Self Defense Family
When The Barn Caves In b/w Alan 2015 Iron Pier Self Defense Family
Superior 2016 Run For Cover Self Defense Family
The Power Does Not Work In the Presence Of Nonbelievers 2016 Bad Paintings Self Defense Family
Colicky 2016 Iron Pier Self Defense Family
Bastard Form B/W Maybe You Could Explain It To Me 2017 Alternative Labels Self Defense Family
BBC Session 2017 Deathwish Inc. Self Defense Family
Wounded Masculinity 2017 Triple-B Records Self Defense Family
Working People (Part 1) 2018 Run For Cover Records Self Defense Family
Performative Guilt 2019 6131 Records Self Defense Family
Kitten Beach 2020 Run For Cover Records Self Defense Family
Jesus Of Nazareth 2020 Run For Cover Records Self Defense Family
Leeds 2020 Run For Cover Records Self Defense Family
Long Island 2020 Iron Pier Self Defense Family
Make Me A Pallet Fire On Your Floor b/w Local Clerics 2020 Run For Cover Records Self Defense Family
Run The Dungeon 2021 Z2 Comics Self Defense Family

Splits

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Album Year Label Split with Band name
We Mate for Life 2005 Slave Union Three Fifteen End of a Year
End of a Year / Fire Team Charlie 2006 Sticky Translucent Goo Fire Team Charlie End of a Year
End of a Year / Kids Explode 2007 Narshardaa Kids Explode End of a Year
Adorno / End of a Year 2008 Existencia Adorno End of a Year AKA Comforter
End of a Year / Red Tape Parade 2008 Cobra X Red Tape Parade End of a Year
Shook Ones / End of a Year 2008 Runner Up Shook Ones End of a Year
End of a Year / Segwei 2010 Alliance Trax Segwei End of a Year
Split Recording 2011 Trouble Monkey Fires Self Defense Family
Tigers Jaw / The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die / Code Orange Kids / Self Defense Family 2013 Run For Cover Code Orange Kids, Tigers Jaw, The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die Self Defense Family
Stalwart Sons / Self Defense Family 2013 Revolution Winter Stalwart Sons Self Defense Family
Self Defense Family / Goodtime Boys 2013 Palm Reader Goodtime Boys Self Defense Family
Least Violent Time In Human History 2013 Harm Reduction Axis Self Defense Family
Run For Cover Records - Mixed Singles Vol. 1 2013 Run For Cover Creative Adult, Anne, Grey Zine Self Defense Family
Self Defense Family / Meredith Hunter 2014 Run For Cover Meredith Hunter Self Defense Family/Meredith Hunter
Self Love 2015 Deathwish Inc. Touché Amoré Self Defense Family
Self Defense Family / Creative Adult 2015 Deathwish Inc. Creative Adult Self Defense Family
Split 7-inch 2016 Protagonist Music Null Self Defense Family

Compilation albums

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Album Year Label Band name
German Industrial Ballads 2015 Bad Paintings Self Defense Family

Live albums

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Album Year Label Band name
Live From Krazy Fest 2012 Head2Wall Records Self Defense Family
Law of Karma Live: Fake Shit Wins But Not Tonight 2023 Landland Colportage Self Defense Family

Videos

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  • The Things You Like / I'm Going Through Some Shit (Split Music Video with Aficionado) (2011)
  • Tithe Pig (2014)[6]
  • Talia (2015)[5]
  • Dave Sim (2015)
  • The Supremacy of Pure Artistic Feeling (2018)
  • Have You Considered Punk Music (2018)

References

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  1. ^ Patrick Kindlon (2010-08-06). "Learn Self Defense: The Value of Teamwork". Selfdefensefamily.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2015-05-15.
  2. ^ a b Kindlon, Patrick (August 5, 2011). "The Name Game: Why Choosing a Band Name Is Important". Alternative Press. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
  3. ^ "Run For Cover Records". Runforcoverrecords.com. Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  4. ^ "Premiere: Meredith Hunter (Self Defense Family) - "Gold Star Mother"". Halfcloth.com. 2014-05-06. Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  5. ^ a b Anthony, David (May 4, 2015). "Self Defense Family announces new album, releases new video". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
  6. ^ "Self Defense Family "Tithe Pig"". YouTube. Retrieved 2020-03-12.
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