The Faction
There are so many good reasons to start a band with your friends, no matter how old you are. For The Faction, all the pieces either fell or were willed into place in 1982. Their landscape and gone through dramatic change; Winchester, Campbell, and Milpitas Skateparks had all closed and were leveled; Briner Hall, H.O.L.M.E.S. Hall, and The St. Claire Hotel had all stopped booking punk bands due to police pressure, and most of the band members had just graduated high school earlier in the year. San Jose had some really good bands going for years, and a healthy scene to support them, but most of the skateboarders were slamming in the pits, not up on stage, and to catch a good show, hell, any show, usually meant trekking 45 minutes north to The Mab and The On Broadway in San Francisco three times a week.
San Jose’s most famous skater, Steve Caballero, was learning the bass guitar in his mom’s house, where he lived at the time, for one reason; to start a band. Being the determined type that he is, he did just that with the friends who were in his backyard skateboarding on his ramp they had built to replace the bulldozed skateparks. After a few line-up changes, band names, and song writing reworks, the first inklings of what The Faction would become surfaced on Halloween day when Adam Bomb Segal took the drums, Russ Wright played the bass, and Gavin O’Brien manned the mic. That line up opened for Social Distortion at San Jose City College that December, but it didn’t last. With a need for even crunchier guitar sounds while playing live, Adam joined Russ on guitar while the then-unknown Keith Rendon took over on drums. When Russ moved out of the area soon after, the line-up of Steve, Gavin, Adam and Keith went on for almost 2 years unchanged.
In that time The Faction were busy. In 1983 a 7″ e.p. was released, (’Yesterday Is Gone’), and a skatepunk’s dream tour of the band and a dozen friends caravanned up and down California playing gigs and skating everything in sight. The very first Thrasher Magazine Skate Rock TAPE featured two Faction songs that had worldwide distribution. Soon, fan mail was steadily streaming in from all over the globe. The first album ‘No Hidden Messages’ debuted soon after and their first US tour kicked off in the summer of 1984 exposing even Stevie to the whole country for the first time. Some compilation appearances followed along with dozens of gigs.
While the songs that would compromise their soon to be released 12″ e.p. ‘Dark Room’ were being honed for recording, two personnel changes took place. First, Ray Stevens II from the now-defunct local icons Los Olvidados joined on bass so Stevie could move to rhythm guitar. A few months later Keith left the band to concentrate on his skating and building gnarly muscle cars, (no one would race his Nova). Replacing Keith was hard, but Steve went back to the locals in his back yard and recruited Bosch who had played at some jam sessions in the pre-Facion days. Dark Room was released to the growing numbers of Faction fans all over the world and a summer of 1985 US tour was completed in support of it. At the time, being Social Distortion and Suicidal Tendencies “Nor Cal baby-band” meant opening for them when they ventured north, and/or giving them a place to stay. In the fall of 1985, the band recorded another 12″ e.p. titled ‘Epitaph’ that was released after the band split up on Halloween night at a party in south San Jose.
The split didn’t last too long as two over-booked reunion gigs in 1989 at San Jose’s Cactus Club reminded their home town of their live abilities, while a three song long lost demo was recorded and forgotten till one of the songs, ‘Accelerate’, appeared on the DVD documentary of fallen friend Mark ‘Gator’ Anthony. The line-up for that brief spell was Stevie on lead guitar, Gavin on vocals, Ray on bass, Bosch on drums, and the newly recruited pro-skater Jeff Kendall filling in for Adam. The next Faction reunion wouldn’t happen for eleven years.
In 2000 Los Olvidados, the mayors of San Jose’s punk scene, did a reunion show. The significance of that show may be lost on anyone who wasn’t part of the San Francisco Bay Area punk scene in the very early 80’s, but for those in attendance it was nothing short of a kick in the head reminder of what use to be. Los Olvidados guitar god Mike Fox, (now of The Dwarves), challenged Gavin, the only member of The Faction who said he would never get on stage again, to agree to another go. Mike’s words took about a month of gnawing away the resistance till they broke through. The line-up this time was Steve on guitar, long-lost Russ Wright (now of The Demonics) also on guitar, Gavin on vocals, Ray on bass, and Keith back on drums for the first time in 16 years! This was as close to the original line up as they would come. A Zero Magazine sponsored San Jose Legends Show at The Usual Niteclub in downtown SJ was quickly organized. Headlining was The Faction with Los Olvidados, and the also newly reformed Ribzy. Opening was The Forgotten who wanted to pay homage to the old bastards who came before them. There were over 700 people in a 450 capacity building for that show as officials may or may not have been paid off. It was only suppose to be a one-show deal, but when the band met two insane kids in a Honda who had driven all the way to San Jose from New Jersey just to see them play that night, plans were changed.
Gigs in Canada, Scotland, Germany, and up and down the west coast took place, and a four song yet to be released session was recorded. Those who have heard those songs say they are The Faction’s best ever, and a DVD compilation slated for an early 2009 release on Beer City Records should prove it. Stay tuned.
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