The Accused is considered to be one of the most influential bands of the hardcore punk thrash metal crossover scene. The Accused are a Seattle thrash band that sprang up out of hardcore punk. They created a form of music called “splatter core,” which is screaming, speeding punk/metal much in the same vein with D.R.I. and Cryptic Slaughter.

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The Accused is considered to be one of the most influential bands of the hardcore punk thrash metal crossover scene. The Accused are a Seattle thrash band that sprang up out of hardcore punk. They created a form of music called “splatter core,” which is screaming, speeding punk/metal much in the same vein with D.R.I. and Cryptic Slaughter.

Who better to shed some some light on the history of The Accused, other than the The Accussed original singer, John Dahlin.

“The band formed in late 1981 when Chibon Batterman and Tom Niemeyer moved to Whidbey Island, WA from Oxnard, CA where they were raised on a diet of Black Flag and Circle Jerks. Both were in high school. Chibon (Chewey) moved with his mom to Oak Harbor on North Whidbey Island while Tom stayed in Clinton on the south end about 35 miles away. Chewey met the only other punk in Oak Harbor while hanging out downtown. His name was Dana Collins, age 14. He could play the entire Sex Pistols LP on the drums!! Chewy and Tom formed a trio called No Reason with Dana on drums and Tom on Guitar,Chewy sang, and there was no bassist.

Sometime during that winter of 81 Chewy switched to bass and Tom sang. Their name was changed to Gang Green and then The Accused. Their sound was one part Black Flag and one part OI-English type stuff. In early 82 Dana was dragged to Hawaii by his mom and sister for vacation. There wasn’t much to do initially there but soon I ran into him while passing out fliers for some band playing at a club I unofficially worked for. My name is John Dahlin and I was the singer for the Accused from summer 82 to May 84. Anyway, I had been a punk for several years and since there were so few of us in HI Dana was instantly my friend. I was from southern WA and was moving back after graduation from HS in June. I had sung for several bands in HI already and Dana was such a good drummer. My current band at the time had him sit in for a raging version of Red Tape by the Circle Jerks. Dana asked if I would join his band when I moved back to WA. I said sure. And so I did. We wrote back and forth for the next few months. Whidbey Island is unbelievably boring so all we did was practice, and Tom liked being able to concentrate on just guitar. We got a set down pretty fast and in fall of 82 Tom Pig (pig champion) from Poison Idea and Malcom Conover from Eugene (a great scene supporter) drove up to hear us. They liked us and put us on a bill with the Fartz and P.I. in Portland in November of 82. The first Accused show.

Over the next couple years we gigged fairly irregularly mostly because we lived 60 miles north of Seattle and nobody really knew us very well. A club called The Metropolis had us play a bunch of times-even had us open for some unknown out of town band called the Replacements! Anyway times change and so do musical styles. The band was rolling with the times and started dropping some of its punk/political aesthetic for a more poser/metal image. I am, and was, a punk-I don’t do metal.I left under mutual agreement in May of 84 and Mr. Blaine took my place.

During my stay with the band we recorded tons of cassette demos and one LP of which there were only 500 made-it’s called ‘Please Pardon Our Noise-It Is A Sound of Freedom’ and was a split LP with the other band being The Rejectors. Gerry from that band is now in Black Nasty with Blaine. Scott is in Stumpy Joe. Two songs that I wrote though not really credited with are ‘Distractions’ and ‘Take My Time’. After I left, the band recorded these 2 cuts along with a few more and called it the Martha Splatterhead EP on Condar (their own ) label. I think there were 500 of these too. The songs were put on ‘The Return of Martha Splatterhead’ with some new stuff.

After ‘More Fun Than An Open Casket Funeral’ came out Chewy was booted out for drugs, which later took his life (February 96 RIP). Dana was the next to go simply because of burnout. This leaves Tom as the only original member for most of the bands history!!!! Of course, oomlats were added to the name and he started going by Tommy by that time!! They definitely earned their place in metal history.

The band had several heydays really. During the hardcore phase when I was in it we played to maybe 300 people-usually the same ones every time. We were known as a very tight good band and a lot of people knew the words to our songs. This is about 83. The next wave came during the pre grunge days of 85-86 with clubs like Gorilla Gardens and Natashas opening. It was the age of crossover! I didnt go to many of these shows cause I was living 100 miles away and was going to college but I hear they were thee premier Seattle act. They were huge in Europe (typical of most underrated bands) and toured with GBH several times. I think GBH was a tremendous influence on the Accused phase two and being able to tour with them was the thrill of a lifetime.

The last time I saw the band was near the end and even Tom had left the sinking ship. Blaine remarked to me, “bet you think its pretty funny that there’s no original members in the band now” to which I replied, “yeah its funny, but if you’re into it than great.” Their show was great that night too!!!

Tom is no longer in Grunttruck but is concentrating on a new project called Hellcat-he is also involved with a Seattle radio station. Dana moved out of state and I manage a record store in Olympia WA. Blain is in a band called The Black Nasty.

In 2005 3 members formed another band, Toe Tag and left The Accused. Guitarist and founding member, Tom Niemeyer continued on with The Accused recruiting 3 replacement members in the months following the walk-out by Cook, Alex Sibbald and Steve Nelson.”… John Dahlin

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The (new revamped) Accused released their last album, a compilation of older unreleased songs and covers Baked Tapes, in 2006 and have a new album scheduled for release in 2008.

Much of the original Accused Merchandise including CDs, Albums, Shirts, and Artwork are fetching high dollar amounts from auction sites like eBay.

See the Accused stuff on eBay

Death Angel is an Filipino-American thrash metal band from Concord, California. Formed in 1982, they helped define the Bay Area Thrash sound with their debut album The Ultra-Violence. Death Angel broke up in 1991, but reformed at the Thrash of the Titans benefit concert for Chuck Billy in 2001

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Kreator is a thrash metal band from Essen, Germany. They originally started under the name Tormentor. Starting their career in 1982, they played thrash metal with Venom influences. The band is also influenced by Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, Mercyful Fate, and Bathory music. Their style of music is similar to their compatriots Destruction and Sodom, the other two big German thrash metal bands. All three of these bands are often credited with helping create death metal, by containing a few elements of what was to become death metal. (read the full wiki)

 Kreator - Behind the Mirror

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