As grunge and hardcore sagged in popularity in the mid-1990s, California
four-piece AFI emerged from the stagnant US underground music scene as a gang of
boisterous, earnest skate-punks, steadily growing into an all-conquering,
stadium-filling alternative rock power house in the 2000s.
Inspired by the DIY ethic and raging energy of Washington DC punks, front man
Davey Havok initially started the band with high school friends in the small
town of Ukiah (despite none of the members being able to play an instrument),
and became part of the 'straight edge' community that shunned u...