formed in the fall of 1989 by D.J. (bass/ vocals), Lance Garvin (drums), and Bruce Fitzhugh (guitar). We completed our line up in 1990 with Jason Truby on guitar as well.
We are all from Little Rock, Arkansas. At the time we formed we were really young. DJ was the oldest at 20. Jason was the youngest at 17.
There were not many places to play for us at the time. A new all ages club had just opened call Vino¹s It was the only place to accept any kind of thrash/metal or punk. They mainly did punk though because all the metal bands around Little Rock did cover songs, and they were lame. Trusty (discord records), a punk band, was one of the only local bands that we could look to for inspiration for playing live. Our first show at Vinos and third show ever we opened for Shelter (Revelation records).
So, eventually we recorded a four song demo in 1990 which is horrible and will never see the light of day, although there are about 300 out there which we sold for cost. DJ dubbed each one at his mom's house on his stereo.
The demo got us hooked up with REX records. They were the only Christian label at the time doing interesting stuff with metal. They had Believer (definitely one of our favorite bands at the time) and Circle of Dust.
In 1991 our self-titled album was released by REX (produced by Kurt Bachman of Believer and label exec. Doug Mann). After the record came out we toured the East Coast for about a month. We met tons of cool people. We got to play with the Crucified another Christian band that we admired and respected.
In 1992 the label rushed us back into the studio for another record. The experience in the studio this time was not good. We got 6 days to record and mix the record with an engineer who had never done heavy music before. But we worked hard and the result was Nonexistent.. After another U.S. tour we took a little time off and wrote our third record, Inhabit..
- Inhabit turned out to be our heaviest most technical record to date. The only touring we did on Inhabit was a one week tour with Malevolent Creation, which was fitting since Inhabit was musically inspired by their second record Retribution.
After taking some time off it became clear that founding member DJ would be leaving the band. That left a need for a vocalist and bassist. Since we didn't think we would find both in the same individual, Bruce Fitzhugh began to sing for the band. Chris Truby, Jason's brother, stepped in on bass.
We didn't have any problems finding our next record label. Tooth and Nail was fast making a name for themselves in the Christain music market. They wanted to start an imprint of the label called Solidstate records that only produced extreme heavy music in various genres. We fit right in.
Reborn was recorded in Little Rock, Arkansas by Barry Poynter in January 1997. It sounded like nothing Living Sacrifice had ever done before. It was an appropriate title.
Good things happened with this album, it spoke life and hope to those in need. It achieved its goal.
Unfortunately, the line up for the band would again change again, less than a year after the release of Reborn. Chris Truby left to go into missions full time. Jason Truby left to start his own business and spend more time at home. Both are prospering.
Jay Stacy, a long time friend, was able to play bass for the band for about a year and a half. Arthur Green (formerly eso-charis) joined the band in the end of 1999.
Cory Putman (eso-charis) toured with us playing guitar through out the summer of 1998 including a European trip to Sweden and Norway. At the end of the summer Rocky Gray joined Living Sacrifice and we began writing the new record with him. He has had a profound effect on the sound of Living Sacrifice. He has helped to streamline our sound bringing in different aspects of metal and melody.
At the end of 1999 an opportunity arose to expand the sound of Living Sacrifice. Percussion and drums have always been a part of our sound, even the guitar riffing is percussive. Matt Putman (eso-charis) joined Living Sacrifice adding another dimension to the sound of things in regards to metal as we interpret it. He has brought different vocal ideas to what we do and helped to expand our sound even more.
Once again it is a new sound different from the previous. But without growth, we stagnate and die. And without perseverance nothing of lasting importance would ever be.
We began work on our fifth record, The Hammering Process in June of 2000 for SolidState Records. It was released on November 07 of the same year and went on to recieve various accolades including R & R's #1 Loud Rock song of the year 2001 for "Perfect".
We are currently working on our 6th studio album.
