Back when metal was a dirty word in the underground scene, bands such as the CRO-MAGS, LEEWAY, SWIZ, HEADFIRST, SLAYER, DOWNCAST, NEUROSIS, early INTO ANOTHER, KILLING TIME, BAD BRAINS, INTEGRITY, DEICIDE and STARKWEATHER were our heroes. Sparking newer undiscovered ideas these bands escaped the bounds of one set category and crossed over into something more stylized and thought out. Pushing a musical genre to the edge excited us, so naturally in building on the energy of a hardcore band, OVERCAST grew in many different directions, and borrow from all types of influences (D.I.Y. punk, metallic hardcore, thrash, grind death metal ect.). Though our musical talents and inspiration within the group have always varied tremendously, since our start in August 1991, we have always tried to fuse each member's aggressive musical style, art form and tastes into a single thought pattern. Primarily conceived to keep us occupied when we were not skateboarding; OVERCAST was initially established by singer Brian Fair, bassist Mike D'Antonio, and drummer Jason Fitzjerald. Pete Cortese joined on guitar soon after and we played our 1st show on Halloween night '91. After a year or so we added Shawn Rounds to second guitar for a thicker over all live sound. Unfortunately, upon getting back from the Expectaional Dilution tour in 1994, Shawn decided to pursue other avenues and quit. We picked up Scott McCooe a few months after the Twin City Hardcore legends DIVE broke up. Now the band is the most solid and tightest it has ever been. No matter how distorted or utterly confusing it may seem, we try to relay and portray into our music, what is tearing at our minds. Often times too much thought and time can go into our songs and song structure (usually up to 6 months per song). But to us, our music has deep sentimental meaning and something we could never compromise or rush. A song is completed when it is fun to play and feels right.
Unfortunately, like most, we can't churn out release after release, our main focus is on quality not quantity. We are constantly writing and rewriting song structures until they flow and work correctly. Whether this is a good thing or not, OVERCAST has always been more than just the creation of bland gimmicky songs. That has been done to death... we are trying something new.
Source: http://www.musicsyndicate.com/metal/general/overcastbio.htm