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Void's Bubba Dupree and Chris Stover in Seattle. Andy photo |
By Andy
Once you heard Void, your ears would never be the same again.
The first time the band's severe and feral amalgamation of hardcore and metal offerings entered my world was on a mix tape that Henry Rollins loaned me after Ian MacKaye sent it his way around 1982. My brother Ed and I visited Rollins at the SST offices in Redondo Beach one day to discuss Black Flag and the Washington, DC, scene and the tape was soon in our stoked hands.
It was game fucking on when Void attacked our speakers.
So here we are 44 years later and a crucial pair of the Columbia, Maryland, band's gigs have been launched into the world on a single album on Outer Battery Records. Ex-Government Issue guitarist Tom Lyle recorded the gems in 1983 (although the record says 1982) at DC's Wilson Center and 9:30 Club -- and as you can imagine, they're insanely stellar documents of a band that's revered by heaps of underground musicians and aficionados.
The band -- which consisted of John Weiffenbach on vocals, Bubba Dupree on guitar, Chris Stover on bass and Sean Finnegan (RIP) on drums -- first crashed into most people's lives on Dischord Records' "Flex Your Head" compilation and then the legendary Faith/Void split album.
Fast forward to the present day and I spoke with Dupree and Stover about the new live album on April 4 at Hex Enduction Records & Books in Seattle for a Void hangout/signing.
Dupree shared his thoughts on the release: "I'm pretty psyched. A -- 'cause my memory's shot and it's brought it all back and it sounds like we sound. At least that's what I always fantasized that we sounded like, and it's good to have some corroboration that I wasn't making it up -- it actually sounded like that."
The Void duo burst out laughing after noting that they didn't think about what they wanted to sound like when the band was birthed. Stover said they practiced a lot, for sure. While pointing at the Wilson Center flier on the album's insert, Stover said it was one big party with a bunch of misfit skater kids and others. The stacked bill also featured Minor Threat, Faith, Iron Cross and Double-O.
"We weren't aiming for anything and so we landed it every time," Dupree added about the unique Void sound that punks would immediately latch onto and that would later make its way into the stoner rock realm. It's trippy, Dupree said.
Stover said it was the furthest thing from his mind that Void had something special going on in the early '80s when unleashing the intense tunes on stage. Both guys never thought people would still care in 2026.
"Really proud about it, but again it's sort of random surprises, right? You're like, 'Wow, what's still going on, people want to release stuff,'" said Stover, adding that he doesn't advertise that he was in Void, but friends of friends often find out and the band makes its way into conversations.
When manic singer Weiffenbach is brought into the discussion, Stover said the man with the mic operated on another level and was the instigator in the bassist's mind. Dupree added that Weiffenbach was the genius who unlocked an unwieldy, wild-animal thing when Void hit the stage. (Weiffenbach is currently a radiologist in Maryland, according to Stover.)
Live gigs were legitimately a visceral release for Dupree, he said.
"I'm not thinking about anything beyond this 'cause I'm a totally shy hidden-away kid the rest of the time. For like a half hour or however long we played, I got to like let all the pent-up shit come out," he recalled.
Since Void's members were super young and they didn't tour the country, Dupree said there was a mystery to the band's existence and that left people having to fill in the blanks.
As for the unreleased second album that copious people have heard through file sharing, Dupree said they will probably officially release it at some point.
At the Seattle event, Mudhoney's Mark Arm visited with his Void pals and gave us his take on the band in the spotlight that day.
"I remember hearing them first on 'Flex Your Head' and going like, 'Holy shit, who is this band?' And then the split came out -- mind blowing stuff. (Void) totally moved in a cool, crazy direction and it just kind of seemed like out of control and together all at the same time," said Arm, adding that Void made an impact on him and Alex Shumway when they were in Green River.
As for Mudhoney, it sent a raucous cover of Void's "Dehumanized" onto the musical landscape in 2000 on its "March to Fuzz" compilation.
"And that's how I met Chris. We played it in New York, and after the show this guy comes up and goes like, 'Hey, you played one of our songs.' I'm like, 'What are you talking about,' and he was like, 'I was in Void.' I'm like, 'Oh shit,'" Arm concluded with a laugh.
** A superb zine accompanies the album that is dedicated to the memory of Rich Jacobs, who devised the concept and did art direction, and features photos by Jim Saah and tons of gig fliers. Sohrab Habibion handled the design and layout.
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From the TSHIT collection. Andy photo |
