Despised Youth Records is pleased to announce the signing of Southern California punk band
THE HOAX.
The Hoax started as the brain child of bassist and lead singer Tyler Dunagan and guitarist Ricky "Johnny Hoax" Madson. They started with the idea of making a Christian punk band inspired by bands like
Officer Negative, The Havoc, and
Headnoise.
They soon got local drummer Daniel "Danimal" Cathers to join, finishing the three-piece, in January '05. Starting with a cover of J.C.H.C. the band was soon writing music and found their first show in Fall '05 with other local bands
The M.O.P.I.C., D.S.B., and
Dead Theory.
The Hoax continued to play shows, being grateful to play with such bands as
Headnoise and
The Havoc. In October '07, The Hoax made a mission's trip to Russia where they put on free Outreach concerts in Kirov for the local college students.
In the summer of 2008, the band experimented with moving Tyler to full-time lead vocals and adding another bass player. Matt "Navajo Joe" Dreer played bass for
The Hoax for two song recordings and one show at the Stronghold. Sadly other matters lead him to choose to leave the band, but he will still join in as a special guest at several live shows.
In January 2009,
The Hoax recorded their first studio EP. At nine songs, fourteen minutes, “
Fight To Be Free” was released in April '09.
The Hoax is a Christian punk band with the goal of doing the Lord's ministry wherever he puts them within the punk community.
The Hoax will begin recording their debut album for Despised Youth in the near future with a planned Summer time release. Their EP, "
Fight To Be Free" will soon be digitally released via Despised Youth Records and will be available at all major online digital stores.
You can check out a few tracks from the band’s EP, “
Fight To Be Free” on the bands
myspace page.