Prolific East Bay punk band AFI was on the cusp of a major shift in their trajectory in 2001. Fresh off the success of their beloved fifth album, The Art of Drowning, the band was caught between the indie world and the mainstream. They could leave the comfort of their long-time indie label Nitro Records for a major label, but what if they lost creative freedom?
Members Davey Havok, Jade Puget, Hunter Burgan and Adam Carson had to decide: Business as usual, or enter the big leagues for the resources that could help their music reach as many people as possible. But stagnancy had never been an option, and AFI deliberately evolved their sound from one release to the next to create a sprawling body of work that, today, includes 11 albums. With Nitro's encouragement, the quartet signed with DreamWorks in 2002 and began working on their breakthrough, Sing the Sorrow.
The timing was fortuitous: Pop-punk and emo acts like Taking Back Sunday, Good Charlotte, A Simple Plan, the Used and My Chemical Romance were thriving in the mainstream. However, these new peers were still in their infancy; AFI had been around for over a decade and were one of the top hardcore/post-punk acts in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band formed in 1991 and made a name for themselves performing at the historic alt-music venue 924 Gilman Street alongside Jawbreaker, Rancid and Green Day.
With label support for a proper recording process, AFI had plenty of time to develop Sing The Sorrow, recording the album over six months with producers Jerry Finn and Butch Vig in Los Angeles. "It was the first time that I was going to be able to have time to track the vocals in a period that wouldn’t absolutely result in me destroying my voice," Havok told Yahoo.
AFI continued to fuse its sonic past with new interests, creating a highly potent brand of alternative. Sing The Sorrow was a cohesive, bleak and pulsating 55-minute opus, filled with elements of hardcore, alt-rock, East Bay melodic hardcore, horror punk and alt-rock a la the Cure. While AFI had long employed dark themes in their lyrics and music, StS truly embraced the goth and emo aesthetics of the early aughts. Havok set pace as the band's frontman, debuting a highly made up look that was a mashup of Danzig, the Cure's Robert Smith and Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy.
In early January 2003, AFI released "Girl’s Not Grey” — StS's lead single, and the band's first for a major. The dark pop-punk track, written after the album was completed, peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Alternative Songs Chart and received radio play across the country. Set in a surreal forest of sorts, the song's psychedelic music video helped catapulted AFI from the indie punk scene to the booming national alternative, where they became staples on MTV and Fuse. That year, AFI scored their first VMA, an MTV2 award, for the "Girl's Not Grey" music video that year, beating out Interpol, the Roots and Cody Chesnutt, Queens of the Stone Age and Mary J. Blige.
Two months later, Sing the Sorrow debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 and sold nearly 100,000 copies out of the gate. AFI had finally broken through, but the victory had a bittersweet undercurrent. Some long-time fans felt the group abandoned their hardcore roots in favor of a poppier "Hot Topic" sound. And while AFI was indeed learning in a more pop-friendly direction, the band was never rooted in any sound for long.
AFI had been exploring the breadth of hardcore and punk since their 1995 debut Answer That And Stay Fashionable. Written while still in high school, the 15-track LP was a cheeky and youthful melodic hardcore outing with skate punk riffs and aggressive, raspy vocals. While 1997's Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes was their purest hardcore record, AFI began laying the groundwork for their transition into post-hardcore in their 1996 sophomore effort, Very Proud of Ya.
But a true starting point for contemporary AFI — the era where the band began pulling away from hardcore and leaning into melodic hardcore, horror punk and even metal — centers around 1999's Black Sails in the Sunset. Puget joined the line-up after co-founder Mark Shopholese's departure.
Their progression into the macabre continued with 2000's The Art of Drowning, which was deeply inspired by Misfits-style pop-punk. It was a broader and more mainstream follow-up to Black Sails, but the shared DNA between the two records was undeniable. The Art of Drowning garnered national radio play and an entry on the Billboard charts for the first time in the band's history.
Links to AFI's past and future side projects are embedded throughout Sing The Sorrow. Havok's hardcore voice, the cornerstone of Shut Your Mouth, makes its presence felt in the fast, aggressive and catchy "Death of Seasons" and "Dancing Through Sunday." Puget's electronic programming at the start of album opener "Miseria Cantare" was later realized in his and Havok's side project, Blaq Audio.
As with Black Sails and Drowning, the lyrical themes of StS are dark and full of despair, with many songs alluding to death and reincarnation. The chorus of "The Great Disappointment" describes a purgatory where the singer lies in wait as his hope and faith deteriorate. Havok embraces the gothic edge of his musical heroes while also leaning into themes of yearning and heartache.
Desperate to uncover the secrets embedded in the lyrics, devoted AFI fans (fittingly called the Despair Faction) scoured Havok's words for clues and context. The band never confirms or denies any interpretations.
"I so naturally hope that people are allowed to take what they need from the song, and I oftentimes have multiple intentions with one song," Havok told Revolver in 2021. "But I have in modern times attempted to be more direct in hopes that people maybe understand some of what I'm saying, as opposed to nothing."
AFI has always been in community with their fans. Ahead of the release of StS, they created an elaborate treasure hunt that led the Faction down a rabbit hole involving angel numbers, playing cards, astrology, rabbits, and other clues related to the album's themes and concept. And their admirers couldn't get enough.
AFI's decision to broaden their sound and move to the big leagues had paid off. The record that introduced the world to the East Bay melodic band would go on to achieve platinum status and birth two other successful singles, "The Leaving Song Pt. II" and "Silver and Cold."
Though their progression has been polarizing for some fans, one thing cannot be denied — AFI has remained committed to their creative evolution. Their 2006 follow-up to StS, DecemberUnderground leaned further into catchy pop territory with hair metal and glam elements. 2009's Crash Love was a further departure chock full of glittering pop-punk anthems, while 2021's Bodies blended post-punk with new wave.
The key to AFI's longevity could lie in their drive to explore, experiment and evolve. As the quartet extends their legacy with new music, they have also inspired a host of alt-rock acts that followed in their path, including Avenged Sevenfold, Creeper and Kerbera.
To mark the occasion of this career-defining album, the band will perform a one-night-only show at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, where they will play Sing the Sorrow in its entirety for the first and final time. Bringing the band even more full circle, they will be joined by former Gilman Street compatriots Jawbreaker.