The Way Back: Element 33

Photos and memories courtesy of Amanda Page Stephens

In January of 1995, I was in my senior year at Maury High School. I found myself asking to be in a band with some fellow hardcore/punk classmates. It was an odd request. I was a visual artist and never saw myself as a musician or singer. It didn't matter though. I was very passionate, had so much to say and that's what counted.

I was the last one to join the band and was accompanying Keith Browne on vocals. He screamed the majority of his very straight to the point lyrics. We both wrote our own set of lyrics and mine were poetically abstract like a lot of my art. Billy Small drummed behind this huge rack mostly in his boxers. George Vincent played bass and Brian Forstiere was on guitar. I would tend to haul in random props. Our mascot was a little stuffed toy snow leopard named Zap. We were called Element 33 which is arsenic on the periodic table.

The music was an emergence of melodic hardcore infused with metal.

The music community had already amplified my voice politically in the various groups I organized but this was different. In between songs, I could be the loudest one in the room thanks to that microphone. That is when I uncovered a confidence and a sense of self that no other experience could have instilled. Looking at these pictures, I see the supportive teenage girls up front in the first picture and it paints a different reality than what I remember. Women were very much in the minority and normally stayed out of harm's way. What I remember is an audience full of angry hardcore/punk men dancing wildly and stage diving, creating pure mayhem. A few years later, I was described as a riot grrl and realized we were a part of a much larger movement in the music world.

Element 33 played out from June until the following January when I left for art school in Chicago. It was short-lived but shook me to my core. A majority of the shows were at the Kings Head Inn during the final days of the venue's existence. The last show Element 33 played was at a venue called Poor Boys. Prior to that, we put out a split cassette with our beloved sister band, Faceless who also had male/female vocals and was included on the Youth For Justice Compilation CD. The roster of bands we opened for during those months included Inquisition, Hot Water Music, The Pee Tanks, Snapcase, Lifetime, Damnation AD, Weston, Earth Crisis, and Hatebreed.

I'm currently living in Richmond, VA where I'm active in the vegan community and remain an avid live music fan. I practice a variety of art and dabble in film production. George Vincent is currently an LA-based Art Director for Warner Brothers. He is married with a daughter. Keith Browne is an Art Teacher in Richmond Public Schools. He is married with stepchildren. Brian Forestiere owns and operates a landscape company called 4ster Lawn Care in Baltimore and has 2 kids. He is currently playing in two bands, Machines of Living Death and Omnislash. Billy Small is overseas as a defense contractor. Dave Allison(not photoed) joined the band later as the bassist to step in when George left. He owns and operates Custom Made Music and plays in Last Remaining Pinnacle.

Listen to 6 of Element33 songs at https://element33.bandcamp.com