Strike Anywhere

Strike Anywhere formed in Richmond, Virginia, in 1999, fronted by vocalist Thomas Barnett after the breakup of his previous band, Inquisition. The new group took its name directly from an Inquisition song, carrying the same Richmond hardcore roots into a faster, more melodic project.

Their music sits in the melodic hardcore tradition: fast tempos, layered guitar harmonies and gang vocals, with lyrics that deal directly with politics, anti-racism and personal conviction rather than abstraction. Barnett delivers the words in a mix of shouted and sung vocals, catching both urgency and melody in the same lines.

The lyrics take on police brutality, anti-capitalism, women's rights, animal rights and globalization, and the band has contributed tracks to political benefit compilations, including a live version of "Sunset on 32nd" for a memorial album for Amadou Diallo and "To the World" for Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1. Liner notes for their album Change Is a Sound state support for vegetarianism and the living wage movement.

The band recorded for Jade Tree and later Fat Wreck Chords, and became one of the more recognisable American melodic hardcore acts of the 2000s. Their songs "Refusal," "Question the Answer" and "The Promise" appeared in three Tony Hawk skateboarding video games between 2003 and 2006, introducing the band to an audience well beyond the hardcore scene.

Guitarist Matt Sherwood played his final show with the band in New Zealand in 2007 and was replaced by Mark Miller. Strike Anywhere went on to tour South America for the first time, playing Brazil and Colombia, and released the EP Nightmares of the West through Pure Noise Records in 2020. After a long gap in activity they returned to touring and recording, keeping the same lineup approach and the same broadly activist stance that shaped their early records.