SeventyEightDays Official Biography
After Chokehold had broken up, Chris Logan, Matt Beckman and Josh Fletcher continued to rehearse together. Influenced by such bands as Drive Like Jehu and Hoover, but in a more straight hardcore fashion. They named themselves SeventyEightDays (sometimes spelled 78Days or 78 Days), after the Native American standoff in Oka, Quebec, which lasted 78 days. Matt Jones from Grade would come in as bassist to complete the line-up.
The band took a little while to get their new sound together, and their first recording was released on Logan’s own label, Goodfellow Records. The “Canvas” ep was an immediate hit in the local scene but didn’t grow much outside Ontario due to little shows being played outside the province. The cover art was done by Chokehold guitarist Jeff Beckman.
Trustkill Records owner Josh Grabelle had been wanting to work with Chokehold for some time and really liked the new band. He signed the band for a three record release contract in late 1997. The band would record their second ep “Revolution Through Anonymity” at Audio Magic Studios in November of that year, and got Matt Jones to do the artwork. The album was released on CD and 7″, and a load of merch (hoodies, shirts, long sleeves, posters) and get ready to embark on a tour with Boysetsfire and Brother’s Keeper. Matt Jones (who also had the touring van) quit the band right before leaving, and various bassists would fill in for the tour. Starting with Christian McMaster, then Matt Beckman’s cousin, Jamie Beckman, and finally Gordie Ball. Renting vans along the way, the tour took them from Buffalo to Syracuse, NY for Hellfest 1998, through Erie, PA, then North and South Carolina, Philadelphia, down to Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts and New York City. During this time, Redstar Records also used one of their song on the compilation “The Sound and the Fury“.
Goodfellow Records ad in Full Contact Magazine announcing the Dropping Bombs EP.
After the tour, Chris Logan, Matt Beckman and Josh Fletcher started writing for a full-length album that would be released on Trustkill. They wrote songs for nearly a year as a three piece, while still jamming in Matt B’s basement. In the late summer of 1999, they got Tom Piraino to join on bass. Chris then wanted to go in a more metal direction, while Matt B., Josh and Tom wanted to sound more like Bluetip (a Dischord Records band). Chris Logan would quit and start up Funerary, while the remaining three members started writing new songs under the name Dropping Bombs. They moved the rehearsal space to where Chris was now jamming with Funerary and demoed some songs at Blue Tilt Studio. During these recording sessions, Tom tried out taking over vocals but that wasn’t working as they wanted. Tom was asked to join Funerary and from then on, the band was over.