Majority Rule

Washington, DC

Matt Michel
Kevin Lamiell
Pat Broderick

MAJORITY RULE initially got their start in 1996 as a four-piece out of Northern Virginia. The earliest incarnation of the band cranked out various 7”s and splits while dialing in a particular sound and sonic approach that would come into full manifestation later.

In fact, it wasn’t until the year 2000 (and trimming down to a three-piece) where the band came into their own with a 4-song demo that exemplified a unique sound that truly hadn’t been done before. Three of the songs from the 2000 demo were re-recorded for Interviews With David Frost, the band’s first proper full length and debut album on Magic Bullet Records. Songs like “At 3 AM,” “XOXO,” and “The Sin in Grey” immediately captured the fascination of Washington DC’s local punk, hardcore, and metal community and word began to spread nationally immediately upon the album’s release in 2001.

2002 marked one of the busiest years in MAJORITY RULE’s history. Not only had they already been traveling to play their music farther, wider, and more frequently, but they reentered the studio to record a split album with fellow DC/VA area stalwarts PAGENINETYNINE. The two bands had done countless shows on the road together at this point, guested on each others’ tracks, and had formally established the moniker “Dixie on the Road” for anytime the bands would head out on the road to perform around the country (and eventually out of the country) together.

The following year caught the band in full-swing, absolutely perfecting their brand of hardcore on 2003’s Emergency Numbers LP. The album captured the rarified air of being ungodly heavy while retaining peak urgency from song to song. Loops and delays were incorporated much more into the compositions while the almost black-metal-like vocals found a visceral level that’s just not often heard before, then, and now. Most impressively, the band had mastered tone at this point, be it in the studio, on a stage in front of 3000 people, or in a cramped basement full of 30 people.

After many hundreds of shows around the world and three studio recordings that changed how people listen to and approach hardcore since, the band laid it to rest in the summer months of 2004.

Thirteen years later, in 2017, conditions locally, nationally, and globally exposed a fertile patch toward the resurrection of MAJORITY RULE, if for nothing else but to return to many of the stages and spaces they’ve performed in prior, and under the same exact ethics they held then and now, to raise awareness, funding, and goodwill toward individualized, local causes in each and every town they are set to perform in.

Dark Operative is proud to represent the band's back catalog both digitally and on vinyl format.

Spotify / Instagram / Website

Releases

Upcoming Shows