The Aftermath were formed in 1996 by Adam Gauntlett (guitar) and Joanne Felton(vocal/guitar) in Kings Norton Birmingham.
The first couple of gigs had Helen Ketland on bass and Eddie on drums.
By the time the band came to record in early 97 (after demos Birth and Happy Evening Bloodsukaz) PROUD TO BE LOUD , the band was Adam, Jo and Chris Smyth on the drums.
By January 1998 Chris had left the band and Dan Perry joined on the drums along with Rob Sweet on the bass. The band would then go on to record the QUICKFIRE EP. The track Rockin Man off this cd would get local radio play on a pirate rock radio show that did quite well on the underground scene. Junction studios (where ep was recorded) also sampled the track on a song by a band called Cross Fire the following year.
In May 1998 Dan left the band to concentrate on his own band Untred As a friend of the band he had joined to help them out, his 9 months help were really appreciated. John Shannon joined the band on drums and for the next year the band would be really busy. Interest came from record companies, Kerrang magazine came to review gigs and even sent Barney Greenway the singer from Napalm Death to check them out. Metal Hammer magazine did a feature on the band and also the band got a support slot on a number of gigs with Benediction, who were quite big on the Midlands metal scene; The band once fronted by Barney Greenway before he joined Napalm Death. The band recorded MOTHER SCIENCE in the winter of 1999 and managed to get a regular slot at popular goth venue The Mercat to promote it and played to a full house most times; This lead to a number of radio interviews and also a couple of tracks played on local stations, Things were looking really good.
Just as things were in full swing John and Rob both left the band, but a couple of months later Toby French (bass) and Bruno Silva (drums) joined the band. The band continued to promote and pretty much started to gig straight away. By this time after the radio play and the magazine features the bands mailing list started to grow, they were recieving post from all over the country aswell as Spain, France, Italy and Germany all asking for cds and other Aftermath info. This was well before the days of Facebook, Twitter and Websites, all promo was done by post. Over 500 copies of Mother Science were sent out not counting copies given out at gigs and sent to magazines and promotors. The highest amount of an Aftermath records to date since Proud to be loud which was around 150, 100 of those given out by Tempest records and Swordfish record store in Birmingham.
For the next year and a half the band would gig constantly and record the follow up to Mother Science THE AFTERMATH. But in typical Aftermath style when things are going great Toby and Bruno leave the band; When they joined they were in Birmingham at University and there time here had come to an end and they decided to go back home. To the band being quite popular on the metal scene they didnt have a problem getting some new members in and Mark Perkins (bass) and Neil Kerrigan (drums) had joined the band by January 2000.
Feb 2001 after 5 years Jo decided that she was leaving the band, this was a major blow as she helped form the band and been the sound of the band for all that time. As in any band you never know if it will work with a different singer. Adam decided that the current line up was to tight and strong in sound to give up and decided he would carry on and look for a new singer even though the band would have to start a fresh with a new sound.
October 2001 Jay Cooper joins the band on vocals. This was a guy who Adam had admired for a long time after seeing him perform in an Alice Cooper tribute band many times. He even approched him in the early days looking for gigs for The Aftermath. This line up of the band would become the strongest line up to date. New songs, new sound and a new attitude. It would pretty much erase all the earlier songs the band had done as Jays and Adams new writting partnership took the band to a new level. Only the Track Die from the earlier years would now fit in with the bands new sound. The band spent the next 2 years doing what they do best and that was alot of gigs. The new sound of the band with Jays theatrical performance gained the band a new respect. The new darker heavier material went down a storm and the best gigs the band have ever had started coming up with more established local bands. The band used the same formular to promote themselves as they always have and put out there next release THIS IS WAR; By far the bands best work to date. With such strong characters now in the band tention started to grow and a year later the band decided to split, a time when it could of been a big time for the band with the material they were producing.
After 3 years away the band were asked to play a charity gig by a friend and agreed to re-group to do this. They spent the next 4 months learning the songs again for the gig in June 2005. The band really enjoyed doing again and agreed that they wanted to do it again, but it was a while until this happened.
August 2007 the band finally found time to return, this time without Neil. Chris Smyth returned on the drums after being away from the band for 10 years and fell straight in to place. People were happy to see the band back again. After 6 months Marc left the band to continue with work comitments and Neil Gauntlett joined the band on bass. The band was to continue on for the next year and played 2 more shows. The first being at the legendary JB's in Dudley where since 1996 Adam had been trying to get a gig there.It was a great acheivment for the band as Heavy Metal legends such as Def Leppard, W.A.S.P, Motorhead and Judas priest had all played there and many others. The bands final gig was at a rock venue called The Black Horse in Aston Birmingham in 2009. It was a great gig done as a double headliner with a band called Decimate who the band had shared a few gigs with over the years. It was a great way to sign off.
In 2013 the band re packaged and released This is War to a small number of people who had contacted the band asking what they are up to. This re re release was re named THE AFTERMATH : THE FINAL SESSIONS . The band look to release this again in 2014/15 and have even spoke about having a jam together. What this leads to who knows.
