A Wilhelm Scream

A Wilhelm Scream is a melodic hardcore and punk rock group from New Bedford, United States. The band forms in 1996 and remains active. Its line-up includes Nicholas Pasquale Angelini, Chris Levesque, Jason Milbank, Mike Supina, Nuno Pereira, Trevor Reilly and Brian Robinson.

Background and name

The band takes its name from the Wilhelm scream, a stock sound effect used in films. Before settling on A Wilhelm Scream, the group uses the names Adam's Crack, Koen and Smackin' Isaiah, with Smackin' Isaiah the only one to appear on a major release. The changes in name come as the line-up expands and the band develops musically.

Early history

In 1993, Trevor Reilly, John Carvalho and Jonathan Teves form Adam's Crack and record a Nirvana-influenced demo cassette. The following year, Reilly and Carvalho start a side project with Nuno Pereira on vocals and others, but it plays only one show before ending. Musicians from both projects then merge into Koen, with Pereira on vocals, Reilly on drums, Teves on bass, Carvalho on rhythm guitar and Mat Demelo on lead guitar and trumpet. Under that name the band releases a cassette, The Big Fall..., and its sound moves further towards skate punk and ska.

In 1997 the group changes its name to Smackin' Isaiah and issues Give Girls More Beer... on cassette. Demelo leaves soon afterwards. Reilly alternates between drums and guitar for a period, with a temporary drummer also appearing in the line-up, before Nicholas Angelini becomes the permanent drummer. The band then releases the demo cassette Gets Eaten Alive in 1998.

Recordings and label history

The band’s first CD appears on Tank Records, a label set up by Carvalho and Teves, as the split release 6:6:6 with Moronique and Merrick. It then releases its debut album, The Way to a Girl's Heart Is Through Her Boyfriend's Stomach, which the band regards as its first proper release because its songs are written after Angelini joins. The album is later reissued by All About Records. The follow-up, Benefits Of Thinking Out Loud, also comes out on Tank Records, and a six-track set of outtakes from those sessions is issued as the EP The Champagne of Bands... We Know Sexy on Fork in Hand Records.

As the group moves towards a heavier and more serious approach, it changes its name again to A Wilhelm Scream and signs to Jump Start Records, which reissues Benefits of Thinking Out Loud under the new name. The band then records Mute Print with producer Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore. Although completed while it is still linked to Jump Start Records, the album is later released by Nitro Records. Nitro also releases Ruiner, with Stevenson and Livermore again producing.

Later releases and personnel changes

After Ruiner, Jonathan Teves leaves and Curtiss Lopez joins on bass, though Lopez later quits during a tour with Less than Jake. Brian J. Robinson then becomes the bassist. In 2006 the band issues the 7-inch EP Diver on Jump Start Records; the title track comes from the Mute Print sessions but is left off that album.

In 2007 the band records Career Suicide, again with Stevenson and Livermore. The record is described by the band as very fast, with some songs excluded for not meeting that pace. Around the same period, Chris Levesque leaves and is replaced by Mike Supina, previously of the Detroit band Alucard. The band tours extensively after the album’s release, including shows in over eighteen countries, and also tours with Lagwagon and Less than Jake.

Style

The band’s sound develops from early Nirvana-inspired material into skate punk, ska, melodic hardcore and aggressive punk rock. Its later recordings are described by the band as faster, more technical and harder-edged than its earlier work.