616 undone.
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616 undone. |
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| AKA | Undone (1994 - 1996) |
| Active Years | 1994 - 1998 2011 - 2012 2021 - present |
| Origin | Columbus, Ohio, USA |
| Related Bands | Amazing Device, Matrix, Dominion |
Biography
Excerpts from an interview with drummer Steve Vaughan, 2021:
The band’s story begins back in 1994, when Vaughan was playing with founding guitarist Craig Steinfels under the moniker “Undone”. The two of them wrote the bones of what ended up being several of the songs on Love Lies Bleeding and tried out several vocalists, but he says none of them really seemed to fit. “At the time, I was basically cherry picking the people who I felt were the best musicians from the scene. Alan Mauger (guitars) was playing in Matrix, Chris Cox (bass) was in Dominion, and eventually we just kind of fell into Aaron Wilson (vocals) through someone else we knew.”
The group recorded a cassete EP as Undone, which featured the original versions of Hope, Illuminate, Sore, Love Lies Bleeding and Essence. After Steinfels amicably left the group, they changed the name to 616 undone., which was something Vaughan had been kicking around as somewhat of an homage to Nine Inch Nails. “I had initially wanted it to be more of an industrial thing. The original logo had the second 6 being backwards. But it was honestly just something that came to me”.
The band (as 616) played their first shows in ’96 and quickly picked up steam around Ohio. They quickly found themselves opening for the likes of Limp Bizkit, Sevendust, Clutch and Incubus, and playing every show that came across their path. “We weren’t making much money off of shows, and sometimes we’d play 2 shows in a night,” he explained. “I remember one night playing at the Alrosa Villa, packing up and going straight to the Kool Kat Club to do a late headliner. We were playing just for the sake of doing it back then. We did it because we loved to play.”
Eventually, the band realized they had enough songs to make an album and got together with Joe Viers, who was down at John Schwab Studios at the time. Vaughan laughed when he recalled the list of influences they put in the liner notes of their first recordings. “We had everything from Life of Agony to Busta Rhymes, and Aaron even used a Mariah Carey reference in a song! Craig was originally big into Prong and Rage Against The Machine; you can feel it on the songs he wrote. Alan loved Suffocation and Megadeth, Chris was big on Pantera and Rob Zombie. I feel like all of those influences meshed together for Love Lies Bleeding.”
Eventually, like many local bands, the lineup started turning over and the band’s popularity started fading. Vaughan admits that he was ousted from the band at one point, which he says hurt at the time, but he also understood. “We were young and we were all doing stupid things at the time. I had my own issues that I needed to deal with, but the 616 name never really retired.”
The band has played a handful of shows in the last decade, but nothing quite like their prosperous run in the 90s. Vaughan says he barely talked to Wilson in that time frame, but that it was the singer who reached out to him about getting back together last spring. “We probably hadn’t even spoken for 3 years, and he hit me up completely out of the blue about doing a show with all original members,” Vaughan recalls. “I had just been thinking about what it would take to have a vinyl pressed for the record. Things started coming together pretty quickly from there.”
The 2021 digital re-release of Love Lies Bleeding was met with renewed enthusiasm and immediately the band’s name started popping up on nu-metal and rock playlists across Spotify and Apple Music. The band’s online following doubled in a matter of months, and Vaughan says he took the opportunity to do something he had always wanted to do with the band. The band has started rehearsing again, but the pandemic and the distance between the members has been a slight hindrance. Vaughan says they’ve had to make some concessions, but that the quartet is definitely pushing forward. “It’s been tricky, because Alan, Cox and I still live in Ohio. But Aaron is married now and lives out in Washington state these days, working on a solo project called Narrow Pines. We do have some new stuff we want to put together, and once we can get a solid recording of the instruments done we’ll send it over to him for finishing. We just want to keep releasing stuff that people are excited about. As for a reunion show, we’re probably looking at late fall or early spring.”
Whatever the band ends up doing from here, it seems as though they have already captured a slice of nostalgia with old fans, and are gearing up to treat ears both old and new with some special surprises.
Members
Last known line-up:
Aaron "Erin" Wilson - vocals (-1998, 2021-)
Alan Mauger - guitar
Fonzie Silkweed - bass (2023-)
Steve Vaughan - drums
Past members:
Earl "Curly" Rhoads - vocals (2011-2012)
Craig Steinfels - guitar (-1996)
Chris Cox - bass (-2023)
Discography
- [unknown title] (EP)
- Sexpies (EP)
- Love Lies Bleeding (album)
*This list might be incomplete.