Gratuitious Press Release Enclosed:

“In light of the continued interest in the legendary San Francisco skate-punk band CODE OF HONOR — as well as the recent resurgence of early-80′s melodic hardcore within the online “blogging” community — the quartet and its original label Subterranean Records is reissuing its full discography. The 25-song disc titled Complete Studio Recordings 1982-1984 collects all of the band’s tracks from landmark releases like the 1984 album Beware the Savage Jaw and the lauded collector’s item split LP with Sick Pleasure (a band that featured members of Code of Honor).

Code of Honor is considered to be one of the founding bands of a movement dubbed “skate punk.” Along with other early melodic thrash bands JFA, Minor Threat and The Big Boys, Code of Honor mixed the melodic sensibilities of surf music and their exceptional musicianship with the frantic energy of hardcore punk. At the time, skateboarding was considered a fringe sport — the folly of outcast youth who often shared an appreciation for punk rock, and in some cases started bands of their own. Thanks to the coverage of founding skateboarding culture avatar Thrasher Magazine the blossoming skate-punk scene reached a wide-spread audience even though most of the genre’s bands were from California.

In the summer of 1979, Code of Honor guitarist Michael D. Fox and Steve Tupper founded Subterranean Records as a vehicle to document the rabidly growing San Francisco punk scene. The label went on to release classic underground recordings by proto-grunge band Flipper as well as the Dead Kennedys, Chrome, Helios Creed and many others. Fox ran the label’s in-house recording studio and engineered sessions for numerous groups as well as capturing his own bands Sick Pleasure and Code of Honor on tape. The split debut album for both groups was issued on Subterranean in September 1982. The classic “What Are We Gonna Do?” single — featuring a photo of an airborne skater on the sleeve — followed in 1983. The band’s first and only full album Beware the Savage Jaw, released August 1984 fully showcased the quartet’s remarkably innovative fusion of punk, surf, metal, western and classic rock.It’s widely considered that bands like At the Drive-In, The Mars Volta, My Chemical Romance and NOFX would never have existed without Code of Honor setting the standard first.”

- Who?