Fake Names is a Punk/Hardcore super-group consisting of vocalist Dennis Lyxzén (Refused, INVSN, SAMURAI,) guitarist/vocalist Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Bad Religion, Dag Nasty,) second lead guitarist/vocalist Michael Hampton (Embrace, The Faith, S.O.A.) bassist Johnny Temple (Girls Against Boys, Soulside, New Wet Kojak,) and, sometimes, drummer Matt Schulz (SAVAK, Holy F*ck, Enon.) "I'm in a new band with some friends from elementary school(!) and a sharp-dressed revolutionary from Sweden," Brian Baker (@brianbakers) posted on Instagram Wednesday morning; of course, referring to Hampton, Temple, and Lyxzén, respectively. Again, it appears as though Schulz is a part-time members of Fake Names, having played live with the band in their early aughts, although, their newly-launched website adds, " Matt [Schulz] played the drums. No synthesizers," within, what appears to be, digital liner notes. Guitarists Brian Baker & Michael Hampton first started jamming together in early 2016 with absolutely no intentions past, potentially, writing s couple songs together.


However, by day's end, Baker & Hampton had written a handful of songs together and closed out said jam session with a spur-of-the-moment decision to start a band. Before too long, Michael Hampton & Brian Baker had recruited Soulside/Girls vs. Boys bassist Johnny Temple, another fellow grade school classmate of theirs. Later that year, Bad Religion & Girls Against Boys found themselves on the same bill as Refused for Riot Fest Chicago 2016 and following a chance encounter with Refused frontman Dennis Lyxzén, Brain Baker & Johnny Temple had recruited Dennis as the vocalist of their new super-group. "I'm a huge record collector and I've been hoarding all of their records for years," notes Lyxzén, who names Minor Threat & Embrace amongst his favorite bands. Fake Names have been sporadically playing shows for a few years now, sharing bills with Matt Schulz's SAVAK and like-minded Punk/Hardcore super-group HAMMERED HULLS. We've secretly been keeping an eye on Fake Names' Instagram page (@fakenamesbklyn/official) for quite a while now, as well as communicating directly, via email, with Michael Hampton himself.


Just yesterday afternoon, Fake Names burst onto the scene with a boat-load of official announcements: first and foremost, their sheer existence as a band, their signing to Epitaph Records, and the unveiling of the their debut single, "Brick." Fake Names' accompanying self-titled full-length started out as a 28-minute demo recorded at New York's Renegade Studios and Dennis Lyxzén's home studio in his native Sweden; but after playing those demo recordings for Baker's long-time Bad Religion bandmate and Epitaph founder Brett Gurewitz made an unexpected proposal. " Brett said to us, 'this isn't a demo, this is the album,'" Brian Baker recalls. "He was pretty adamant about putting it out exactly as it was, so that's what we wound up doing." Fake Names was co-produced by Michael Hampton & Geoff Sanoff (A Perfect Circle, Jawbox) with additional recording by Mark Goodell & Sohrab Habibion (SAVAK) at Seaside Lounge Studios, Brooklyn, NY. Fakes Names' self-titled debut will be released Friday, May 8, 2020 on Epitaph Records. "Brick" is now available to purchase, stream, or download on digital streaming platforms.

Fake Names 2020 (CREDIT: Glen E. Friedman)