Bangs came into being in the spring of 1997 in Olympia when Sarah Utter, who was starting a band with Jesse Fox, called Maggie Vail to ask if she wanted to join.
After returning from their first tour, they approached Slim Moon, also known as Matthew Moon, the found of the independent music label Kill Rock Stars, in an effort to record their first album, to which he had accepted.
It took about three days to record their debut album, Tiger Beat, which had been released on Kill Rock Stars in March of 1998 and Bangs headed out on their first U.S. tour with Jason Traeger, who is currently an artist and stand-up comedian.
After two years and a number of tours, with Murder City Devils (a Seattle based punk band), Dub Narcotic Sound System, an indie-funk group form Olympia, as well as others, Jesse Fox left quit in order to focus on his other band called Polecat. Sarah Utter and Maggie Vail then added Kyle Ermatinger as a drummer.
Sweet Revenge, Bangs’ follow up album was released in May of 2000 and more tours followed with other Olympia area bands, Sleater-Kinney and Gossip as well as other bands. They also toured Australia and New Zealand and then appeared at Lady Fest in Glasgow, which included the U.K. tour with The Gossip and Sara Dougher, a Portland, Oregon based singer and songwriter.
In fall of 2001, Kyle Ermatinger quit the band, afterwards in which, Sarah Utter and Maggie Vail found Peter David Connelly and in spring of 2002 recorded the EP Call + Response with Justin Trosper of Unwound and later in the year they toured with Sleater-Kinney again.
In November of 2003 they played at ATP (All Tomorrow’s Parties) in Los Angeles, California along with Cat Power, Iggy and the Stooges, Modest Mouse and several others
September 12th 2004 was Bang’s last show at Yeah Fest, where they were joined by Anna Oxygen, Gossip, November Witch, The Decemberists and a long list of others. Their show was the last one of the Yeah Fest, which was held in Olympia, Washington.
These days Sarah Utter is in Los Angeles, designing shirts for Kill Rock Stars, Maggie Vail is living in Portland, Oregon and is playing in Leti Angel + Romancing while Peter David Connelly is in Seattle doing his solo band, The Mona Reels, as well as other groups.
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