Backyard Burial was formed in Lower Hutt New Zealand in early 1998 by drummer Mike and high school friend Dave on guitar, soon adding vocalist Matt, and Ryan on bass. By the end of 98 Dave had left for Australia and Ryan shifted to guitar, and the trio went into C Moore Sounds recording studio to record a six song demo ‘Deviance In Society’ of which only a few copies were made. In mid 1999 they were joined by Nathan on bass for their first gig at the Wellington Punkfest. Soon a new bass player Aiden was added, allowing Nathan to switch to his main instrument guitar and the band to finally develop the enormous low tuned chug that has become their trademark. In April 2001 after several successful shows in Auckland and Wellington, Backyard Burial travelled to Rockbottom Studios in Auckland to record some newer songs. Produced by Nich Cunningham, the infamous '$2 PE-EP' is a good representation of the Backyard sound, and has had frequent airplay on Metal radio shows throughout New Zealand. By now the band were regularly playing larger gigs with touring bands and in late 2001 supported Misery from Melbourne, Australia. The release of the EP shortly after this also coincided with the bands first tour, playing three dates in North Island cities Auckland, Hamilton and New Plymouth. In early 2002 Aiden left, and now locked into the two guitar sound the band were forced to find a new bass player. They recruited Greg formerly of Lower Hutt band Discenter, who quickly picked up th...