Sometimes, if you love something, but you hunger for it to be something even better, you have to tear it apart and put it all back together again. And in the world of punk rock, if change is good, radical change is better. But the new version better goddamn well out rock the old version. Luckily, such is the case for the Orange County, California band Unit F.

Only two of the original members are the same, but the push behind the band remains unchanged: making intense music, saying something that means something, and breaking away from the formula.

Unit F has reappeared as a more finely tuned, hella quicker punk rock machine, pounding brand new songs, no less intense but a whole lot more memorable than before. Driven by the new energy provided by percussionist Adam Grossman (original drummer for El Centro), Unit F’s new sound still has that intensity but now more precise with guitarist Steve Kastrinos’ grinding, relentless sound and the addition of new bassist Keith Hoffman adding to the drive with massive, ripping bass tones, while Mel Torment is still Mel Torment.

Since the bands inception sometime in 1996, Unit F has come to personify what it means to struggle as a band with something to say, and how exactly to say it. While the founding members could not help but grow up with the rich punk rock history and tradition of the area, Unit F was formed with the intent of pushing that envelope, which in and of itself was a formitable task. And then you gotta keep the band together!

Then bassist and sometime guitarist Steve Kastrinos and front man/lyricist Mel Torment were put through the obligatory paces of said “struggle”. Six years of gigging in clubs came and went combined with a couple of out of state tours. Through it all, the band produced lots of ideas, and one album, HOLLOW CITY.

The members changed, and the song list grew. Unit F had played on just about every stage in the Southland with just about every band in the area (some of whom are even still together), not to mention a lot of bands you would ever need to certify a degree in punk rock history (The Gears, Legal Weapon, Fear, Angry Samoans, Dr. Know, The Dickies, etc).

Keith "Shortcake" Hoffman - Bass

But by the end of those six years, success was rather hard to define. The new ideas and new songs felt more like treadmill. The album was good, but not great. Production had produced differences in opinions about what was trying to be achieved, as well as how.

Musical direction, especially in terms of the bands aggressive metal/punk blend was beginning to splinter even as the local scene itself seemed to stall. On a show-to-show basis, the impact of the band was there, but lasting breakthrough was elusive. Kastrinos, who had been on a bit of a writing spree, and Mel Torment felt it was time to rebuild a better, more rocking Unit F, tore the old one apart.

Through the course of a year, Kastrinos and Torment continued to write and jam with a virtual cavalcade of musicians, some of which seemed to grasp this elusive idea of a new Unit F, but most of who were weighed down by a lot of the past material that became to be at odds with the newer ideas. The rebuild of Unit F was beginning to look more evil than the evil necessity that it was. The bread and butter of the old Unit F, the stage shows began to look more and more like a distant memory. Then things turned.

Grossman’s first sessions with original bassist turned guitarist Steve Kastrinos and vocalist Mel Torment seemed to fuel a songwriting chemistry that had a new energy. One that was dynamic and crisp, but relentless. The potential to push Unit F to a new level of old school punk was evident. With the completion of eight new songs and new interpretations of the old ones (Unit F currently plays two songs penned by Steve Kastrinos from the Hollow City album), the band embarked on the ultimate litmus of rock, the live shows.

It worked. In playing a hand full of club dates and two major venue events (2002 Punk Rock BBQ at The Galaxy Theater in Santa Ana, CA and the Punk Rock For Recovery benefit show at The Grove Of Anaheim in Anaheim, CA.) the reaction to the new sound, the new songs and the new look have far exceeded expectations.

The new Unit F album, SECURITY, recorded with Greg Hetson (Bad Religion/Circle Jerks) and producer Jim Monroe is finished and in stores now with the groundwork for the band’s new full length CD set in motion. The first single, “Ride,” off the forthcoming, yet to be titled album is already in the can with a video for the single shot by the notorious Bad Otis already in post production with an advance release set for sometime in the summer of 2004.

Sometimes in the world of punk rock (hell in the world of music) survival and endurance can mean as much as anything. But in the end, for it all to mean anything, it damn well better rock. And know this, the new Unit F rocks!

BUY UNIT F MERCH HERE!