Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
Forever Ungratical Corinaric Technikilation, otherwise known as F.U.C.T., was formed in Nashville, TN. circa 1986. Starting as the brainchild of two guitarists, Dirt Ditchfield and Brooks Phillips, the duo later added drummer Heath Willis to the band.
A vocalist was soon found in Clay Brocker, as Dirt switched to playing bass in the band and their earliest lineup was complete. The quartet soon played their first show, after which Willis quit the band and was soon replaced with Salvo W. Rodanthe.
By 1987, F.U.C.T. had begun recording demos with that year’s ‘Into The Aggro’ and the following year’s ‘Within’. The music that this band created was some of the most unique, progressively extreme metal happening at the time. It was technical, yet almost discordant at times, with a largely psychedelic style to much of it. Perhaps thrash or crossover, with intense, aggressive vocals describes it best.
The band soon signed to an independent Nashville-based label, Carlyle Records, where they recorded and released ‘Green’ in 1989. Below is a cut from that effort, “Mine“.
Come 1990, F.U.C.T. would release their landmark album, ‘Dimensional Depth Perception’, which resides at a cult status today. At the time of its release, the album was light years ahead of most anything else going on in underground music. In my opinion, F.U.C.T.‘s only possible contemporaries back then, when it comes to forward-thinking, progressive metal, was probably Voivod. Of course, F.U.C.T. were the much, much heavier of the two.
F.U.C.T. would break up in 1991, after never being able to really break out of their regionally recognized status. They had a huge following in their home region of course, as well as a growing fan base in tape-trading networks of the time.
Each member would go on to play in other projects elsewhere, but nothing with one another. In 2001, guitarist Brooks Phillips died from a purported heroin overdose, which seemingly put to end any hopes of the band’s revival.
However, five years later in 2006, Clay and Dirt (hey, it’s their names) crossed paths at a Nashville Melvins show. Soon they, along with drummer Jerry Gramble, were actively reforming F.U.C.T. for another era of music. Guitarist Jason Creasey came on board in 2007, and just like before, Clay switched to playing bass once again. This new incarnation of the band began playing shows in their home vicinity, which received huge turnouts of people clamoring to see this cult band again.
In 2008, F.U.C.T. recorded and released a new full-length, ‘Retain To The Aggro’, for Abyss Records. The band continued playing shows as well, even being rejoined by earlier drummer Salvo W. Rodanthe at one point.
Last words concerning F.U.C.T. were they were active and planning a new album, tentatively titled ‘Aggroverse’.
There original drummers name was Patrick. Last name, bad-ass. He is the only drummer before Jerry Gramble. He was a large contributor to their overall quality, impact, and should not go unsung.
All statements in my piece are derived from extensive research of online sources available (and I NEVER use Wikipedia for the record). The info on the band’s origins and drummers was derived from a “Bio” segment of FUCT’s page on Reverbnation, a source I’ve not had problems with anytime prior. As for Brooks (supposed) OD-related death, that too was derived from an online source I am trying to relocate and provide here. That said, I’m not saying that anything you’ve stated is true or false but you haven’t shared where your claims originate from either be it firsthand/first person knowledge, other sources, etc. or what if you’d care to share them then I’d be happy to attempt to verify them.
I also noticed that Patrick wasn’t mentioned. He was really the drummer everyone remembers (and the one pictured in the 2 photos here). Jason is right. Fantastic drummer and real contributor to their sound. A close personal friend of Brooks’ told me he died from a seizure. What part substances played into that, I have no clue. But the seizures were a preexisting condition from what I understood, and this person did indicate that some of his lifestyle choices probably contributed to a fatal seizure.
I was around and present at many of F.U.C.T.’s shows, including their first one. As a result, I can definitely confirm that Heath Willis was the original drummer but he only stuck around for a couple of shows and was then replaced by Patrick, who was with them through pretty much the rest of their existence, and is the one on all their albums or, as the above commenter said, “he’s the drummer everyone remembers and pictured in those photos.
On another note, does anyone know what year Brooks was born?
Patrick Caldwell is in BOTH of the pictures at the top of this article! I grew up with, went to high school with and worked with Heath Willis(the reason I even knew about FUCT to begin with) . I also went to high school with Clay Brocker. Cat(who also commented) was in another local band during this same time(late 80s-early 90s) with my future brother in law. We have this information because we were actually there when it was happening.