FIFTEEN Buzz 1996

by request

 

Artist Biography by Stacia Proefrock

Formed in 1988 after the demise of the Bay Area punk band Crimpshine, from day one Fifteen forged punk-pop songs with strong social messages. Singer/guitarist Jeff Ott's lyrics focus on social justice and issues such as homelessness, drug abuse, environmental destruction, and government strong-arm tactics. Many of the themes that his songs deal with seem to be pulled from his own experience; sexually abused as a child, he left home at 13 and lived the life of a gutter punk on the streets for 11 years. Other bandmembers had their own struggles; their 1999 album Lucky was named after a former bassist who killed himself after suffering from an amphetamine addiction. Other albums included three apiece for Grass and Lookout Records, as well as their self-produced album, Extra Medium Kickball All-Star. In the summer of 2000, the band released an EP with Sub City Records, Hush. Fifteen followed up several months later with the full-length Survivor. Kickball All-Star was reissued in fall 2003 with appended tracks as a benefit for the organization Any Positive Change, which worked to prevent the transmission of HIV and hepatitis C through needles. 

 

Tracklist

1	World Starvation	3:06
2	Helter Smelter	2:48
3	No Tion	2:40
4	Situations	2:19
5	I Keep On Tryin'	2:36
6	Question	3:54
7	Violation	3:18
8	Fifteen	2:36
9	Food Not Bombs	2:24
10	Predisposition	3:44
11	Abel's Song	1:40
12	In Our World	4:06