Phase One: Beginning (1996–1999)
History of Guns was formed in February 1996 as 'Pre-Hate Machine' by Stagger Lee with Max Rael and Del Alien. Del Alien renamed the band 'History of Guns' after a song he had written about the Dunblane Massacre in mid 1996.[10]
Their first demo Reformation Day was recorded in a day at Discipline Studios in Tottenham in July 1996. In September 1996 Gary 'The Reverend' Hughes joined the band as a regular part-time collaborator. The band signed up with Top Knotch Management in 1997 and recorded a second demo Sold on Secrets in Chelmsford. In 1999, the band acquired a PC, and began recording with Cubase.
The first track recorded in this fashion was "Random Death Bag" which appeared on the third instalment of the No Holy Additive compilation CD from Godreah Zine, followed by the Little Miss Suicide EP which was released on the newly formed Liquid Len record label, and an unreleased demo album called 'Enough Is Too Much LP'. Stagger Lee quit the band with the release of their first CD, Little Miss Suicide EP in 1999.
Phase Two: Liquid Len Records (2001–2006)
In 2001, Godreah zine contacted the band with a request for them to appear on the fourth and final instalment of the No Holy Additive compilation CD. Del Alien and Max Rael recorded their first new material for two years, namely, Reconstructing Terror, Fact and Disconnect, they also completed two unfinished tracks left over from Enough Is Too Much sessions namely, 57 Days and Burn, which eventually got released as the Disconnect EP by the Liquid Len record label in 2002.
Kevin Gerrish joined the band briefly in 2002 during the writing and recording of The Mirror Pond LP. Weeks before its release History of Guns issued a press released saying that they'd been "consumed by business rhetoric" and were thus "downsizing the album into an EP". Although many of the remaining tracks remain unreleased, the track 'Psycho' was included as a bonus track on the second edition of the CD, and 'Sunday Lunchtime (A Family Portrait)' and 'Soaked' were included on the 2007 release 'Issue Six:Archive One – Make It Look Like An Accident'.
History of Guns released their debut album Flashes of Light LP in 2004. A dense slab of atmospheric dark electronica devoid of any guitars,[10] noted for its unusual structure of having two long opening songs, four short middle songs, then two long closing songs.
Recruiting a live band in 2004 History of Guns performed gigs around the south east of England as an edgy punk band, not performing any of the songs from their debut album. The last date was filmed and released on DVD as "Twenty Seven Paces".
Their second album APOPHENIA was released in November 2005. It was named after the medical condition of seeing patterns in seemingly random data, Apophenia. This time the album was structured in two distinct halves, and every track on the album written and performed in a different genre.[10]
Responding to an interview with Dark Futures zine in which History of Guns said they worked very quickly, to which the interviewer replied "how did it take two years to make your new album then?" History of Guns announced a series of free limited edition bi-monthly CDs, starting with the March 2006 release UDDERS available via their website.
In April 2006, they played their debut at the Whitby Gothic Weekend. In November 2006, the band announced that they had signed to Line Out Records and would no longer be able to keep to their schedule of releasing a new EP every other month whilst they wrote and recorded their third album to be titled ACEDIA.
Phase Three: Line Out Records (2007 – 2011)
History of Guns' third album ACEDIA was released on 7 July 2008 on Line Out Records. The album title came from the lyrics to Of Walking Abortion by Manic Street Preachers from their The Holy Bible album[11]
The inside sleeve artwork features a copy of No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai. Downwithfreedom.com provided an animated music video for the track 'Exhaust Fumes' which appeared on YouTube in October 2008.[12]
In July 2009, History of Guns released a three track EP focussing on The Spice Girls, featuring Slice Up Your Wife which incorporated elements of the original Spice Girls song Spice Up Your Life described by The Dreaded Press as "a sub-three-minute slice of staggering satire and vengeful rage"[13]
On 21 October that year, the band released their fourth album, Whatever You Do, Don't Turn Up at Twelve and then went on hiatus.