It's #ForceFriday! — Here at hunterburgan.com that means that all The Force merchandise is on sale.

For those of you who aren't familiar with The Force...

Matt Wedgley - vocals
Mark Roustabout - guitar
Chad Cox (RIP) - drums
Hunter Burgan - bass

The Force was a hardcore band from Grass Valley, CA. I knew Matt and Chad from their former band, The Circus Tents. I really loved that band. Mark and I played together for a short stint in his former band, Unity. We started The Force in 1995 and played our first show a month later. We played five songs in under 10 minutes and I'm sure it sounded awful. We played our first show with AFI on December 30th that year at 924 Gilman St. We recorded a 7" for Wedge Records (Matt's label) the following spring and a 10"/CD for Spider Club Music a year after that. We did one US tour (in a car) supporting AFI in 1997. By the time we decided to break up in September of 1998, we had played countless shows all over California and across the US. Some of my favorite memories from this time include shows we played at Gilman St., in Santa Cruz and in a couple different Mexican restaurants. In 2008 we got back together to play three shows for all our friends and fans. Reuniting with my friends to play these shows really meant a lot to me, and I'm sure the other members would say the same. I'm sure somebody shot video and put it online, but it was really one of those situations where you had to be there to feel what it was like. I will never forget it.

The T-shirts, sweatshirts and 12" records available here on hunterburgan.com are left over from those shows. Some sizes are very limited. When they're gone, they're gone for good.

— HUNTER

P.S. Note that the The Force "Man" T-shirt design was done by Geoff Kresge, who was instrumental in shaping The Force's visual identity by creating the art that graced our album covers, and T-shirts.