"INKWELL burned through Atlanta hardcore in two years. Thirty years later, their story is finally on one record." - Karol Kamiński / IdiotEQ

"I just have to say for the record that Inkwell was one incredibly intense band. If the mood was right, and they were into it, their shows could be truly transcendent. Easily one of the best shows you have ever seen. But I also want to emphasize how funny and nice guys they were, and what a good time you could have with them on the road or at a show. Despite what you may think from listening to the music and watching the videos, their shows were actually a lot of fun. Some of my greatest memories of those years were at Inkwell shows.

In fact, when you look at their history, the golden period of their existence was only one year - Spring 1995 to Spring 1996, a perfect amount of time for a band such as this. They came in, blew everyone away, and then were gone before any of the charm wore off or got stale. We were truly fortunate to have them in our town." - James Joyce (Beyond Failure)

Here is a history of the band, written by Joe Myers himself:

"We started out as an idea between Joe and Phil one night in early 1994 while at work. Phil found a drummer named Josh and Joe asked Marty if he wanted to play bass. With a little bit of reluctance, Inkwell was formed. Our initial practices in Josh's bedroom were awkward at best, but songs were beginning to seep out. Then a month or two later we played our first show with Jara and Atlanta's own Quadiliacha. It was described by Mike D (now known as Mike Phyte) as "piss poor." We improved with every show and every practice as we started to take it more seriously. We recorded a demo at Sleepless Nights studios with Issa (who is now in Good Clean Fun - Haha). Then around the end of the year we went on a small "tour" of the east coast. We played a show set up by Scott Beiben (Bloodlink Records) that was in a small two car garage in the middle of nowhere. We played that show to mostly the other bands, with mostly our friends being the other attendees. Gavin (Stickfigure) was there with his pink haired crust friend (Doug of ...by the deed). Though the show was a bust, that night the Moss Icon - Lyburnum LP was finally released. Something positive came out of it, as we all bought copies and Gavin got some for his distro. Later that night we found out that we could have played a show in Philly at Sean McCabe's (Ink & Dagger) house with a much bigger audience. Oh well. We ended our mini-tour with a show in Virginia Beach with Channel and a few other bands. We didn't think the crowd would like us because it was a bit of a chugga chugga town, but it turned out that it was the best response we had ever gotten. That was a nice way to end it. Then we came back to Atlanta to play a Car vs. Driver album release show. Then Josh moved to California the next day. For a few months Inkwell was stagnant without a drummer. Our friend, Theo, who was playing in a band called Scout at the time, had a friend from Arkansas who had recently moved to town. We weren't really sure what to think of Mark, as he could recite Coolio lyrics on demand and had a little bit of the gangster style to him. But once we played with him we knew it would work out. Mark was a great drummer. After just a couple months we were back in step. Our sound was faster and a lot less sloppy with the inclusion of Mark. We started playing shows again. It also happened that Mark worked as a sound engineer at Purple Dragon studios where he did things like assist on TLC and Outkast songs. So we recorded there and released our first 7". Phil did the the master design work, and also seemed to find the most expensive materials to release it with. With Gavin trading 7" worldwide, we started getting letters from all over the world and were gaining quite a following. We also helped to start a thriving hardcore scene in Atlanta that didn't exist before. We went on to have a split 7" with the Hal al Shedad released. Then our second 7", "Shine So Bright", got released. We did a little mini tour again, this time a few more shows and this time there were a lot more people at the shows. Then we came back home. We played one last show at the Driver Dome with all of the bands on the Placebo comp 7" that had just come out. It was the largest attendance in the history of the Driver Dome (Steve Wishart's basement), and it was on a hot Georgia night, so it felt like an oven. But we played all of our songs except one and then it was over. Like the flyer said, 'the end of an era.'"

TRACK LISTING:
01. Shine So Bright
02. Portrait
03. Messenger
04. Savior
05. Instrument
06. Hands Like Mine
07. By Design
08. Right Side
09. Wash
10. Angry Son (Unreleased)
11. Has Been (Unreleased)
12. March (Live)