The Faith was an early American hardcore punk

Hardcore punk

Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 band, from Washington DC, with strong connections to the scene centered on the Dischord

Dischord Records

Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in the independent punk music of the D.C.-area music scene. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release Minor Disturbance by The Teen Idles...

 label.

The band formed as a four piece in the summer of 1981 and featured Alec MacKaye

Alec MacKaye

Alec MacKaye is an American singer and musician best known as a member of the Washington, DC Hardcore bands Untouchables, The Faith, and Ignition. In the mid-1990s Alec joined the band The Warmers as a vocalist and guitarist. Their album 14 Songs was released in 1996 by Dischord Records. The...

 on vocals, former vocalist for the Untouchables

Untouchables (D.C. band)

The Untouchables were one of the bands that laid the groundwork for the legendary DC hardcore punk scene of the early eighties / late seventies. The band existed from October 1979 until January 1981....

, as well as Michael Hampton

Michael Hampton

Michael Hampton is a funk/rock guitarist. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic....

 of State Of Alert on guitar. After recording a demo, the band released a split LP with fellow D.C. hardcore band, Void

Void (band)

Void was a Washington D.C.-based hardcore punk/crossover thrash band. They were one of the first hardcore outfits to fuse hardcore and some heavy metal in a way most hardcore and metal fans could accept, paving the way for bands such as The Melvins. They were one of the first local bands popular in...

. It was released by Dischord Records, a local independent label founded by MacKaye's older brother and Minor Threat

Minor Threat

Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1980 and disbanded in 1983. The band was relatively short-lived, but had a strong influence on the hardcore punk music scene, both stylistically and in establishing a "do it yourself" ethic for music distribution and...

 vocalist, Ian MacKaye

Ian MacKaye

Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, label owner, and producer. Active since 1979, MacKaye is best known for being the frontman of the influential hardcore punk bands Minor Threat and The Teen Idles, the post-hardcore bands Embrace and Fugazi, as well...

. It featured the song "You're X'd," which addressed the straight edge

Straight edge

Straight edge is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs. It was a direct reaction to the sexual revolution, hedonism, and excess associated with punk rock. For some, this extends to not engaging in promiscuous sex, following a...

 philosophy popularized by Minor Threat and S.O.A.

In 1983 The Faith released an eight song twelve inch EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 called "Subject to Change." It was produced by Ian MacKaye and showed the band progressing into more melodic territory with the addition of a second guitarist. Within a few months of recording the record The Faith broke up, and three out of five members went on to join Embrace

Embrace (U.S. band)

Embrace was a short-lived post-hardcore band from Washington, D.C., which lasted from the summer of 1985 to the spring of 1986 and was one of the first bands to be dubbed in the press as emotional hardcore, though the members had rejected the term since its creation...

 with Ian MacKaye on vocals. Guitarist Eddie Janney joined Rites of Spring

Rites of Spring

Rites of Spring was an American post-hardcore band from Washington, D.C. in the mid-1980s, known for their energetic live performances. A part of the D.C. hardcore punk scene, Rites of Spring increased the frenetic violence and visceral passion of hardcore while simultaneously experimenting with...

 and later was reunited with Michael Hampton for One Last Wish

One Last Wish

One Last Wish was a short-lived post-hardcore band from Washington, D.C. It was formed in May 1986 by members of Rites of Spring, and split up in January 1987....

. Alec MacKaye went on to sing for Ignition and then later The Warmers

The Warmers

The Warmers were a post-hardcore band based in Washington, D.C. that recorded and performed from July 1994 through December 1997. A trio act that featured Alec MacKaye , Juan Luis Carrera , and Amy Farina , The Warmers released two recordings through the D.C. based record label Dischord Records...

.

Discography

• Void/Faith Split LP LP/CD (Dischord, 1982)
• Subject to Change E.P. (Dischord, 1983)
• Combined C.D. (compiling Subject to Change and the Faith/Void split)
• 20 Years Of Dischord compilation (featuring the song, "Subject to Change")