From Fan History Wiki

[edit] Introduction

AFI is a musical group. The fandom got kick started on LiveJournal, fandomination.net, fanfictionlog.com, and fanworks.org due to friendly policies towards Real Person Fic (RPF). By early 2005, this community was firmly established with over 1,000 stories belonging in the fandom at various archives.

[edit] The Band

While still in high school in Ukiah, California, Davey Havok (vocals), Mark Stopholese (guitar) and Vic Chalker (bass) formed an outfit called AFI in 1991. At the time, the band did not know how to play any instruments. Stopholese suggested his friend Adam Carson, who had a drum kit, join.[1] Stopholese learned guitar, Chalker learned bass, and AFI made their first EP in recording with the split-EP Dork (1993) with the now defunct Loose Change, which included future AFI guitarist Jade Puget. Chalker was soon replaced by Geoff Kresge.

AFI disbanded when its members attended different colleges, including UC Berkeley. Kresge moved to New York where he played with Blanks 77. After reuniting to perform a live show, the other members decided to drop out of college to play full-time with AFI. Between 1993 and 1995 they released several vinyl EPs (Behind the Times; Eddie Picnic's All Wet; Fly in the Ointment; This Is Berkeley, Not West Bay; AFI/Heckle; Bombing the Bay) independently. Their first full-length, Answer That and Stay Fashionable was released in 1995. Very Proud of Ya followed the next year.

After several tours in support of the album "Answer That and Stay Fashionable" Kresge decided to leave the group. His spot was filled by Hunter for the remaining Very Proud of Ya tour dates. Burgan went on to help AFI record Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes and was invited to become the full-time bassist. Black Sails in the Sunset introduced AFI fans to a much darker sound.

After recording the A Fire Inside EP (1998), Stopholese left the band and was replaced by Puget, his close friend. Following the A Fire Inside EP, the band recorded Black Sails in the Sunset (1999), a musical turning point. On this album, their original hardcore roots were still the base of their sound, but with Dark Romantic influences (a poem by Charles Baudelaire, "De profundis clamavi," is present in the hidden track "The Midnight Sun"). The influence of the Deathrock & Horror Punk scenes was also apparent.

All Hallows EP (1999) spawned the single "Totalimmortal," a track later covered by The Offspring for the Me, Myself and Irene soundtrack. It received a fair amount of radio play and exposed AFI to larger audiences. Offspring frontman Dexter Holland was featured as a backing vocalist on a number of Black Sails tracks.

In 2000, AFI released The Art of Drowning, which debuted on the Billboard Charts at number 174 [3]. The Days of the Phoenix was released as a single and video in order to promote the album. The Days of the Phoenix, like "Totalimmortal", had some moderate mainstream success, garnering the band both TV and radio airplay.

In 2002, AFI left Nitro Records and released Sing the Sorrow (2003) on DreamWorks Records. The songs Girl's Not Grey, The Leaving Song Pt. 2, and Silver and Cold had some Billboard chart success and exposed the band to even larger audiences. They were nominated in the MTV Video Music Awards 2003 in the MTV2 award category for the video "Girl's Not Grey", which came to be the first VMA they won.

In 2006,their newest album, Decemberunderground, was released on Interscope Records. Reviewers have noted an even progression in sound for AFI in this album, featuring ColdPop and New Wave[4] elements. The album's first single "Miss Murder" reached #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Charts. [5]The release reflects the continually changing and growing fan base of the band, and the album debuted as No. 1 on the Billboard charts.[6] The album has been certified Gold by the RIAA for sales of over 500,000 copies of the album, and is expected to go platinum later this year. Also, the band's second single, "Love Like Winter", enjoyed tremendous success on MTV's Total Request Live and was retired after 40 days on the countdown.

On December 12, AFI released their first DVD I Heard a Voice, featuring a live performance shot in Long Beach, California.

On January 20, AFI played "Miss Murder" and "Love Like Winter" on Saturday Night Live. Although the band performed "Love Like Winter" according to plan, technical difficulties occurred during their set of "Miss Murder", in which Davey sounded mute during various points of the song.

The band is currently shooting a video for Decemberunderground's third single, "The Missing Frame."[7] They will continue touring through summer 2007, and then work on writing the next album. Puget has begun writing some material.[8] Furthermore, Puget has spoken of a possible EP for late 2007, which would cull together unreleased songs from the Decemberunderground sessions.

AFI Wikipedia Page [1]

[edit] Terminology

Below is a list of terms and their definitions that are used in this fan fiction community.

Band Pairings

Javey: Jade/Davey
Jadam: Jade/Adam
Junter: Jade/ Hunter
Advey: Adam/ Davey
Hundam: Hunter/Adam
Hunvey: Hunter/ Davey
Smade: Smith/ Jade
Smavey: Smith/ Davey
Smidam: Smith/ Adam
Smunter: Smith/ Hunter

Commmon Crossover Pairings

Nilvey: Davey/ Nils
Vilvey: Davey/ Ville Valo
Timvey: Davey/ Tim Armstrong
Havarro: Davey/ Dave Navarro
Villdam: Adam/ Ville Valo

[edit] Timeline

Below is a partial timeline of events that took place in this fan fiction community.

[edit] 1998

On October 15, FanFiction.Net is founded. Some AFI stories are posted there before the site bans RPF in September 2002.

[edit] 2002

In August, FanDomination.Net is founded. This becomes the preferred site for AFI authors. Along with Good Charlotte and Mest, AFI becomes one of the most popular band fandoms on the site.

[edit] 2003

In March, Sing the Sorrow [2] is released. The popularity of this album brings many new faces to the AFI fan fiction community.
In July, the AFI LiveJournal icon community aficons is created. [3]
In August, the AFI LiveJournal community _afi_ is created. [4]
In August, the Yahoo group afislash is created. [5]

[edit] 2004

On January 9, 2004, the AFI LiveJournal community afitalk is created. [6]
Due to continuous problems and poor site maintenance on FanDomination.net, many AFI authors branch out in search of better archives.
In September, fanfictionlog.com closes down due to lack of funding.

[edit] 2006

Decemberunderground [7] is released, bringing another influx of new readers and writers to the fandom.

[edit] 2007

[edit] 2008

[edit] 2009

On January 8, 2009, the InsaneJournal asylum thefireinside was created. [8]
On May 3, 2009, the Dreamwidth community afireinside was created. [9]

[edit] Fandom Members

The following is a partial list of AFI writers who post to Quizilla:

See also Category:AFI fans.

[edit] Fandom Size

Icerocket Trend Tracker: Mest, AFI, Good Charlotte.

[edit] April 2007

As of April 8, 2007, there were 1,055 AFI stories on Quizilla.

[edit] December 2007

As of December 8, 2007, there were 1,102 stories on Quizilla. [23]

As of December 22, 2007, there is 1 story on RockFic. [24]

[edit] Misc

[edit] External Links

[edit] See also

AFI fanzines

[edit] Sources

Bleeding Rain. Online interview.

Julie Andersen aka Wicked.Starr

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