Formed in early 2016 as the product of several chance happenings involving a beer league team, a going away party, and a long afternoon at work. In short, Rob and Matt played on a beer league hockey team, Prestige Worldwide, in Queens, NY.  Of the two, Matt is far and away the better player, as both will tell you.  After jamming before a game, they were thinking that they should take things further, but then Matt’s wife gave birth to their son and so little more was said.  A few months later, when at a going-away party for a mutual friend who was moving to Africa for six months, Rob and Tommy got into a discussion about how Tommy’s apartment was a mess because of this drum set that he kept with him, even though he hadn’t played them in years.  He soon revealed his history as a drummer in hardcore bands, and so Rob presented him with the idea of jamming with himself and Matt.  The three soon rented an hourly studio on E. 30^th st in Manhattan and realized within five minutes that they knew no common songs.  But the second session went much better, as there was some coordination with what to come prepared with for the next practice.

After a third session, Matt and Rob were watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs at a bar appropriately called The Puck (it’s across the street from Madison Square Garden), and the two decided that the best course of action would be to write their own material and play the places around New York.  They later met to work out Change the Conversation and Border Line, and brought them to Tommy for the next practice.  From there, it was one thing leading to another, including getting a practice space in Bushwick, and everything was rolling along quite nicely until it was pointed out to them that it would be very hard to do much more without a singer.

Fortunately, Tommy had recently been drinking at a lower east side bar after work when he mentioned the need for a singer to the bartender, who volunteered that he used to sing for a cover band.  So Mike came to the studio to do a version of “Holy Diver”, and it was decided to have him learn the band’s entire catalogue to that point, which was already six songs.  He went to Brazil for three weeks with the lyric sheets, and not long after his return, OP79 played their first show, at Neir’s Tavern in Woodhaven, Queens, which happens to be the local bar where Tommy lives.  That began the first era of Outpost 79, which concluded at the end of May 2017 as Tommy prepared to get married and move to Michigan, while Matt and his young family moved to Colorado. For one last project, the band went into a studio to record a three-original song EP, with the CD version featuring a fourth, live song. That EP was released July 25 and is available on this website or on any of the common online streaming sites.

In June of 2017, Jay Galano appeared more or less out of nowhere and made himself available as the new guitar player. Soon afterwards, Russ Stopek joined on drums, both living in Bay Ridge on the same block. Yet after all this time, they still haven’t played in Brooklyn yet. And in late 2018, Mike left the band to pursue more of the acting career that he originally moved to New York to pursue. With him gone, and a singer not appearing on the scene, Russ left in mid 2019 because of his job pretty much taking over his life, leaving him very little free time. Several singers happened to appear and fill in for a while, but the real problem was finding a suitable drummer to take over the kit duties.

Finally, in November 2019, Angel Leyva was discovered on Band Mix – the same site where Rob found Jay – and after a short audition it was clear there here was the drummer they’d been waiting for, and he was welcomed into the band on the spot. When he was up to speed the band worked with old friend and singer for Warhead, Bill Cusanelli, to put out the Whiskey and Iron EP, featuring three songs that had been part of the stage show for some time, plus one that was brand new. After the EP was released, Bill rejoined Warhead, and the search was on for a permanent singer.

They found Christopher Kardos on Band Mix also, and after a couple of auditions he was welcomed into the group. Leyva left the group in the summer of 2022, which led to a few months of inactivity (what most of us would call a “vacation”) while they decided what to, but then providence intervened and old friends Warhead invited them to open for a show in Astoria. The only way to be ready for this show would be to ask old friend Dave Brooks to join the group for the appearance, and it was shortly decided to make it a permanent move. With that final piece of the puzzle in place, things can move on now and proceed to the recording of the long-awaited LP that they have been waiting to make. Stay tuned!

Outpost 79 thanks Phil Hilgaertner for his help in setting up this website!