American Nightmare

A Band that means the world to me and many others i'm sure, American Nightmare (also known as: Give Up The Ghost, American Nothing, & AN during their time as a band) was a highly influential hardcore punk band from Boston, Massachusetts that formed in 1998. The Band was formed by Tim Cossar and Wesley Eisold (who was then a roadie for Ten Yard Fight) when they met up with Azy Relph and Jesse Van Diest. They recorded a demo tape in 1999 on a jam box, followed by their debut release, a self-titled 7" on Bridge 9 Records under their original name American Nightmare in 2000. After extensive touring and line-up changes, the band recorded their second release 7" The Sun Isn't Getting Any Brighter. This was later combined with their self-titled 7" & some live tracks to form the Year One release. Their 1st full-length, Background Music, was recorded for Equal Vision Records in 2001 and was released to much acclaim. In 2003, the band was forced to change their name due to a legal battle with a similarly named band from Philadelphia (who suck ass). The band then changed their name briefly to the just the initials "A.N." then to American Nothing for a brief period. After the other American Nightmare threatened to press charges again, they changed their name to Give Up the Ghost (which was intended to be the name of their second album). After the name change they released an EP called Love American, A 2nd Demo (dubbed Love American Demos) & Their second full length, We're Down Til We're Underground which was released on Equal Vision Records. It displayed the band experimenting with their sound, with longer songs that didn't follow the typical hardcore songwriting formula they had adhered to in their previous releases. The band broke up suddenly in June 2004, a day after announcing the cancellation of a European tour. Also during their time as a band they were on a Black Flag tribute called Black on Black with a cover of the song Depression & also made a limited 3 Song Preview Tape. Members were in or went on to be in Some Girls, Panic, XO Skeletons, Ye Olde Maids, Head Automatica, Bars, Cold Cave, The Hope Conspiracy, Barfight, Ten Yard Fight, My Chemical Romance, Dead Country, Death By Stereo, The Suicide File, Chrome Jesus, Intention, Taylor Bow, Count Me Out, Cloak/Dagger & A Static Lullaby.

AN was at times:
Wes Eisold - vocals
Tim Cossar - guitar
Brian Masek - guitar
Jarvis "Josh" Holden - bass
Alex Garcia-Rivera - drums
Jesse "Standhard" Gustafson - bass
Matt Woods - bass
Jarrod Alexander - drums
Jesse Van Diest - drums
Azy Relph - guitar
Zachary Wilson - bass
Frank Iero - guitar
Nate Helm - drums
Colin Kimble - drums
Mike - drums





4 song Demo
Download


Year One (includes both EP 7"s, cover songs & live in london)
Download


Background Music LP
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Live At The Fireside Bowl 2001
Download

Love American Demos 2002-2003 (includes the black flag cover)
Download


Love American EP
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We're Down Til We're Underground LP
Download


the only thing missing from this collection is the 3 song preview tape which
i believe the 3 songs wern't different recordings from ones on the Background Music LP*