Siege is an American hardcore punk band from Weymouth, Massachusetts. Formed in 1981, they were active in the Boston hardcore scene from 1984 to 1985, and reunited briefly in 1991. Guitarist Kurt Habelt and drummer Rob Williams led reformed lineups between 2016 and 2023. In its original incarnation, Siege paired extremely fast tempos with vocalist Kevin Mahoney's screeches and growls in their intense style of hardcore. Though little known at the time, the band has posthumously become revered by punk and heavy metal fans worldwide and is now regarded as one of the pioneers of the grindcore and powerviolence subgenres. Subsequent musicians have cited the group as a major influence, including the British grindcore band Napalm Death and the American powerviolence band Dropdead, whose band name was the title of Siege's six-song demo tape. History Formation, early years (1981–1984) Then teenagers, the members of what would become Siege began playing together in 1981 in Weymouth. Guitarist Kurt Habelt, bassist Hank McNamee, and drummer Rob Williams rehearsed together informally during this time. They completed Siege's classic lineup in 1983, recruiting vocalist and occasional saxophonist Kevin Mahoney from nearby Braintree. Self-described as a "second wave" punk band, they cited hardcore punk and new wave of British heavy metal bands, as well as the desire to play faster than their predecessors, as formative influences on their sound. Siege's first official show was at a Battle of the Bands in early 1984 at Weymouth North High School. They were disqualified for obscenities and McNamee's smashing of his bass onstage. Radiobeat sessions, breakup (1984–1985) Siege recorded a six-song demo tape at Radiobeat Records in Kenmore Square on February 6, 1984. The demo was produced by Lou Giordano, the producer of records by Hüsker Dü, Negative FX, SS Decontrol, Goo Goo Dolls, and many others. It would later be extensively bootlegged. In October 1984 the band recorded three more songs at Radiobeat with Giordano for Pushead's classic 1985 hardcore compilation Cleanse the Bacteria. Those 3 songs were Siege's only official original release. Giordano later recalled those sessions: The way our studio operated was that anything that comes in – there's no value judgments made about the music. We just record it. Still, one of the things that I guess was cool about being a staff engineer is that I wouldn't have sought out a band like that. I wasn't philosophically into anything that they were doing,