故事的开始并没有什么传奇性或者惊人之处，那是20世纪90年代初期（1991）美国加利福利亚州Ukiah的四个高中小子戴维·哈瓦克（Davey Havok）、亚当·卡森（Adam Carson）、维克（Vick）和马卡斯·史托夫里斯（Markus Stopholese）在他们家乡小镇上为了打发课余那些无聊的时光而在车库里弄出些噪音来的结果，标准也是够噪够狠就行。那时候他们的效仿对象就是诸如 “黑旗”（Black Flag）、“一群死雷子”（Sick Of It All）等硬核朋克乐队，而且给自己起了个非常标准的名字：A Fire Inside，然后乐队就取了三个词的词头来表示队名，即AFI。A Fire Inside，内部火焰，他们就是把他们最初的“内部火焰”燃烧到了他们的乐队中去，压根也没想过什么成名成星，或许连他们自己也没有想到的是，这恰恰是燎原星火的第一点火星。 哥儿几个也照样分了工，主唱是哈瓦克、吉他手是史托夫里斯、贝斯手是维克，鼓手则落在了亚当·卡森身上。然后乐队的历程就和大多数朋克乐队差不多，技术平平但也搞了几场小演出，在小镇上也算有点小名气。不久，维克被吉奥夫·克莱斯格（Geoff Kresge）顶替。本来平时的课余时间就不少，哥儿几个死磕了差不多一年时间，也算是练出点技术，歌也有了那么几首像点样子的（当然现在听来是十分不成熟的），就和当时的同乡乐队“脆弱变化”（Loose Change）一起发行了一张名为《落后于时代》（Behind the Times）的7寸EP唱片。　We started in the Summer of '91 in Ukiah, CA. My friend Mark,Vick and myself wanted to start a hardcore/punk band. I could sing, Mark said that he can play guitar, and Vick could play bass. We had one problem, who was going to play drums?? Mark said that his friend Adam can play drums, and this is when AFI formed. Vick was no longer in the band after 8 months, and we got Geoff to play bass. We had Geoff and we played for a while. Then we put out a split 7 inch with another Ukiah band called Loose Change. After that, we put out a EP called Behind the Times, and then basically we played some show's around here, some at a place called the Phoenix Theatre. Nobody really cared for us though. Mark, Adam, and myself graduated from High School, and the band broke up. I moved to Berkeley to go to college at UCBerkeley, Adam went to Santa Cruz, and Mark went down to Southern California. Geoff went to New Jersey to join the band,Blanks 77. So that happened and we were broken up. Then on December 22, while everyone was home for Christmas break, and we did a reunion show at the Phoenix Theatre. We had such a great time that we determined that we must get the band back together. People came up to us and told us that we should get back together. Before that show nobody gave a fuck about us, and after that show people kept telling us that we were great. So we got back together, and everyone knew what they needed to get to the bay area; which was bascially quit school, and worry about it later. Everyone quit school and we just decided to do the band full time. We recorded a live 7" called Eddie Picnic's All Wet, which was from the reunion show at the Phoenix Theatre. We recorded a 7" called Fly in the Ointment and we put it out on Wedge Records. We did our first tour with the Swingin Utters in 94, and that was great!! We did our second tour with them too. We have been recording and touring ever since. Geoff has officially left the band, his last Bay Area appearance was at Slim's on March 25, and his last show ever was in NewYork City at the conclusion of the recent tour with Sick Of It All. After AFI's recent U.S Tour, Hunter joined the band, as the new full time bassist. They then released the new disc called Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes on Nitro Records. AFI parted ways with old guitarist Mark during the fall of 98, and got a new guitarist, Jade, who used to be in a old school hardcore band called Redemption 87. They realeased a full length entitled Black Sails in the Sunset on Nitro Records in 99.