Crucifix

Crucifix is a hardcore punk band from Berkeley, California that was active between 1980 and 1984. The group stood out in the San Francisco punk community for their D-beat style and their openly anarchist lyrics and imagery. Fronted by Cambodian-born singer Sothira Pheng, they left behind a short but lasting body of work, including the widely praised album Dehumanization, before disbanding after only four years together.

How The Band Got Started

The band formed from the breakup of Subsidized Mess, a small Berkeley outfit that included Christopher Douglas, Matt Borruso, and Sothira Pheng. When they reshaped into Crucifix, Pheng shifted from bass to vocals, Douglas moved to drums, and Borruso stayed on guitar. Bryce Kanights stepped in to play bass. This lineup recorded the group’s self-titled five-song EP, released in 1981 on Universal Records.

Kanights departed the following year. Jaycee Frances Schmith was added on guitar, and Borruso moved over to bass. With this lineup, Crucifix released the three-song 7-inch Nineteen Eighty-Four on their own Freak Records label in 1982. Schmith later exited, replaced by Jake Smith, and that lineup recorded the band’s only full-length, Dehumanization, in 1983 on Crass Records’ Corpus Christi imprint. The record became their most recognized release, often cited as a central work of American political punk. Smith left after the album and was replaced by Drew Bernstein, who played guitar for the group’s final run of tours.

Key Releases and Career Growth

Dehumanization was released in 1983 and quickly became the defining statement of Crucifix. The album’s sharp political stance and relentless sound earned recognition within both anarcho-punk and hardcore circles. Its reputation has endured as one of the clearest examples of politically charged American hardcore from the early 1980s.

Following the album, Crucifix toured across the United States, Canada, and Europe. These shows helped spread their reputation beyond the Bay Area, but the band dissolved on July 13, 1984. More than a decade later, Kustomized Records released a posthumous compilation titled Exhibit A in 1997, collecting singles and live tracks. Dehumanization has also remained in circulation, reissued on CD by Southern Records in 1995 and later reissued on LP, CD, and streaming by Kustomized in 2021.

Post-Crucifix Projects

Matt Borruso and Christopher Douglas, credited as Christopher Faith, created an industrial project called Loudspeaker. They released a 12-inch single on Flux of Pink Indians’ One Little Indian label in the UK before moving to New York and reworking the project into a noise rock band. Loudspeaker involved musicians from Pussy Galore, Boss Hog, Chrome Cranks, Circle X, and others, releasing a series of records between 1990 and 1996 through Sympathy for the Record Industry and other outlets.

Sothira Pheng returned to bass while continuing on vocals in the San Francisco punk and hard rock trio Proudflesh, joined by former Crucifix guitarist Jaycee Frances Schmith. Proudflesh released the three-song Power Broker EP in 1988, later collected on The Rise and Fall compilation with Crucifix’s early material. In 2006, Proudflesh issued a self-titled full-length CD on Wired Gnome Records.

Impact

The music of Crucifix continued to resonate well beyond their active years. “Annihilation,” the opening track from Dehumanization, has been reinterpreted and sampled by a range of artists. Sepultura included a cover as a bonus track on their 2001 album Nation. A Perfect Circle recorded the song for their 2004 release eMOTIVe. The electronic duo Orbital sampled its vocals in their track “Choice.” These later uses show how a single Crucifix song carried into different styles and generations of music.

Members

• Sothira Pheng – vocals
• Jaycee Frances Schmith – guitar
• Bryce Kanights – bass (self-titled EP)
• Matt Borruso – bass
• Christopher Douglas – drums
• Drew Bernstein – guitar
• Jake Smith – guitar

Discography

• Crucifix (12″ EP, Universal Records, 1981)
• Nineteen Eighty-Four (7″ single, Freak Records, 1982)
• Dehumanization (Corpus Christi Records, 1983; reissued by Southern Records 1995; Kustomized Records 2021)
• Exhibit A (compilation, Kustomized Records, 1997)