Vic Bondi is a singer/songwriter and one of the founding members of political Chicago punk band Articles of Faith. He went on to form Alloy, and Jones Very after AoF's demise. At the time of AoF's original breakup Bondi was working as a history instructor at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Bondi's subsequent day jobs included working on Microsoft's Encarta as well as other projects in educational and media software. After a hiatus in the late 90s, Bondi resurfaced with new bands, Report Suspicious Activity and Dead Ending. He was featured in the documentaries American Hardcore and You Weren't There.
Musical career
Early life
Bondi is the son of a U.S. Navy captain and his family moved frequently when he was young: by his own count, he moved to new homes twenty-two times before the age of eighteen. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1985 and earned a PhD in history at Boston University in 1992.
Articles of Faith
Bondi founded Articles of Faith in 1981. Originally called Direct Drive, the band changed its name and began to play thrash and hardcore after Bondi saw the Bad Brains at the 930 club in Washington, D.C. in 1981. Combining thrash, reggae, and noise, the group was notable for its political lyrics, three-guitar attack, and sponsorship of the Chicago scene. AoF released two EPs and two LPs (Give Thanks and In This Life, both produced by Bob Mould, and toured North America several times from 1983-1985. Bondi had already left Chicago by the time AoF disbanded in 1985.
Other projects
Bondi was also the lead singer and guitarist of Jones Very and Alloy and later fronted Report Suspicious Activity which also featured J. Robbins of Channels, Jawbox, and Burning Airlines, Darren Zentek from Kerosene 454/Oswego/Channels, and Erik Denno from Kerosene 454, and released a record on Alternative Tentacles in 2005. Vic has also played with Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine in a project called Weatherman. Bondi now fronts hardcore band Dead Ending with members of Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, Noise by Numbers & The Bomb. Dead Ending have released three EPs, a single and an LP. Bondi was also a participant in Reed Mullin's Teenage Time Killers project, recording on that album and appear in the band's Los Angeles showcase in 2015. In 2016, Bondi recruited Alloy drummer Colin Sears and released a solo album, Primary. They played a number of shows on the West Coast as "Black Theory." Dead Ending also released a highly charged political single, "Ivanka Wants Her Orange Back"/"Class War" in time for the election. In 2017, Bondi resumed recording and playing with Report Suspicious Activity, and they and Dead Ending both released records that year. He also played a number of live shows, with both bands, and solo acoustic.
