Dan McLintock (vocals, bass) and Scott Shad (drums) were the founding members of Inspection 12 in 1994, while still middle schoolers in Jacksonville, FL. Later joining the team were Pete Mosely (guitar, vocals) and Shad's cousin James Trimble (guitars), who finally closed Inspection's lineup in late 1997. During the following years, the band managed to appear on numerous shows, including playing on the same stage as No Use for a Name and Man Face. 1997's Inspection 12, their debut and self-titled album, was the first full-length of a series of four that the band managed to issue on their own. You're a Nation (1998) and Step Into the Fire (1999) were released before the band dissolved around the time of McLintock's high school graduation. He left town to join Christian punk act Craig's Brother in California (joining Limp for a time as well), but while on tour out west, he slipped an Inspection 12 album to NOFX's Fat Mike who liked what he heard. The 2000 self-released EP Home solidified his interest in a deal and the band (which McLintock had rejoined) ultimately signed with his Fat Wreck imprint Honest Don's Barely Legal Recordings that same year. Less than a year later, in March 2001, the Florida team suffered a major loss when drummer Scott Shad died in a car accident at age 18. However, the rest of the group still managed to record a fifth album, In Recovery, which hit record stores in May 2001; longtime friend Tim Grisnik joined on drums. The guys toured both coasts in support of the record, including dates with Whippersnapper, before Trimble decided he wanted to focus on school and departed in the spring of 2002. Inspection 12 pressed on as a trio and began work on their next disc, Ged Rad. But upon finishing it the next year, Honest Don's passed on the record, which led the guys (now back to a quartet with guitarist Matt Grondin on board) to release it independently in fall 2003. The guys then aligned with the European label Floppy Cow Records, who released Get Rad overseas and in the U.S. the following year. Inspection 12 then signed to Cali indie Takeover Records in November 2004, though activity remained sporadic as Mosely divided his time also playing with Yellowcard (and unsurprisingly concentrating moreso on that band). ~ Mario Mesquita Borges