In 2002 by Jay May and Nick “Doh” Thomas met in an MSN chat-room called the Metal Militia.

One day while hanging out with friends all over the world in the Metal Militia they had the brilliant idea to start a death metal band. Vesuvius was born. From 2003 to 2004 they wrote their first album Hot Pursuit as a 2 piece band with a drum machine. Soon after, they began prospecting drummers. They jammed with several drummers including Miguel(Camazotz – ex Tazumal), and Eddy Marquez(Brother of L.A. death metal drum god Emilio Marquez). None of the drummers they jammed with would work out as a permanent member. In 2005, discouraged from the lack of talent and speed in local drummers, they went on to compose the Merciless Disease album. This album was much more grindcore than the first album, and truly was the direction Vesuvius was meant to go in. In 2006, still hunting for the right drummer, they joined forces with Mike Raya(Drums), and Joey Brown(Bass). Soon after, Doh left the band for personal reasons, and Jay took the microphone. They began writing their next volume that year. “From the Ash” was a much slower more groovy album as the new members were not fluent in the language of grindcore. In 2007 Vesuvius landed the best guitarist from the bay area thrash scene, Baron Von Mobius. Baron joined the band in the summer of 2007 to join Vesuvius on stage at their legendary Emocide festival. After tearing heads off at Emocide, Baron decided to join Jay permanently. They played several more shows as a 4 piece. At the end of 2007, Jay made the right decision to cut Raya and Brown from the band. They wanted a brutal blast-beat grind core style drummer, which was just not Raya’s style. At this point Baron convinced Jay to take up the bass and turn Vesuvius into the most brutal 3 piece in southern California. By stroke of luck at their last show with Brown and Raya, they crossed paths with Orange County drummer Tommy Guerrero, who was luckily on hiatus from his band Self Inflicted. Tommy agreed to test the waters and jam with Jay and Baron in December of 2007. The chemistry was potent and instantly apparent, Jay and Baron knew they had found their man. 2008 marks the year of the transformation of Vesuvius into the most brutal 3 piece band in Southern California. They are currently writing the 4th(But to them the 1st) true Vesuvius album, the way Jay and Doh envisioned it back in 2003. Vesuvius is now one of the fastest, most technical 3 piece bands Los Angeles has ever seen, jamming with legends like Gravehill, Crematorium, Coffin Texts, Infamy, Demolition, and Letum Ascensus. The year 2008 will be marked as the year Vesuvius erupted. Come see one of the shows and be properly CRUSHED.