The Felix Culpa

the Felix Culpa
Press Photo, November, 2010
Background information
Origin	Beloit, Wisconsin and Rockford, Illinois, USA
Genres	Indie rock Post-hardcore Progressive rock Experimental rock
Years active	2003–2011, 2014-present
Labels	No Sleep Records
Website	theFelixCulpa.com
Members	Marky Hladish Joel Coan Tristan Hammond Dustin Currier
Past members	Jacob Clark Justin Uppenkamp Timothy Wisniewski

The Felix Culpa is a four-piece band from the Illinois/Wisconsin border, best described as a Progressive Indie band with post-hardcore elements. They had released two full-length albums ("Commitment" and "Sever Your Roots"), an EP/DVD combo ("Thought Control"), a digital EP ("SoSo Remission") and were signed to No Sleep Records. The band has since broken up and they played their last show on December 9, 2011. On May 15, 2014, the band announced their comeback through diverse social media.

The band originally started life in the Spring of 1998 as "twostepsback," formed by Timothy Wisniewski, Mark Hladish, and Joel Coan as teens. They met at a series of Youth Groups in Walworth, and Beloit Wisconsin. Mark and Timothy had a love for "good" indie/punk music. Their goal was to write thought provoking lyrics matched by music with exceptional time signatures, and arrangements. After a short time of playing together and exchanging ideas, Mark introduced Timothy to Joel Coan. "He is one of the most talented musicians in this hemisphere" Twostepsback played together for just under two years. Timothy was asked to leave the band due to irreconcilable differences. Through a series of line-up changes (including the mutual departure of 2nd vocalist Jacob Clark and bassist Justin Uppenkamp), Mark and Joel eventually added Tristan Hammond as their bassist/backing vocalist in late 2003/early 2004; Tristan had, by this time, formed a friendship with both Mark and Joel due to their bands playing shows together.

The name "The Felix Culpa" loosely translates into "the fortunate fault," "the blessed fault," "the fortunate fall," or "the happy mistake," and It refers to Adam and Eve's fall through original sin; it was taken from John Milton's Paradise Lost.

Also called 'The Black EP', this was The Felix Culpa's first recorded release. Featuring 4 songs, the third track, "Numbers", would eventually see re-release on 'Commitment' with an updated recording and mix.

The Felix Culpa's debut full-length release, Commitment (2004, Common Cloud Records), rapidly evolved them into a band with near-national distribution and attention from a rabid fan base.
Commitment's release show took place at Mad Planet (Milwaukee, WI) with Engine Down and These Arms Are Snakes, September 18, 2004.

For their second release, The Felix Culpa released THOUGHTCONTROL (2005, Common Cloud Records) - an EP/DVD combo that featured 4 new songs, a video for "A Murderer" (Commitment), a live set at the Knights of Columbus, Arlington Heights, IL, and roughly 2 hours of random tour footage.
The release show for THOUGHTCONTROL was held at the very same Knights of Columbus hall during the later half of 2005.