No Better Time For a Botch Reunion?

As much as I'd love to see hardcore legends Botch reunite, I'm afraid their window for reuniting may be closing. What do you think?


WHO?
By the mid-90s, hardcore became very formulaic. Either you followed this formula, or you could fuck off -- or at least this was the sentiment among many hardcore communities. Just before the turn of the century, a handful of bands decided it was time to break the mold and try something fresh. Botch was among a group of bands like Coalesce, Refused, Snapcase, Jesuit, Ink & Dagger and Dillinger Escape Plan who decided to do things their own way and not care who liked it -- if anyone.

WHY DID THEY BREAK UP?
In 1999, Botch released a BEAST of an album titled We Are the Romans. Many have tried to match or even expand upon what they did here, but none have even scratched the surface. WAtR was such a fantastic album, even Botch had trouble living up to its legacy. While the group struggled to write a follow-up, guitarist  Dave Knudson started spending more time in his indie rock side project Minus the Bear. Not to mention the fighting the tension between the band members during their final years.

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES THEY'LL REFORM?
Minimal. I've read dozens of interviews over the years from members of Botch about how they feel about a reunion. Every member seems to be on a different page and every member seems to change his opinion over time. Most of the interviews end with some sort of a "never say never" kind of thing, though.

WHY SHOULD THEY REFORM NOW?
Botch are currently at the height of their posthumous acclaim. It has officially been a decade since their final show in Seattle. Crazed fans have gone apeshit over Botch vinyl represses that have been long out of print. Interviewers also STILL refer to them as former Botch members (unlike Dave Grohl who is now rarely referred to as a former Nirvana member). It should really say something that people are still buzzing about this band after 10 years.

Many of the experimental hardcore bands from the late 90s who broke up ages ago have also recently reformed. At the Drive-In and Refused started playing shows earlier this year, Jesuit played a few shows last year as a last hurrah, Ink & Dagger played some shows with Geoff Rickly of Thursday fame, Snapcase has been touring since 2010, Rorschach keeps popping up for a show here and there, screamo bands Circle Takes the Square and pg.99 reformed and the former actually recorded new music. The Dillinger Escape Plan and Converge, who were part of the experimental scene but didn't break up, are at the top of their game right now.

Clearly there's a demand for this style of music and this scene, but it likely won't last forever. I'm going to go ahead and guess it'll last maybe another two years. Maximum.

If not for the money (which Botch members don't really seem interested in), hopefully they'll see that they could finally play their masterpiece WAtR in front of an audience of people who have discovered the album since their break up and genuinely appreciate it. They'd probably draw in at least four times the crowd they drew for any show they performed during their existence. If I were them, I'd find that extremely flattering and probably a little nostalgic