Despair Faction
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The Despair Faction is the official fan club for American outfit AFI. Founded in April of 2002, the Despair Faction claims world-wide membership in excess of 25,000 fans.
History
In July of 2001, following the release of The Art of Drowning, the official AFI website launched a "Name the Fan Club" contest, calling upon fans to submit possible names for a future fan club. After nearly 4,000 entries, the band chose "The Despair Faction", a reference to the band's track "The Despair Factor". Nearly a year later, the official AFI website announced the fan club's opening.
Membership
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For a one time fee of $29.99, US dollars, Despair Faction members are awarded life-long membership and receive an introductory package of AFI-related merchandise. The package is comprised of one AFI t-shirt, a poster of the band, a membership card, and an AFI patch, sticker, button, and armband. This merchandise is exclusive to the Despair Faction and is delivered to members in a special shipping box adorned with the Despair Faction's signature black heart logo. The specific style of the merchandise in the membership package changes from time to time to feature new artwork and logos, most of which is designed by Alan Forbes and Linas Garsys. When the Despair Faction first began registrations, approximately one hundred new members received autographed promotional photographs of AFI with their membership packages.
The membership package is regarded by most as a secondary benefit, many Despair Faction members having joined with pre-sales for tickets to AFI shows and access to exclusive Despair Faction events in mind.[citation needed] It's customary for the Despair Faction to offer special events at which members may interact with the band when AFI is on tour. These events include sound checks where members are allowed inside the concert venue to watch AFI perform before the night's main event and meet and greets where fans are alloted usually a half hour to an hour of time to meet the band personally, collect autographs and take pictures with AFI members. Access to such events is gained through earning a spot on coveted guest lists compiled through member contests and random selections a few days before the band is scheduled to play.
Despair Faction members receive a free copy of each issue of AFI's official zine, Under the Rose. Under the Rose, or UTR for short, features AFI related content, music recommendations from the bands, and interviews with AFI's musician friends like Nick 13 of Tiger Army and Rob Aston of The Transplants.
Another point of interest for Despair Faction members is the AFI message board, where fans - Despair Faction members and non-members alike - congregate to discuss subjects pertaining to the band, from their albums to their straight edge lifestyle. Members of the Despair Faction who participate on the forums have access to more exclusive Despair Faction content, including a forum called "Ask AFI" where members may ask questions of band members.
Community
The Despair Faction makes up a large portion of AFI's fan community. Known for displaying an often extraordinary level of devotion not just to AFI but also the community of fans that follow, the Official AFI Message Board and the Despair Faction have received separate recognition for propogating a standard of community institutionalized by participants and others who've taken notice of their activities.
The Official AFI & Despair Faction Message Board has been acknowledged by such alternative rock magazines as Kerrang! and Alternative Press for its place as one of the internet's more outstanding and well-known music communities.
While the message board is where most Despair Faction members are inducted into the AFI fandom, once there, members are known to expand their experience in the AFI community to real life by participating in fan-organized meet-ups in areas like Southern California or the East Bay, or anywhere else large numbers of board and Despair Faction members are located.
Despair Faction members in particular forge friendships with other members of the community through social events organized around AFI shows, such as arriving in cities while AFI are on tour days before a show to spend extra time with fellow fans and friends, or sleeping outside venues with other fans the night before AFI plays - an event in the AFI community known in the past as "midnightXcrew". Other Despair Faction members have become infamous for following the band throughout entire tours, while others follow the band and staff off tour.....
Members are also known for having an active interest in contributing to the AFI community by creating websites to compile a symposium of information regarding AFI releases, touring, and the band's history.
Staff
The Despair Faction is run and maintained by a group of long-time AFI friends and staff members as recognizable to devout fans as the band members themselves.
Jake ("Fritch") and Gavin are identified as the Despair Faction's "core team."
Fritch, who's also AFI's merchandise salesman, handles internal affairs of the Despair Faction like organizing special contests for members, and he's credited as an editor of Under the Rose. Gavin maintains the Despair Faction website and is administrator of the AFI message board.
Running the Despair Faction, along with other functions of AFI's marketing and promotions is a collaborative effort among AFI and their longtime friends.