Founded during the early '80s in the East Bay suburb of Walnut Creek by drummer Chris Kontos and guitarist Eric Smith (bassist Rick Strahl and singer joined later), local punk/metal act Attitude Adjustment mixed elements of hardcore and thrash metal and became a popular crossover act later in the decades, opening for a who's who metal and punk bands alike including Vio-Lence, Possessed, Death Angel, Dr. Know, Suicidal Tendencies, Corrosion of Conformity, D.R.I., Discharge, The Exploited and Operation Ivy among others. The group's distinctive logo (featuring the silhouette of a soldier against a two-fingered peace sign taken from the movie poster for Johnny Got His Gun) could be seen on patches sewn to denim vests worn by gutter punks and stickers plastered across the Bay Area.

The outfit released its debut album American Paranoia in 1986 on Pusmort Records, but the band's line-up proved as volatile as the music with Attitude Adjustment imploding shortly before its release. The group would soon reform, going on to record an EP and second full length as well as touring the West Coast through the early 1990s with an ever revolving line-up of players prior to calling it quits once again. Kontos would become a respected metal and punk journeyman during the following decade, playing with such groups as Verbal Abuse, Machine Head, Death Angel and Testament.

Interest stirred by a MySpace page set up by a Croatian fan led to another reformation in 2007 with . Attitude Adjustment has performed to the acclaim of punk fans here and abroad since reuniting as the band played regular local shows and toured Europe for the first time. After signing to Taang Records in 2010, the band reissued its demos and complete studio recordings. Last year, the band celebrated the release of No Way Back, its first collection of fresh material since 1991 and one of the better metal albums to come out in all of 2011.

Attitude Adjustment plays a benefit for Steve 'Stiles' Chinn with SOSA, Abrupt and D--k Wolf at Eli's Mile High Club in Oakland on Sunday, Dec. 8, 6 p.m. $10