In 1991, Davey Havok, Mark Stopholese, and Vic Chalker formed a band called AFI. The three were still in high school, and none played an instrument, so Stopholese learned the guitar and Chalker learned the bass, while Havok sang. While the three were learning their chosen instruments, Adam Carson, a drummer, joined the band. But, before the band recorded their first album, Dork, Chalker was replaced by Geoff Kresge. Their first recording was done with a now defunct group, Loose Change, but their guitarist, Jade Puget, would go on to become part of the AFI group. When the band members graduated high school and headed off to college, they disbanded AFI since they were all headed to different colleges. The group reunited to play a live show, and then all decided to drop out of college and play full time with AFI. During this time, the group released several EP's independently, such as Behind the Times, This is Berkeley, Bombing the Bay, and Fly in the Ointment. But, in 1996, AFI released their second album, Very Proud of Ya, with Nitro Records. Their songs "Cruise Control" and "Love Is A many Splendored Thing" were featured in the independent film Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore, and their singer, Davey Havok, even had a small part in the movie. The band went on tour for Very Proud of Ya, but during this tour, Kresge decided to leave the band and was replaced by Hunter Burgan for the remaining tour dates. Burgan stayed with the band as they recorded Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes in 1997 and was then invited to become their full-time bass player. Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes was the first album to include all four of the current band members, as Jade Puget sang background vocals on the album.
In 1998, Stopholese decided to leave the band and Puget became the lead guitar player. From 1998 to 2000, the band recorded four albums: A Fire Inside, Black Sails in the Sunset, All Hallows, and The Art of Drowning. These albums introduced the AFI fan base to a new, darker sound, which has helped to classify the band as "gothic punk". One of their songs from the All Hallows EP, "Totalimmortal", was actually covered by The Offspring for the film Me, Myself, and Irene. Since the song received a good amount of air time, more music fans discovered AFI and prompted the use of another AFI song, "The Boy Who Destroyed The World", on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 video game.
The band started to enjoy more success as more fans found their music. In 2002, AFI left Nitro Records for Dreamworks Records and released their album Sing the Sorrow, which included the track "Girl's Not Grey". The video for "Girl's Not Grey" was nominated for, and won, the MTV2 category award at the MTV Video Music Awards. Then, in 2006, the band released Decemberunderground on Interscope Records and the first single that was released from the album, "Miss Murder" hit #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock charts. This release reflects the ever changing and growing fan base that AFI has enjoyed since their beginnings and has been certified a Gold album by the RIAA. During 2006, AFI also released their very first DVD, I Heard a Voice, which shows live performances from California.
Their success landed them on Saturday Night Live in January of 2007, where they performed "Miss Murder" and "Love Like Winter". In July of 2007, AFI performed at the American Live Earth concert, which prompted them to release a live album called I Heard A Voice. This live performance was released on iTunes in November of 2007, and included great singles like "Miss Murder" and "Girl's Not Grey". Even though they released a third song from the Decemberunderground album, the band has confirmed that there will not be a video for it and that they will not be touring during the summer either. Havok has posted on message boards that the band has already started working on material for their next album. The next album will include unreleased songs from Decemberunderground and Sing the Sorrow, along with some brand new material that fans will enjoy. The re-release of songs from previous albums has also given them the opportunity to provide material for the XBox 360 version of Guitar Hero III, Carcinogen Crush. The band has already started on their recording of their latest album at the Art of Ears studio where they recorded most of their earliest materials.