Influenced by the U.K. Oi! movement, Long Island, New York punk outfit the Templars delivered raucous anthems similar to Cock Sparrer and Reducers SF with an old-school ethos that nodded to pioneering U.K. punk bands like the Clash, Sham 69, the Sex Pistols, the Damned, and the Buzzcocks. The Templars formed in 1990 when singer/guitarist Carl Fritscher got together with drummer Phil Rigaud. At first, Fritscher and Rigaud jammed together as a duo. It wasn't until 1992 that they added their first bassist to become a trio, and started playing live gigs. That year, the Templars recorded a cassette titled Pure Brickwall Oi!, and they soon gained a reputation for being a very British-sounding American band. In 1993, the Templars caught the attention of Sonic Aggression (a small label based in New England) and recorded a rare EP titled The Poor Knights of Acre; only about 600 copies were pressed, and the EP went out of print when Sonic Aggression folded. Longtime bassist Perry Hardy joined the fold in 1994. After that, the Templars went on to record for a variety of small independent labels, including TKO, New Blood, Dim, and Vulture Rock. In 1999, the Templars recorded the full-length The Horns of Hattin for the Atlanta-based GMM Records, which also released a Templars retrospective titled Reconquista: 1994-1998. After issuing their fifth LP, Outremer, in 2005, the band went on an extended hiatus for over a decade. They returned in 2017 with Deus Vult (Pirates Press Records). ~ Alex Henderson & Neil Z. Yeung