Fifteen is a punk rock band featuring Jeff Ott from Crimpshrine, with the rest of the line-up changing from album to album. Fifteen was born out of the ashes of Bay area punk rock icons Crimpshrine back in 1988. It was singer/guitarist Jeff Ott's vision to create music that didn't just rock, but had something important to say as well. After three records on Lookout! and two on Grass and five on Sub City, Fifteen are viewed as the leaders in the political-punk music scene. They tackle such burning issues as homelessness, drug abuse, needle exchange, environmental destruction and the government's use of counterintelligence measures to violate activist's civil rights.
"Fifteen started not as a band. At first I was teaching Jack how to play guitar, and he was teaching me how to not drink. It accidentally turned into a band. We were homeless, we borrowed equipment. We put out a self-titled 7". We switched drummers. We all got hooked on speed. We put out an LP, "Swains First Bike Ride." We turned four piece and then back to three piece, losing Jack in the shuffle. We put out another LP, "Choice of a New Generation." Afterwards I kicked everybody out of the band, Jack came back. We did a couple of CDs on another label. Jack disappeared. We got sober. I found two other guys. We put out our own CD. Seven and a half years after we started, I kicked everybody out of the band, including myself. I had to deal with my 10 year stint of being homeless and 11 years of drug addiction. At the end we had some stuff left over which is on "There's No Place Like Home." We were Jack, Mikey (Monsula), Jean Jean (East Bay Mud), Mark (East Bay Mud / Fetish), Jesse (Nuisance), Nick (Steadfast), Chris (Drippy Drawers), John (Drippy Drawers / Woolly Mammoth), Lucky Dog (Crummy Musicians) and Jeff (ex-Dog Day roadie). There was plenty of politics and music and stuff, but today I think what was important was that there was a group of people who would let a homeless kid have a voice." -Jeff Ott