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The Austerity Program is an American rock band that formed in 1997 and is currently signed to Hydra Head Records. The group features two members, bassist Thad Calabrese and guitarist/vocalist Justin Foley. A drum machine is used by the two members for percussion. Though the two members collaborated together before 1997

The two group members treat The Austerity Program as more of a hobby than a full-time band. Both members devote most of their time to their separate jobs and families, and rarely spend time touring or recording.

The Austerity Program were approached by director John Miller who wanted to film a documentary about the band titled Too Big to Fail. Miller filmed the recording and production of Black Madonna, and the personal lives of the members from 2006–2008. This film has yet to be released.

The Austerity Program released the EP Backsliders and Apostates Will Burn on May 4, 2010. To promote the release, the group wrote their own press release for Hydra Head Records that humorously made it appear as if their label was upset by the The Austerity Program's choice to release an EP over a full-length album. Foley saw the opportunity to write their own press release as a way to be funny and creative, as opposed to standard press releases which he describes as "hyperbole madness." In order to make more time for recording between a job and his family, Justin Foley quit drinking for one year during the production and writing of Backsliders and Apostates Will Burn.

Musical style
The Jesus Lizard, Unsane, Jesu, Nine Inch Nails, Shellac, Steve Albini

Personnel
The Austerity Program features two members: bassist Thad Calabrese and guitarist/vocalist Justin Foley. A drum machine is used by the two members for percussion in the studio and on recordings. For live performances, the drum tracks are played from an iPod. Thad Calabrese is a teacher at New York University working on his PhD. Justin Foley is an employee at Service Employees International Union and is also a guest writer for the heavy metal blog MetalSucks. Calabrese and Foley both have wives and five children between the two.

Discography
All songs by The Austerity Program are self-produced, though additional engineers are included for recording and post-production. Their debut Terra Nova EP was recorded in the basement of a church. The Austerity Program later built their own studio out of a previously unused concrete structure located near the group's neighborhood. The studio, dubbed Kerguelen Studio, was completed in 2006 and has since been used to record Black Madonna, Backsliders and Apostates Will Burn and "Song 20 (The River)." All song titles are systematically numbered in the format "Song N." Having the songs numbered instead of named lead to some confusion as to whether the tracks were untitled. The Austerity Program claims on their website, "By this point, everyone seems to have gotten it into their heads that these songs are untitled. They're not untitled. They have the names they have for a reason."

Demos

 * November 2000 Demo (2000)
 * Practice 7-27-02 (2002)

Singles

 * "Song 20 (The River)" (2008)