Guitarist and composer Thorpe began his musical career as a teenager in Honolulu, Hawaii. Thorpe had set out to start forming the band in the San Francisco Bay Area during the summer of 1979. Other Bay Area-based bands like Exodus, Anvil Chorus, Metallica(Metallica was originally from L.A, but may be considered by many to be a Bay Area band - they moved to the Bay to play with Cliff Burton), and Death Angel were also starting out during that era. These bands were playing the same local venues and establishing the Bay Area thrash metal scene—which in a few years would become very popular worldwide.