Chicago , IL

     313 was founded in Jan 2002 by Steve Bennett. Steve has been a body piercer and modification artist since 1994. Steve did his first suspension (4pt. suicide) in 1997. Steve's first suspension wasn’t a pleasant one due to certain people there and the energy surrounding the event. This is when he came to the understanding that it was very important to provide someone with a great experience not just for their first suspension but every time.

     Steve's second suspension in 1998 was done at Body Art in Mesa, AZ. George Burns from High Priestess in Eugene, Or (now he also owns HTC in Phoenix, Az) George came down along with "SupaNigga" and showed the Body Art piercers Frankie and the late Josh "OSH" Rickets along with Steve (currently at Clan Tatu in Tempe, AZ) how to perform proper suspension technique. That day Steve along with Frankie and Osh threw his first hooks. Supa had roughly 28 hooks and had planned on going up 20 different ways that day.( Supa is a bad ass when it comes to suspension) although 20 positions were not reached that day many were including the first wrist only suspension, knees, calves only, and suicide just to name a few. After Supa's amazing performance the time came for Steve to go up. Steve did a 6 point suicide with 8 gauge hooks. Body Art was having their annual customer appreciation party. This time however the energy was amazing. At this point Steve was "hooked" for life. Steve then made the decision to make suspension a major part of his life.

      Now the search for gear began. He had his first rack custom made (this rack is still in use today by 313). Gear was very hard to come by at that point in time. So everything had to be custom made. The first hooks were Mustad shark hooks. Steve had them sent to a machine shop to have them debarbed and ground down to a smooth finish. The next step was to hand polish them. This was a very tedious process which took a few weeks to get them finished. Just 2 months after Steve's second suspension he finally had everything he needed top perform basic suspensions. Osh , Frankie and Steve proceeded to suspend each other along with another piercer named Head from Tempe , AZ.

   Steve continued doing suspensions. Whenever an opportunity presented itself. By 2000 Steve had been suspended five different ways and had over 50 suspensions under his belt.

    Steve moved from Arizona to Wisconsin in 2001 where he formed his first suspension team. 3-Three. That summer he worked a booth at a tattoo convention in Madison , WI . There he made quite a few contacts with others in the industry interested in suspension. One was a pro Dom by the Dom name Miss Jade from Madison , WI the other was fellow piercer and suspension enthusiast John Kid from the Piercing Lounge in Madison , WI . About 2 weeks after the convention he received a phone call from Mistress Jade. She was inquiring if Three could perform a show at Club Inferno in Madison . The date of the show was January 18th, 2002. Then about 2 hours later he received another call. This time from John Kid. John had a monthly spot at a club in Madison as well. John had a suspension crew called 13 links. They wanted Three to join up with them for one night and do a suspension event at the club. The date was January 20th, 2002. The Club? Inferno! This was such a coincidence as neither John nor Jade had known each other at the time nor knew the other was planning a suspension at the same club on the same weekend. Naturally Steve asked both parties if they all wanted to get together and do both shows as a group effort. This was the beginning of 313. (a combination of Three-3 and 13 Links). The original members of 313 were co-founders Steve Bennett and John Kid, Dustin aka Dirty (also from The Piercing Lounge Madison, WI) and Jules aka Mistress Jade. They later expanded to include manager Carissa and Marcus AKA Karcus Katharsus. This was 313 until 2005 when the Madison chapter decided that they no longer wanted to do performance shows.Steve had moved to Chicago in late 2003 early 2004 and the stress of travel and trying to practice for shows took its toll on 313. This was the end of 313 Madison chapter.

   Steve continued 313 by turning Chicago into the Suspension capitol of the Midwest . Everyone in Chicago  had been told and was under the impression that suspension was illegal here. There were very few people doing suspensions in Chicago at that time. Steve changed this. After much research and legal advice from Steve's business lawyer he was informed that there were no laws against suspension on the books in neither Chicago nor Illinois as a state. This was a green light for Steve to make  Chicago 313's new home and to make 313 into the largest most active suspension team in the Midwest .

   Steve recruited a few new members and did quite allot of private shows in Chicago while still performing in WI as well as a few other states. 313 got to suspend quite a few suspension virgins most of whom joined 313 or are now involved in one way or another in the Chicago suspension underground.

   313 recruited a number of people and turned into a collective of piercers, tattoo artist, dominatrix's, and others that shared a love for suspension. 313 is now 30 plus members strong and Steve has now suspended 145 times himself and has over 500 suspensions he has done for others under his belt.

313 have four different membership types.

   Senior Members which consist of members that have been with the team three years or have at least ten suspensions with the team under their belt. These members are Miss Ammunition, Brenda Lynn Smedge and Brittany Owens.

   Core Members These are the heart of 313. Core members are the second most active members other then the senior members.  As with the senior members core members make up the performance team (along with board, and senior members) To name a few there is Caleb Shaw ( Chi Town, IL), Anne Marie (Kalamazoo, MI), Joel aka Smit (Bridgeview, WI), Joel (Madison, WI), Claire (Madison, WI), Paul (Madison, WI), Keith Vallow (Chi Town, IL), along with all the board members and senior members.

   Group Members This is for anyone that has ever been suspended by 313. 313 allow anyone they suspend to apply for membership. All members are voted in by the existing team. 313 have a group membership of about 50 strong.

   Associate Members This is reserved for non suspending 313 members. Such as our sponsors, photographers, and others that share an interest in suspension or help the team out in one way or another but have yet to be suspended themselves.  We started this category for the new year of 2008. Due to a large number of people wanting to be a part of 313 but have not yet had the chance to suspend with us. Or do not want to suspend but would like to still be a part of 313 and help us out in many ways. There are allot of non suspendee's that have helped 313 become the team it is today and we felt that these companies, people and groups deserved to have a membership category with 313 as well.