Any fans ???

in 1970s Detroit, three brothers started a band that nobody wanted to sign. But it wasn't because they couldn't play. They were inventing punk music - in a city ruled by Motown and disco. Forty years later, Death is getting the love they deserve. Death is now being credited as the first black punk band





Official website:

[abandcalleddeath.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-12 22:07 by bv.

Yeah, I have that initial album on Drag City, it's great. A friend brought them out to Vancouver last year to headline a festival and said they were really good and very nice guys. Looking forward to the film.

Always love does pioneers in R&R history...but I guess they didn't realized it back then ...........as we say there is nothing new under he sun....so there might be some other bands before them who made punk music (without knowing) before them.............

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I love their first and only album.
Their fate reminds me of Sixto Rodriguez aka Sugarman.

Apparently during these years there was so much good music that we're still discovering new bands from then...

Unfortunately, Detroit was also the birthplace of the dreaded house/techno music at the end of the 80s.

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kowalski
I love their first and only album.
Their fate reminds me of Sixto Rodriguez aka Sugarman.

Apparently during these years there was so much good music that we're still discovering new bands from then...

Yeah, isn't it great, both for the artist/s and fans, that stuff like this keeps surfacing all these years later?

I saw the documentary film a few weeks ago at the Roxy Theater in San Francisco. Good stuff but I would argue against the claim they were "punk before punk"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-11 09:14 by ChrisM.

I would agree with you, Chris. I would definitely consider them high energy but that claim is mostly about piquing interest, I think. Just curious: what do you mean by "a few weeks agonizing"? Or did you just mean a few weeks ago?

Hey Andrew, these sort of things happen when using an iPad. My original post has now been corrected...

Aah, got it. So the film was worth checking out? You're the first person I know of who's actually seen it.

yup, here, i just posted a death track (politicians) in what r u lstening too right now. great band

Yeah, I would hardly call that punk, certainly less so than the Stooges who preceded them by a few years in their hometown. Unique but also of their time. It is interesting how "lost" music gets resurrected now. Thinking also of somewhat known but pretty obscure artists like Nick Drake and Shuggie Otis. A nice benefit of our technological era.

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ChrisM
I saw the documentary film a few weeks ago at the Roxy Theater in San Francisco. Good stuff but I would argue against the claim they were "punk before punk"

I agree... The Stooges. Slam dunk.

Say "A Band Called Death" I say "Chuck Schuldiner"...

Andrew, and others have yet to see the film, it's well worth checking out. I saw it as a double feature with the Big Star film, "Nothing Can Hurt Me" which was excellent...\

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noughties
Unfortunately, Detroit was also the birthplace of the dreaded house/techno music at the end of the 80s.

Ugh, the worst kind of music EVER! No imagination, no innovation, no talent. I'd rather hear almost any kind of music over House/techno including rap or deathcore.

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ChrisM
Andrew, and others have yet to see the film, it's well worth checking out. I saw it as a double feature with the Big Star film, "Nothing Can Hurt Me" which was excellent...\

Wow, what a great double bill! I'm really looking forward to the Big Star doc. as well. Was just listening to the soundtrack in the car this afternoon. I never tire of those tunes.

I know a band called Death but they sound slightly different

Was just listening to that clip Politicians In My Eyes posted above. Not punk. More like hard funk. Jazz fusion. That rhythm section reminds me a bit of the Mahavishnu Orchestra. There's a lot of finesse in that Death rhythm section, and a punk rhythm section would be going for a more raw basic attack, and also that guitar is too choppy, too staccato to be punk. They were not inventing punk music, but they were adding inventive touches to the funk and jazz fusion experiments that were going on at the time.

I've been a music-geek living within 150 miles of Detroit all of my life. I'd never heard of DEATH until recently. I saw them perform this past June. They were competent but not terribly remarkable.

THE MC5's guitarist Wayne Kramer talks about the band called Death.

Is Death really a Punk band - here's Kramer's answer:

I know a recognized figure from the original MC5 scene who told me, "Wayne Kramer could f-ck up a free lunch."

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R
I know a recognized figure from the original MC5 scene who told me, "Wayne Kramer could f-ck up a free lunch."

and this gossip means what ?

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seitan

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R
I know a recognized figure from the original MC5 scene who told me, "Wayne Kramer could f-ck up a free lunch."

and this gossip means what ?

That his waxing ecstatic over DEATH should be taken with a grain of salt.

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R

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seitan

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R
I know a recognized figure from the original MC5 scene who told me, "Wayne Kramer could f-ck up a free lunch."

and this gossip means what ?

That his waxing ecstatic over DEATH should be taken with a grain of salt.

Why ?

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seitan

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R

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seitan

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R
I know a recognized figure from the original MC5 scene who told me, "Wayne Kramer could f-ck up a free lunch."

and this gossip means what ?

That his waxing ecstatic over DEATH should be taken with a grain of salt.

Why ?

Because, he said so.

hi -- very cool to know about - love the Wayne Kramer clip! bummer they weren't able to connect with the white kids back then.

(hey, would you mind adding "OT" on posts that don't have to do with the Stones?)

thanks
swiss

So Detroit Death were the fathers of the Bad Brains?

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swiss
hi -- very cool to know about - love the Wayne Kramer clip! bummer they weren't able to connect with the white kids back then.

(hey, would you mind adding "OT" on posts that don't have to do with the Stones?)

thanks
swiss

Oh, sorry - I didnt realize " OT" - ok, from now on I will keep that in mind.
just happy to spread the word about Death - cool band.

Having met mr. Kramer once - I gotta say that he seemed like nice guy and true gentleman.

yeah i wouldnt call death 'punk', but punk was a broad church leaving aside the inevitable arguments about was is/isnt 'punk'.

you might as well argue that Sparks were a early punk band, their two hits certainly fitted what followed & they were, like hendrix, a band who had to come to the uk to be understood. there was quite a few pre-punk-bands mid-70's doing something 'garage-y' & trashy or odd and raucus i suppose.