A Band Called Death

Finally got around to watching this documentary about proto-punkers Death from Detroit. I had never heard of them before, and though they existed in the mid 70s, really no one in the world had heard of them until the late 2000s.

The band was three African-American brothers (Bobby, David, and Dannis Hackney), that made loud, fast, and angry music, before the Ramones, the Clash, and the Sex Pistols popularized the sound. Death was inspired by the Who and Alice Cooper, yet went faster, harder, and with more attitude. After no support in Detroit, the band moved to Vermont, still finding resistance and no audience.

Yet, through a string of bizarrely random circumstances, primarily Robert Manis (of Moniker Records) buying their single for $800 on EBay and plugging them to Drag City to reissue their material, the band has finally found their audience. The documentary is full of great memorabilia from the band and is quite touching. Only two of the brothers are still alive (as well as a fourth brother that wasn't in the band), and they are still so full of life and love, and certainly with a new found appreciation for their new found audience.

The only thing that was missing from the documentary was their thoughts on the punk scene that followed them (and was ignorant of them). Firstly, there's no mention of fellow Detroit noise makers MC5 and the Stooges and if they had an influence on the band at all. Likewise, there's no mention of their opinions of the Ramones and all these NYC and London bands with a similar sound getting record deals. The only meaning I can surmise about this absence is that they just weren't concerned with any of it. Two of the members formed a reggae band in the 90s. They started families, which they said was the most important things in their lives. They were all very religious as well, not a hot seller in the punk scene (one of the few reviews of the band wrote the headline “Rock ‘n’ Roll Please, and Hold the Religion”).

In the documentary, the brothers are super humble, and never bitter. It's amazing that they made such powerful music, visionary as it was, left to the obscurity of a few 45" bins for decades. I had the same thought as Henry Rollins did in the doc: this is why we go to record stores and take chances on things we've never heard of before. I know I've discovered more amazing music by taking chances on obscure records than I have from superflous PR emails that avalanche my email inbox every day. 

Next chance I get, I'm picking up this record. In the meantime, here it is on Youtube:




And look for Rough Francis, a band featuring the three sons of bassist Bobby Hackney, who make original music as well as pay tribute to Death at every show.