‘It’s protopunk’ said a young guy,… I said, it’s rock’ n’ roll!’ This is what I tweeted after Death’s performance at Amoeba on Thursday night, and the band made it a favorite, so I guess I was on the right track! It’s true that they had repeated ‘rock’ n’ roll’ several times during their set, as if it was their personal and essential message.
Amoeba was once again packed to the roof to see these pioneers of punk rock, and the word punk is there because they have been credited for being one of the first black punk rock bands and there effectively was a rebellious side in their brand of rock’ n’ roll. With their dreadlocks hairstyle, they looked like they were about to play some reggae music, but instead started with a strong and dangerous bass line, hard-hitting notes, and songs varying from bluesy rock to a more aggressive style,… of course, Bad Brains came to mind, but this was obviously different. Soon, unexpected sonic ideas showed up, some frenetic stop-and-start with hard pounding heavy-rock notes alternating with mellower melodies, and it was as if they wanted to free themselves from anything already existing while looking for something else.
Death is a strange and bold name for a band, but David Hackney, who formed the band with his 2 brothers when they were teenagers in Detroit during the 70s, once explained the moniker by just saying ‘Because death is real’. Yes, we are talking about the mid 70s and these three black guys were making ‘white boy music’ at a time and in a place dominated by black R&B and soul. So for this only reason they were the first punks.
Their music is currently reissued and a documentary called ‘A Band Called Death’, has been screened at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin this year, and has already started a theatrical run in Los Angeles at Cinefamily on Fairfax; Death is finally receiving a well-deserved recognition. Back in the 70s, they turned down a major label record contract, because they were asked to pick a more friendly name, and then disbanded in 77 before reaching any stardom level. One thing is sure, the hundreds of people that had rushed to Amoeba on Thursday night knew what the deal was, and the crowd showed its enthusiasm all set long, cheering up and forming a long line for the signing of ‘For the Whole World to See’ after the show. ‘I drove for three hours’ I heard a guy saying to another one when it was over, and he was wearing a ‘Death’ t-shirt of course.
‘If I could play chords like [the Who’s] Peter Townshend and play lead like Jimi Hendrix, that would be the ideal guitar player’, declares guitarist David Hackney in the movie. And I now see what he was talking about! But the Beatles also made also a brief apparition during a song, with some line from ‘Got to Get You Into My Life’ stuck between some hard grinding Stooges-y material, as if Death wanted to be the curious missing link between these musical opposites.
