Yeah, this one again . . . Sadly

None of any kind for any reason...

Tools of DEATH.



FUCK GUNS.

Mario Cuomo R.I.P.

The Resurrection of a Band Called DEATH

I mentioned DEATH here on the blog once before, here's a great bit from Dangerous Minds

 

Imagine it’s 1975 and you’re a young Black man obsessed with the music of The Who, Alice Cooper, David Bowie and The Beatles. You form a band that plays loud, fast, rock ‘n’ roll in a city where grooving to the Motown sound of Smokey Robinson, The Temptations and Gladys Knight is more than a past time, it’s a religion. What was Detroit to make of a kid with an Afro and a jones for Frank Zappa and T. Rex?

To the distress of your bewildered friends and Christian family, imagine calling your band Death and recording songs like “Rock and Roll Victim” and “Freaking Out.” Imagine that when the opportunity for success comes knocking at your door you sweetly tell it to “fuck off,” unwilling to pay the price of changing who are in order to make money being who you are not. Imagine all of that and you’ve put yourself into the world of David Hackney and his brothers Dannis and Bobby, three young cats who together formed one of rock’s most visionary and unique rock groups.

The idea for Death leaped from David Hackney’s imagination like a wild living thing that couldn’t be suppressed. It was a beast in search of its roar. This eruption had been a long time coming. Ever since he was a kid watching The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, David knew that there was something inside him that was restless and pressing its way toward the light of day. In time, he found the tools needed to excavate and give expression to this force, this beast - they’d been there all along: guitars and drums. The Beatles had pointed the way. The Who and Hendrix provided the maps. Ziggy Stardust drove the bus.

 

David’s brothers were quick to pick up on his calling. They shared his passion for rock ‘n’ roll and had faith in their brother’s vision of a Black trio that smashed musical stereotypes and re-invented itself in the style of trailblazers like Jimi Hendrix, Arthur Lee and Sly Stone. Death’s hard-edged, politically-charged rock ‘n’ roll had more in common with Detroit rockers like Iggy Pop, The MC5 and Bob Seger than the commercial soul coming out on Berry Gordy’s multi-million dollar record label. The cost that Death paid for being provocative and original was high. A record deal from Clive Davis was offered with the stipulation that the band change its name. David was unyielding. The name meant something too deep to fuck with. Where others saw darkness, he saw light. For the young songwriter and guitarist, Death symbolized transition and re-birth. It was more than just a name, it was a point of view. And it was precious to him. No, the name would never change.

Death stuck to their guns, recorded their music and eventually disbanded. David died of lung cancer in 2000. Dannis and Bobby formed reggae bands. It appeared that Death had died. But David’s longview in which death is just a process of passing through different dimensions became prophetic when The New York Times’ Mike Rubin wrote a piece on the long lost band in 2010. What had been an underground secret was now exposed to millions of people, with an enthusiastic endorsement from none other than Jack White:

“The first time the stereo played ‘Politicians in My Eyes,’ I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. When I was told the history of the band and what year they recorded this music, it just didn’t make sense. Ahead of punk, and ahead of their time.”

There was an immediate demand for the music of Death. Bobby and Dannis started considering what they once thought might be impossible: Death’s resurrection. David would like that. With the help of their spiritual brother, Bobbie Duncan, the brothers made David’s vision come to life again. Death was reborn.

 

Mark Christopher Covino and Jeff Howlett’s film A Band Called Death brings us close into the lives of the Hackney brothers, their family and friends. It takes us to Detroit, where Death found its sound in the grind and clang of industry. And it takes us into the spirituality of the band. The offspring of a Christian minister, the brothers found in rock ‘n’ roll a way to amplify their sense of the cosmic. With the coming of the hippie scene and psychedelics, they went further into the mysteries of being and found in their music a means to celebrate the dawning of the Aquarian Age. But into the mix of flower child trippiness, Death brought a blast of apocalyptic Motor City badassness that kept the psychedelic spaceship from tipping too far into the paisley zone. Their heads may have been drifting through the music of the spheres, but their feet were firmly planted on the cracked concrete of their Detroit garage.

A Band Called Death inspires as it illuminates the path the brothers took while riding out their dream with only their passion and positive vibes to carry them through. It’s a lovely film and deservedly won the Audience Award at this year’s SXSW. Drafthouse Films will be releasing it in May.

Earlier this month, I spent a couple of hours with Death, shooting the shit and sharing war stories. I filmed the following video after seeing the band the night before. I was pumped up. The band were absolutely phenomenal live, my concerns about David’s absence were supplanted by the belief that his brothers more than ably channeled his energy.

Death lives. Feel the vibe.

 

 

BAN GUNS! NO MORE FUCKING GUNS! GET RID OF THEM ALL!

I've said it before, and i'll say it again...


MORE CITY'S HAVE OUTLAWED SKATEBOARDS THAN HAVE OUTLAWED GUNS - DISCUSS THAT WITH A STRAIGHT FACE YOU DISGUSTING GUN SUPPORTING PEOPLE - ONE LESS SPORT, SHOOTING MOTHER NATURES ANIMALS WHO CAN'T SHOOT BACK. FREEDOM TO KILL SOME ONE WITH A TOOL THAT DOES SOMETHING YOU COULD NOT DO AS EASILY OR AS QUICKLY WITHOUT IT. WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU PROVE? OTHER THAN YOU ARE AN INSECURE ASSHOLE. THERE IS NO REASON IN THIS DAY AND AGE FOR PEOPLE TO HAVE GUNS IN CIVILIAN LIFE IN THIS COUNTRY, IN FACT IN ANY TYPE OF LIFE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD IF WE EXPECT THE SPECIES TO SURVIVE. BUT GO ON, CRY 2ND AMENDMENT AND LIBERTY, FUCK YOU.

The business of guns is fucking despicable - it's a disgusting sickness people have, to need a gun, to feel so insecure, to need to shoot for sport or whatever the bullshit excuse, THERE IS NO EXCUSE, NO GOOD REASON FOR GUNS.

don't agree? go away, please.

read this article in The Atlantic:
A Land Without Guns: How Japan Has Virtually Eliminated Shooting Deaths

also Interesting:
The Geography of Gun Deaths

LET'S DO THIS PEOPLE
LET'S END THESE SENSELESS DEATHS
LET'S MAKE GUNS A PART OF OUR UGLY PAST HISTORY
LET'S TAKE THE POWER OF THE NRA & GUN LOBBY AWAY

THE TIME IS FUCKING NOW AND LONG OVER DUE.

SPEAK UP AND SPEAK OUT - RISE UP!
OPINIONS MATTER AND YOU NEED TO VOICE YOURS IF YOU WANT ANYTHING TO CHANGE.

PRAYING, CHANTING, MEDITATING, SORRY NO, NOT NOW, NOT HERE.
WE NEED A CHANGE A SERIOUS ONE.
A COUNTRY WHERE SKATEBOARDS COULD BE MADE ILLEGAL BUT GUNS ARE UNTOUCHABLE.
FUCK THAT!

Bios Urn

Spanish designer Martín Azúa created the Bios Urn. The Bios Urn turns you into a tree after you die. When your remains have been placed into the urn, it can be planted and then the seed germinates and begins to grow.

The Bios Urn project reintroduces the human being to the natural circle of life. It is the profaine ritual of regeneration and the return to nature. Bios is a mortuary urn made from biodegradable materials: coconut shell, compacted peat and cellulose.

Inside it contains the seed of a tree. Once the urn is planted, the seed germinates and begins to grow. The seed can be changed for a different type of seed or plant more adequate to the chosen planting place, if need be.

Thanks, Presurfer

Cruisin Casket for Only the Most Serious O.G.

For if you want to leave this world in style.

Cruisin Caskets is the first and only of it's kind. We are a casket fabricating company that creates custom car designs for the car lover that wants to leave this world in style. We are currently taking orders for a 1950's style Merc coffin.

The specially designed, car-shaped coffin opens as conventional coffins do, with a hinged top portion, and features the same type of upholstered interior as standard coffins. Cruisin Caskets have a fiberglass body and may come in a variety of paint colors and designs.

thanks, Presurfer

Chuck Biscuits is Alive: 1965 - ?

* So as i am about to post this, since i wrote it earlier, word out now 100% sure and maybe the 1st place on line to say this, CHUCK IS ALIVE! A friend of mine is friends with one of Chuck's best friends (Otis Link) and he has spoken to Chuck today... so it will be everywhere else in a matter of hours I hope. - But this got me thinking, why does everyone wait until someone passes away before they pay their best respects? Fuck it! I'm paying my respects to Chuck right now, one way or another.


News from earlier is was that Chuck Biscuits passed away a few days ago. Chuck was is one of my favorite drummers of all time. The era when he played with Black Flag I believe was their absolute peak, and it was for less than a year. I got some classic photos from that time since i was so inspired. There were gigs where i would sit right between his kit and Greg's amp, just 'cause i could, to take it all in to the extreme. Later I also photographed Chuck while he was in the Circle Jerks. Even further down the line, when Rick Rubin called me, said they were looking for a drummer for Danzig, the first name that came out of my mouth was Biscuits, my advice was heeded and they all had a great infamous run together.

The first time I ever saw Chuck he was playing in D.O.A. probably one of the most important bands ever to come out of Canada and certainly one of the most important punk bands from that early 80's era. He was only around 15 years old when I saw him playing that 1st time in 1980. Starting at such a young age travelling on underground punk tours, breaking ground like no one else at the time, may have explained his more relaxed and prone to goofy demeanor that followed him for as long as i knew him. That said, I never saw anyone hit the drums as hard or with as big sticks as he used, he also sat up really high on his kit, unlike anyone i have ever seen, practically standing, one would imagine just so he could hit the skins with that much more force. He was truly incredible.

From what i hear, "he died Saturday after a prolonged battle with throat cancer. He was 44." {NOT TRUE}

Here are a few favorite rare photos of mine of him, and only a few of the many bands he was in.

Black Flag c. 1982 (Biscuits, 2nd from right)

Circle Jerks c. 1983 (Biscuits, center back hiding behind his jacket lapel)

Danzig c. 1987 (Biscuits, the only blond)

-as usual, click on the images to see them large.