Legendary UK d-beat/hc band Discharge, hardcore royalty at the time, performing at Olympic Auditorium, LA, Dec. 9th, 1983, in epic shots by Alison BraunĀ (check out the link for more of her brilliant photos and her bookĀ āIN THE PIT ~ Ā Photography by Alison Braun 1981-1990ā³)
āAt first, Discharge didnāt stand out from the legions of punk bands that sprang up in the wake of the Sex Pistolsā incendiary 1977 debut (ā¦) The first wave of punk burnt out quicklyā¦
Abandoning its Pistols-worship, Discharge began forging its own path. In the process, the band helped kick off punkās second wave. Dischargeās revamped version of punk bore little resemblance to anything that had come before. It was faster, harsher, and often almost entirely lacking in melody. The riffs were generally three-chord affairs, but they were played at warp speed, accompanied by a rumbling bass and a merciless, galloping drumbeat.
Soon, Discharge was topping the UKās independent charts and making waves across the globe. Even reviewers who hated the music couldnāt help but admire the bandās uncompromising attack. āI certainly never wish to listen to this record again when Iāve completed this review,ā a critic wrote in Sounds magazine. āAnd yet Discharge are the very best of their kind. Their energy, as we used to say in ā77, is amazing.āĀ
A short video shot in Toronto in 1983 captures the bandās live show in its heyday (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSf9PMLcaqM) . Cal, sporting a soaped-up mohawk, stalks the stage like an apex predator, swinging the microphone and hanging over the stageās edge to bait the crowd. His neck veins bulge as he screams. Pooch, the guitarist, and Rainy, the bassist, stand stock-still to either side of Cal, spike-haired golems, while the strobes flash behind them. Garry anchors the attack, pounding out a racing, relentless drumbeat. The camera cuts frequently to the crowd, which in its writhing resembles a human storm pattern.
At this point in its career, Discharge was hardcore royalty, the keeper of punkās true flame. It was a dangerous place to beā¦ā
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