United mutation
| United mutation | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| origin | Fairfax , USA |
| Genre (s) | Hardcore punk |
| founding | 1981 |
| resolution | 1988 |
| Founding members | |
singing |
John Hardin (until 1982) |
guitar |
John Fox |
bass |
Jay Fox |
Drums |
Sean Sumner (until 1982) |
| former members | |
singing |
Mike Brown (1982-1988) |
Drums |
Michael Salkind (1982) |
Drums |
Bill Fox (1982-1984) |
Drums |
Steve Kirkland (1984-1988) |
United Mutation was a 1980s hardcore band from Fairfax , Washington Metropolitan Area , that was part of the first wave of DC hardcore .
history
In the spring of 1981 a school band called "Dark Self Image" was founded in Fairfax. After some relocation-related changes, a line-up of John Harding, the brothers John and Jay Fox and Sean Sumner was found, who played their first concert at Christmas 1981. In July 1982 the band recorded a first demo at the Inner Ear Studios in Arlington . In the same year there were further line-up changes, culminating in a change of name to United Mutation in October 1982; Mike Brown was the band's lead singer at the time, and Michael Salkind from the local band The Aborted was the drummer. With this line-up, another demo was recorded, which was produced by Bert Queiroz ( Untouchables ). With four of the recorded tracks, the band was represented on the sampler Mixed Nuts Don't Crack , which presented six bands from the still young Washington hardcore scene. At the end of 1982 Salkind switched to No Trend ; the new drummer was Bill Fox, who is not related to the brothers John and Jay Fox. The line-up Brown-Fox-Fox-Fox recorded the EP Fugitive Family in 1983, for which John Fox and Lee West of the Richmond-based band Always August founded their own label called DSI Records and cooperated with Dischord Records . DSI Records is named after the band's first name and published records for the Washington hardcore scene until the mid-1990s.
In 1984 Bill Fox left the band to play with the DSI Records band Malefice, whose street punk appealed to him more musically than the more complex hardcore of United Mutation. Steve Kirkland, who was an old friend of the band, was able to be won as a replacement: He belonged to the first line-up of Dark Self Image, but had left her before the band became professional in order to join various hair-metal bands to play, whose music style promised greater popularity at the time than the hardcore rooted in the underground. As a black, Kirkland was not accepted in the hair metal scene, so he returned to his roots in 1984. In the line-up of Brown-Fox-Fox-Kirkland, the band played another demo, a track of which appeared on the sampler Bouncing Babies of the renowned label Fountain of Youth , and in 1985 released the EP Rainbow Person on their own label. At that time the band toured quite intensively and gave concerts all over the country. a. with the Butthole Surfers , the Dead Kennedys , Flipper , MDC and the Meatmen .
At the end of the 1980s, frustration spread over the violence at hardcore concerts in the band. In 1988 John Fox left the band to take care of the DSI label full time. Singer Mike Brown already played parallel to his work at United Mutation together with Bert Queiroz and Richard Moore from the Untouchables and Steve Hansgen from Minor Threat in the band Second Wind, in which he played the drummer after John Fox left United Mutation firmly took over. United Mutation broke up, and Jay Fox and Steve Kirkland formed several minor, local bands. Since United Mutation had recorded several demos, when the band broke up there was still a lot of material that had never ended up in regular distribution channels. The Hamburg label Bitzcore secured the rights to this material and in 1989 released a regular album that contained the two EPs from 1983 and 1985 as well as various unreleased studio and live recordings. The German label Lost and Found Records released two EPs in the 1990s, which contained selected titles from the demos as well as some live recordings. In the mid-1990s, Jay and John Fox and Kirkland reformed the band with guest musicians for some live performances. There was no further collaboration. In 1997 Lost and Found released another best-of album.
Bassist Jay Fox played with Anesthesia, one of the few Antarctic bands , in the 2000s .
style
United Mutation is assigned to DC Hardcore ; the band was friends with many of the Dischord bands, played concerts with them and was featured on DC hardcore samplers. During their existence they were a bit on the sidelines, because their home region was not in Washington itself and since the members of the band, in contrast to the members of many Dischord bands, did not live straight edge . The Ox-Fanzine described the band's music as "rough, gloomy stick hardcore", the Antarctic Sun saw a "channeling of anger about society in music". In a review of the EP Rainbow Person, Sputnik Music emphasizes two aspects of the band's music: It has an "inimitable" sound for the hardcore scene of the time by throwing conventions overboard and creating rambling, melodic music, while DC Hardcore in particular otherwise characterized by speed and aggression in music. On the other hand, another unique selling point is Mike Brown's “inhuman” vocals, whose “guttural roar” embodies a “primeval malice” that is unique in the scene at the time. The Vice magazine compared the music of the band indirectly with the Germs , calling United mutation as a "legend". In the virtual Washington punk archive 30 Under DC , the music of the first EP is called "Kuddelmuddel" - the band tries too hard to be extremely loud and extremely fast. With the second EP the band developed into a “wonderfully noisy” band.
The band itself names psychedelic rock bands such as the Grateful Dead or Jefferson Airplane as well as Hawkwind and Captain Beefheart as influences.
“We were doing what we knew best: fusing hardcore with acid rock. Rainbow Person was the culmination of this concept; it was all about us emulating Hawkwind as a DCHC band. "
“We did what we did best: merging hardcore and acid rock . Rainbow Person was the culmination of this concept; it was about recreating Hawkwind as a DC hardcore band. "
Discography
- 1983: Fugitive Family (EP, DSI Records / Dischord Records )
- 1985: Rainbow Person (EP, DSI)
- 1989: Freaks Out (Bitzcore)
- 1990: Insanity / Kyo Ki (EP, Lost and Found Records )
- 1991: Götterdämmerung (EP, Lost and Found)
- 1997: United Mutation (Lost and Found)
Web links
- United mutation at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Punkvinyl.com: United mutation. Retrieved August 17, 2016 .
- ↑ YouBreedLikeRats.Blogspot.de: New interview with Jay from United Mutation. Retrieved August 21, 2016 .
- ↑ Ox-Fanzine.de: United Mutation. Retrieved August 18, 2016 .
- ^ The Antarctic Sun, December 18, 2005, p. 14: Still rockin 'on the Ice. Retrieved August 20, 2016 .
- ↑ SputnikMusic.com: Rainbow person. Retrieved August 18, 2016 .
- ↑ Vice.com: Gag are America's new Hardcore Heroes. Retrieved August 19, 2016 .
- ↑ 30UnderDC.com: United Mutation - Fugitive Family 7 ". Retrieved August 19, 2016 .
- ↑ DFBPunk.com: United Mutation Interview ( Memento from March 28, 2005 in the Internet Archive )