“A Band Called Death”: New Life for Forgotten Music

Some bands hit the music scene at precisely the right time.  Others, behind the times.  Then there are those rare musicians who bring a sound far ahead of their time.  Death is one of these groups.

Three young black men.  Blood brothers.  Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Each a budding musician, they form a trio together in the early 1970s.  Guitar, bass, and drums.  At first, they consider performing the funk rock of the era; Curtis Mayfield, Ohio Players, Kool and the Gang, et al.  Then the oldest brother, singer/songwriter and guitarist David, proposes an entirely different sound: punk. Good punk.

Only Punk Rock wasn’t even a thing at the time.  The Ramones, The Damned, and Sex Pistols had yet to launch an all-out assault of snarling into the collective face of the contemporary music scene. Still, this didn’t stop one of rock’s most unusual, and unlikely, groups from hurtling full force into an uphill battle to be recognized.  The brothers called themselves “Death.”  Their groundbreaking birth, breakup, and resurgence are brought brilliantly to light in the riveting documentary, A Band Called Death.

With clear anguish and regret, surviving siblings and band mates Bobby (bass) and Dannis Hackney (drums) recount the soul-sapping struggle to find a record label some half-century ago.

What’s in a name?  A hell of a lot, it turned out.  No one wanted to sign artists referring to themselves as “Death.”  A whole host of record execs, including Arista kingpin Clive Davis, liked what they were hearing.  But with the morbid moniker, nobody believed the act would sell.

Still, David doggedly refused to change the name with which he had christened his group.  He was profoundly devastated by the tragic death of his Baptist minister father, Earl, in a traffic accident.  David believed wholeheartedly that his band’s name represented a spiritual connection with his departed dad.

Frustrated and broke, Death slowly dissolved. Flash forward three decades.  By way of a “truth is WAY stranger than fiction” confluence of internet music collectors and Bobby’s sons, the original master tapes of Death’s limited catalog are uncovered in the family home’s attic.  A recording company formally releases the songs.

Their inspiration reignited, Bobby and Dannis reunite.  David, a heavy smoker and drinker, had succumbed to lung cancer years before. The duo hit the road with virtuoso axman Bobbie Duncan absolutely shredding it on electric guitar.  At last, Death had found the audience the band had fought so valiantly to reach in its original incarnation.

Throughout the film, Bobby and Dannis each reinforce how fiercely David believed in his music.  And that one day it would be heard by people far beyond his neighborhood as it blasted out of an upstairs bedroom window.  And so it came to be.

In the end, through much laughter, tears, and high-decibel onslaughts, we arrive at a life lesson for the ages: Death claims us all, but a strong family bond will never die.

A Band Called Death is available on YouTube.

-John Smistad

Photo: Death in the 1970s (publicity photos/public domain)