ON FEBRUARY 9TH, 1964 IN DETROIT EARL HACKNEY SAT DOWN HIS THREE SONS: DAVID AGE 12, DANNIS (PRONOUNCED DENNIS) AGE 10, AND BOBBY AGE 8 IN FRONT OF THE TV SET AND TOLD THEM THEY WERE WITNESSING SOMETHING SPECIAL. THE BEATLES WERE PLAYING ON THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW, AND DAVID, ENTRANCED, SAT 6” FROM THE SCREEN WIDE-EYED, WHILE THE OTHER TWO SAT EQUALLY MESMERIZED. THE VERY NEXT DAY, DAVID FOUND A GUITAR IN THE ALLEY, TOOK IT HOME, AND TAUGHT HIMSELF HOW TO PLAY.
BY 1970, THE BROTHERS HAD STARTED THEIR FIRST BAND AND BEGUN PLAYING GARAGE SHOWS. THEY PLAYED FUNK/R&B, INFLUENCED BY THE MOTOWN SOUNDS COMING OUT OF THEIR EAST DETROIT NEIGHBORHOOD. THEY PRACTICED RELENTLESSLY AND HOME RECORDED OFTEN.
IN EARLY 1973, THE BROTHERS WENT TO THE MICHIGAN PALACE AND SAW A PERFORMANCE OF IGGY AND THE STOOGES. FROM THAT DAY FORWARD DAVID MOVED THE BAND INTO THE DIRECTION OF ROCK N’ ROLL, FEELING IT WAS A BETTER FIT FOR THEM. DAVID WROTE THE MUSIC AND BOBBY THE LYRICS. THEIR SONGS BECAME MORE POLITICAL AND THE POWER TRIO SEEMED COMPLETE. THE BAND NAMED THEMSELVES DEATH.
WITH MORE GARAGE SHOWS AND A DEMO UNDER THEIR BELT, DAVID OPENED UP THE YELLOW PAGES TO RECORDING STUDIOS AND THREW A DART. THE DART LANDED ON GROOVESVILLE PRODUCTIONS, A LABEL OWNED AND OPERATED BY DON DAVIS. DAVIS, IMPRESSED WITH THE BAND, BROUGHT THE DEMO TO THE ATTENTION OF CLIVE DAVIS OF COLUMBIA RECORDS. CLIVE GAVE DEATH AN ADVANCE AND CONTRACTS WERE DRAWN TO BEGIN RECORDING A 12 SONG ALBUM. AFTER RECORDING THE FIRST 7 SONGS, CLIVE INSISTED THAT THE BAND CHANGE THEIR NAME BEFORE THE ALBUM WAS COMPLETED. DAVID AND HIS BROTHERS REFUSED, CAUSING COLUMBIA AND GROOVESVILLE TO BACK OUT OF THE DEAL.
HOWEVER, WITH THEIR RECEIVED ADVANCE, DEATH LEAKED OUT 500 COPIES OF A 45 ON THEIR OWN TRYANGLE RECORDS IN 1976 WHICH WAS DISTRIBUTED AT GARAGE SHOWS FOR FREE..
NOTHING MORE WAS HEARD OF DEATH OVER THE COMING YEARS OTHER THAN A FEW COLLECTORS WHO HAD RAVED ABOUT THEIR LEGENDARY 45. IN 2002, AN OBSCURE PUNK COMPILATION TITLED “NO ONE LEFT TO BLAME” FEATURED THE B SIDE KEEP ON KNOCKIN’. SIX YEARS AFTERWARDS, BOBBY HACKNEY’S SONS CAUGHT WIND OF THE 45 SONGS BEING PLAYED AT PARTIES IN CALIFORNIA. BOBBY HACKNEY THEN BROUGHT THE 34 YEAR OLD MASTER TAPES DOWN FROM THE ATTIC FOR HIS SONS TO HEAR.
FINALLY, A DEAL WITH DRAG CITY RECORDS WAS WORKED OUT TO RELEASE THE ALBUM ON FEBRUARY 17TH 2009 – …FOR THE WHOLE WORLD TO SEE!!!
..
Man, I have been listening to "...For The Whole World To See" nonstop for the last couple of days. You guys totally shifted my focus for FunFunFun, can't wait to catch your set!!! Amazing music!!!
Had just pulled back into Chicago and caught the second part of your show at the empty bottle! You guys were fuckin amazing! Hope you play again in Chicago soon so I could see a full set! btw I love the shirt the small was perfect! Cheers, Stacy
i am embarrassed to say i JUST found out about you bad ass motherf*ckers!!!! i thought i was a hip white guy knowing about Parliament/Funkadelic, Undisputed Truth, Bar Kays, Pure Hell, Basemnt 5 and Bad Brains, when i found out about you guys through a friend on Facebook!!!! thank God i did! now i heard Drag City have released a full length LP (analog vinyl!) and i gotta get my sweaty white hands on that for sure!!!!! eternal respect- Harry and Yuki-DECAYOFTHEANGEL
brothers!! check out our first video from "Kaos" and we just upload 3 premixes of the new album "Apus Revolution Rock"....hope you like it dudes! Greetz from grey Lima
Back in the future, what can I say, thank you and thanks to drag city. I play your album everyday and ask myself how is it possible to make a break for such a long time, are you going to play in europe, if yes, i'll found some dates in Swiss for you,
John Duva is proud to tell you that our first sexy action album is now realesed! We kind of missed our realese ourselfes so we..ll have a realeseparty later this autumn! (maybe August/September) 3 new tracks are now out on myspace,Yxan, Watch your back, Bullet, a new recording of fogden, and the old hit Daimond Music! The Name of the album is We are your Mother and you can buy it from http://www.ginza.se download it from somewhere and later on you can listen to it on spotify!
