"No Thanks were one of those bands come to mind as one of those late, great NYHC bands who could have released a great LP had they had an occassion to. Their most well-known vinyl appearance on Big City's first 7" compilation. In spite of the frustratingly shoddy recordings on most of those Big City comps, No Thanks is arguably the stand out of that record (even though the No Control and Ultraviolence songs are pretty sick as well, they suffer from some shitty mastering) as their energy is barely containable. They stand in contradiction to the stereotype of NYHC as lunk-headed, right wing goons as they have more in common with the politically-minded punks of their day. Their sole 7", "Are You Ready to Die" is some prime NYC hardcore, 1983 style. Musically, they sometimes remind me Cali-punks Mood of Defiance, but with an out-of-control edge and grittiness that is the undeniable hallmark of New York, and puts them in a category with the likes of Urban Waste or Heart Attack. In addition, No Thanks members are life-time musicians, with members going on to such noteables as Virus and Missing Foundation, and even the early 90's hardcore/ noise band Gin Mill as well as the countless bands detailed below. Thankfully, No Thanks' Donna Damage has an archive of the No Thanks material and is in the process of making it available herself via Mr. Modorreefer Records. She's still active in the music scene and is proactive in maintaining No Thanks' legacy."
"This is the opening paragraph from the No Thanks interview blog that was written by DAN from Mad at the World Records." 2007, and HARDWARE MAGAZINE, APRIL 2007

The story of New York hardcore punk band No Thanks is an interesting one. By conventional standards, their only true releases in their tenure as a band was a 7”, 1000 pressings of which were made available in 1982 by Dead Space Records, and an EP entitled Are You Ready to Die?. Not exactly a lot to remember a band by, but only recently has singer Donna Damage made available a re-mastered version of the band's 1982 demo, but an 11-song set recorded only a year later at once punk rock mecca, CBGB’s.
I’m sure that I’m one of the many who would never have even heard this band name uttered were it not for the release of these two discs, but seeing as that’s not the case, I can relish in the fact that I am having the opportunity to hear their take on hardcore punk in all its former glory. Female-fronted hardcore punk bands have never exactly been commonplace, and even less so when the genre was just taking off, but Donna Damage’s snotty vocals are the perfect fit for this brash band of four. Going back to a time where the phrase 'style over substance' was never an issue in hardcore, the seven-song, ten-minute demo is a real kick in the ass and boot in the face. This is raw, unrelenting, stripped down hardcore punk the way it was meant to be played, fast and sloppy. They don’t care about time signatures or poignant lyrics, they want to be brash and in your face, and that’s exactly what they are.
“Who Me?” isn’t even a minute long, but is one of the best songs on this demo, perfectly exemplifying Donna Damage’s 'fuck you' attitude and the rest of the band's lack of worry about playing their instruments tightly. And where that would normally be unacceptable for me, it’s more than acceptable in an instance where you know that’s what the band is all about. Buzzing distortion and pissed off shouting, it’s emotion in the most bare form possible.
The live CD from CBGBs is more of the same tenacity that the demo displayed, but with a bit more focus on playing the instruments cohesively. There’s some terrific, hard-hitting riffs to be found, and some even better leads. “Disgusting Fools” has an anthemic opening chord progression, while maintaining the grit and punch that’s on every other song they play. Damage is the glue that holds it all together once again, her scratching vocals rising above all the noise behind her.
Loud. Abrasive. Punk. End of story.
"PUNK NEWS.ORG 2006

NO THANKS-Are You Ready To Die/Live CBGB’s 1983/Demo 1982 (Mr. Modoreefer, CD-R) No Thanks were around the NYHC scene in the early to mid 80s but aren’t always as well-remembered as other bands from that time period. I don’t really remember them from “back in the day.” Anyway, that’s about to change with these reissues—three of ‘em in a short stretch. They’d easily fit on one disc, actually. “Are You Ready To Die” was originally released as a 7” in ’83. Straight-ahead, kickass hardcore punk featuring angry-as-fuck vocals by Donna Damage. They also include an unreleased song “Melt Away The Fear,” a mid-tempo, lengthy exercise with a moodier hard rock sound recorded live. Not quite packing the immediacy of the hardcore songs. The live CD has adequate sound and includes live versions of all the songs from the 7” except the title track, plus some otherwise unreleased material. It starts with the instrumental “Surfin’ Ave. A” before kicking into the rage of “Horror.” Jimi’s guitar playing has a frayed edge along with the powerchords and that adds to the overall effect—but the main focus of attention is the band’s power and intensity. Mainly loud and fast, although “Little Minds” takes a slower turn. The demo is just as raging and the hyper-paced “Fuck The Past” may be a fast as anything from that year. The song also intersperses some slower passages with sputtering guitar lines. All different songs from the 7” except for “Aer You Ready To Die.” The packaging for the releases is minimal but made up for by the musical contents. (www.mrmodoreeferrecords.com)
"Al Quint, Suburban Voice" October 2005

No Thanks - Are You Ready to Die 7 inch 1983 Dead Space Records
Quite a few years ago on a planned Xmas trip to MI to visit my dad, the holiday came a little bit early in what turned out to be the last great record score before ebay had completely ruined record collecting and turned every slab of wax into some high priced collectible to be sold like baseball cards. A friend of mine up in MI got a call from a local record store guy who said someone traded in their whole collection of old punk singles. My friend asked him to hold on to them as he knew someone who would probably want a lot of them and would be in town in a week. That person of course was me! I called the guy at the store and he read off to me what was there and after each one, I’d ask the price. The prices were so good that I stopped asking and just told him “I’ll take all of it”. There was some great stuff in there, a good percentage of it I had, or used to have and was wanting to replace, and another good chunk of stuff I needed, wanted, or never even heard of. Among the latter, was this 7 by a band called No Thanks, who I never heard of until stumbling across this vinyl booty.
When I got home after my little trip, I was so excited about the large stack of 7s I got that I think I stayed up most of the night to play them all. I put on that No Thanks 7 and was surprised that I had never heard of them before because it was some really good, female-fronted hardcore punk. They were from New York City and that was about all I knew from the information on the sleeve. Google searches turned up pretty empty as far as any band information went and when I decided I wanted to share this record with the people, I feared it was going to be a really short feature that would be limited to “Um, these guys (and gal) were from New York and this was their only record and if you have any additional information, please let me know”. As fate would have it, lead singer Donna Damage found me! I got an email from her one day completely out of the blue asking me something about JFA and mentioned that she was in No Thanks. I instantly wrote back and told her my intentions and she was quite happy to share a little story with me.
No Thanks was Rob, Seth and Jimi in the summer of 1982. I answered a Village Voice want ad for a punk HC singer, auditioned and got the gig. We recorded this demo about a month later at Noise NY studios in Manhattan. Another month later, Rob left the band, Jimi took over on guitar, and Jaime joined the band. No Thanks then became an autonomous collective and we started writing our material as a band. Many, many gigs at A7 with terrible equipment made us a tight unit. I remember one particular evening when the bass drum head was a pizza box.
A7 was a second home to all the bands hanging out in the East Village in the early 80’s; Bad Brains, Urban Waste, XKi, Savage Circle, Rapid Deployment Force, Agnostic Front, False Prophets, Undead, Ultra Violence, and Fathead Suburbia, to name a few. When hardcore bands were not playing their sets, Dave (A7) usually had reggae blasting and everyone was smoking pot and hanging out. My sister Debra and I used to hand out love beads, very punk!!!A most favorite person of mine manning the front door @ A7 was a Vietnam Vet named Leroy, one of the coolest dudes on the lower east side who shared his wit and stories with us punk rockers. I lived on E.11 Street between B & C at the time in a five floor walk-up slum that most of the time had no heat or hot water with Jimi, Jaime, and my sister Debbie. My neighbors included most of the bands I mentioned. It was a common thing for members of many bands to overrun the back of Lesko’s, a Polish coffee shop on Ave A. and eat breakfast or to organize a 3am totally wasted soccer game in Tompkins Square Park.
No Thanks played many shows, opened for the Dead Kennedys at Beacon Theatre in 1983. False Prophets, Bad Posture and MDC shared that stage and was the biggest crowd No Thanks graced. We were poor, barely able to afford our rehearsals, but this period was the richest time in my life with friendships worth their weight in gold. A lot of people from the NYHC scene died early, I still miss these people when I walk the gentrified Art Ghetto that is now the East Village their memories and the memory of a time when the streets of the lower east side were ruled by anarchy, punk and insane late night mischief!
Donna Damage, Berkeley 2005
Recently, Donna set up a website about No Thanks, and she has made available two CDs. The first is a really good live show from CBGB in 1983 and the other being the bands 1982 Demo! With their only output at the time being this 7, I’m glad to see there was some additional material that finally, more than 20 years later, is seeing the light of day.There was 1000 of these 7 made officially by Dead Space Records. They have a black label and large spindle hole. After that, the label released an unknown amount in Italy with a red label and a small hole, which went against the agreement they had with the band.
"MXV, Punk Vault" October 2005

2007 photos

NO THANKS CDS/RECORDS