It’s an unexpected blast from the past. Henry Rollins’ first band, State of Alert (S.O.A.), is due to have their first demo tape released by Dischord Records. The nine-track album drops this March
Rollins name is household for rock fans these days. He made it in the 80’s as the lead singer for seminal punk group Black Flag (who are currently split, fighting a legal battle against themselves, and somehow releasing a record) – but back when S.O.A. was on the loose, Henry Rollins wasn’t even Henry Rollins. Instead, it was Henry Garfield who formed S.O.A. alongside Michael Hampton, Wendel Blow, and Simon Jacobsen. It was after the band’s breakup that he moved cross-country from Washington D.C. to LA and took up the moniker Rollins.
While the other former members of S.O.A. continued on a little more quietly than Rollins, they did continue on. Hampton in particular is known for his work with Embrace, a pioneering emo group (although he openly hated the name of the genre), alongside Ian MacKay of Fugazi and Minor Threat. Mackaye was also the co-founder of Dischord Records who are – you guessed it – responsible for the upcoming release.
Don’t you just love it when things come full circle?
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