DEADLINE:
8/2/82: CD
Ah, DC. Much was its influence on a young East L.A. punker kid in the early ‘80s, and few of those bands from the nation’s capitol held sway like Deadline. Their three tracks on the Flex Your Head compilation just seemed so different on an album filled with some truly unique bands—Minor Threat, Iron Cross, Red C, Government Issue, and the mighty, mighty Void—and just sounded so much darker and, dare I say it, more mature than others on that revered record, even though they were essentially mining the same territory. “Stolen Youth” quickly became a part of the earliest of my band’s set lists, although we never did it proper justice. For the most part, those songs were all we had to go on from this band, until Peterbilt released 8/2/82 towards the end of that decade, whereupon it went almost as quickly as it came and has not been seen since. Thankfully, someone has decided that being out of print for two decades was long enough, and another generation of kids now has the opportunity to glean some influence from this unsung powerhouse. Those who like their hardcore loud, fast, and direct will be more than happy with what’s on here, but just as important are the slower tunes, which are sick with unexpected chord changes, lyrics much more accomplished than “the president sucks/go screw a duck/I have a rad truck/fuck fuck fuck,” and is steeped with a passion that just doesn’t rear its head enough these days. I may be an old East L.A. punker dude these days, but these guys can still get the blood boilin’ in all the right ways. File this under “holy shit, how does anyone survive without this in their collection?” –Jimmy Alvarado (Peterbilt)