1980, England. After the Sex Pistols demise. One of the new breed of
"Punk" bands amongst the oncoming onslaught of NWOBHM
(New Wave of British Heavy Metal, who included such luminaries as Motorhead,
Diamond Head,
and Mercyful
Fate) whose racuous sounds were pumped-out regularly by many U.S. college
radio stations' airwaves (as my radio show "Three Hours of Hell on
Sunday" on WMWM 91.7 FM
in Salem, MA were one of those a year or so later.) The turntables seemed
to be dominated by one band's endlessly spinning vinyl black circles which
emitted the gutteral sounds from Britain's most visual, thunderous and influential
reigning kings who broke Hardcore's soundbarrier: Discharge!
Consisting of: Cal(voice,) Roy 'Rainy' Wainwright(bass,) Tony 'Bones'(lead)
and Terry 'Tezz' Roberts(Bones' twin on drums, who originally was on vocals
during their inception, replacing the skinsman named Hacko.) They formed
in '77 by the two brothers with Rainy and a couple of thier friends(although
no recordings of the earlier line-up exist,)n which they played local gigs
around the Stoke- on-Trent area. When Cal joined, Tezz moved to playing
drums, Rainy went from 2nd guitar to playing bass which all the songs previous
were scrapped, and they began to work on new material, for which Cal wrote
the lyrics. Nothing much happened until Mike Stone moved from Stoke from
London. He owned a record shop and a label when he came to see their first
gig at Northwood Parish Hall, Stoke- on- Trent. He stated they had no musical
ability, but got off on the intensity of their performance and thought it
might be interesting to have a group like them on his label, so they were
the first band to be signed to Stoke-On-Trent label Clay Records in Feruary
of 1980. Influenced by The Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. The name
Discharge was chosen before Cal joined the band, because it was obnoxious.
They released their first EP "Realities of War" in March1980,
because Stone didn't have a distributor, he sold it to shops out of the
boot of his car. Remarkably, it got into the Top 10 of the Indie chart in
'Sounds,' using minimalist propaganda-like photos, artwork, ransom-note
style cut-outs combined with b/w typeface typical to the genre. Discharge
single-handedly created the musical equivalent of sniffing glue while at
the same time enlightened audiences by blasting sonic titles about the realities
of war & power. The now rare 4 song 7" disc (recorded in 3 hours)
first caught my ear the year it was released while still in high school.
To this day, I still enjoy their aggressive, under-appreciated raw 'metallic'
style. But, there was something atypical about them... unlike most of the
bands left in the undertow of that early underground, Discharge would itself
influenced many, including the infamous SSD
(friends from Boston,Ma.), Crucifix
(from S.F.Ca.), and the almighy mega mondo popular Metallica
(check out guitarist Kirk Hammett's T-shirt on the back of 'Ride the Lightning')
with that same particular brand of aggression. Later that year they released
an EP, 'Fight Back,' which also reached the Indie charts.
Discharge played their first gigs away from Stoke(one I believe which included
a gig w/ then 'Next Big Thing' band U2,
where Cal bummed out vocalist Bono by vomiting onstage during their opening
set) in which they played Leicester, Preston and Glasgow. Their next record,
still in 1980, was 'Decontrol,' Tezz leaving to play guitar in several local
rock bands then releasing a 12 " EP 'Why ' with with replacement drummer
Bambi during their national 'Apocalypse Now' tour. Only later to be replaced
by drummer Garry Maloney, it wasn't until late '81 that the killerwatt qualities
of Mike Stone produced the anthematic 'Never Again' which he first recorded
with. Boldly displaying on it's cover the now famed "Impaled Dove"
artwork (from an W.W. II anti-war poster) to become synonymous with the
band even today, and not only did well in the Indie chart, but actually
got to No. 64 in the national chart. This was the predecessor to the most
memorable of all their discs driving many people into a thrashing frenzy
or fleeing into the streets covering their bleeding ears. That behemoth
is now known as their legendary first album 'Hear Nothing, See Nothing,
Say Nothing' (one of the late, great Metallibassist Cliff
Burton's fave albums.) 14 bludgeoning, relentless cuts which to me resembles
listening to Tobe Hooper's
"The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre" at full volume while attending an Anti-Nuke
rally. It again charted nationally, where it got to No. 40 and stayed there
for five weeks. At this point they were approached by a major label, but
they decided to stay loyal to Clay, because Mike Stone had given them their
first break, and was frowned upon for bands such as themselves to sign to
a major at the time. About that time they had started touring abroad, in
Italy, Yugoslavia and Holland. Playing also at the time of1982 in Sweden
and Finland, they did their first tour of the US(in which they had no records
released, just imported) and Canada.
After this they returned to England, Discharge seemingly would never would
stay the same again... bored w/ the "same old ,same old" Bones
left the band to form Broken
Bones, with ex-member and brother Tezz (now on bass, later to join other
such luminary acts as the U.K.
Subs, Ministry,
Battalion
of Saints, presently in Billyclub,)
during his last single recorded with them released in '82' 'State Violence,
State Control.'
Replaced by Peter 'Pooch' Pyrtle, Discharge changed their attack somewhat,
instead of the relentless churning chainsaw chords to Rainy's bass-lines
almost resembling
Black Sabbath's Geezer Butler tooting crystal meth. They took on a streamlined
full-on metal punk approach with (Cal's 3 note shouting range now diminished
to half-singing football chants) during this era, their first 12" single
'Warning:-Her Majesty's Government Can Seriously Damage Your Health', they
returnred to the US and Canada. While on tour another single 'The Price
of Silence,' was released in '83 after which both Pooch (forms a metal act
called Hells Bells)and Garry left, which meant that Discharge was just Cal
and Rainy. They'd recorded another track, 'The More I See,' at the same
time as 'Warning...,' which was remixed and became the next single( these
are my all-time faves, )and a few months after that a complilation album
of singles and EP tracks, 'Never Again' was released in 1984. Discharge
still hanging in the balance, used a couple of friends, they release the
last single 'Ignorance' in '85 with guitarist Les (the Mole) Hunt and drummer
Nick Haymaker before releasing their swansong, if not albatross LP of all
time...
'Grave New World' 1986 on Clay/Rock Hotel/Profile is a great production
effort, but alas the band re-invents itself once again with a more mainstream
Mtv-like metal posture. Garry had rejoined, and recruited Stephen Brooks.
No more the soaped-up spikerod hairdos, 4 paragraphs of lyrics of anti-
war sentiments, short song legnth, or members using only first names. Discharge's
crowning achievement, the 'creme de lacreme;' the unveiling of a higher
falsetto 3 - note range for the now Kelvin Morris! Reminding me of Mercyful
Fate mated with AC/DC,
inbred and raised by a heroin-addicted Led
Zeppelin, this was a sad note to a tight original unit which play a
near-riotous gig in New York... Hardcore fans not content with hearing older
hits performed in this newer 'Sold Out' manner hardly let the nightmare
continue... during the release original member/ bassist Roy Wainwright leaves
Garry Moloney and Kelvin with new guitarist Stephen Brookes. Discharge soon
fall apart due to musical differences and in the early months of 1987, Kelvin/
Cal was thrown out of the band.
Nothing much happened until both 'Never Again' and 'Discharge 1980- 1986''
were released by Clay. By the end of '89 they released a live album recorded
on tour during the second US tour US tour, 'Live At The City Gargen, New
Jersey' and another live CD 'The Nightmare Continues' during the first half
of the 1980's at Tunstall Town Hall, Stoke-on Trent.
In 1991, Discharge once again banded together and released new material
: 'Massacre Divine' and 'Shooting up the World' w/ith Cal's vocal gymnastics
sporting an Brian Johnson (AC/DC)
ability this time. By late 1997 Discharge comes full circle and reforms
with it's old line-up featuring: Tezz, Bones, Cal and Rainy, although they
have not yet played any shows - stay tuned.
For the uninitiated, there is a collection of singles & LP tracks re-mixed
from their glory days called 'Discharge 1980-86' and the primer 'Never Again.'
There is also a host of re-released Clay material now available on CD, including
all the singles, albums and the older 'live' material affore-mentioned.
A great sampling of the various eras is available (excluding the excrutiating
'Grave New World' ) called 'Vision of War' (a Recall 2 CD release.) There
is also a tribute album called 'Discharged'
featuring Discharge-influenced bands like Anthrax.
Metallica has released
a re-release plus of 'Garage Days Re-Revisited' called 'Garage,
Inc.' a 2 -disc smorgasborg of them doing various and sundry cover tunes
which will feature 2 Discharge songs, 'Free Speech For The Dumb' and 'The
More I See.' But I myself prefer the originals...
Play Loud!!!
Christopher
Corkum,August 1998
Email: kingdeath@centropolis.org
