DEATH TAKES THE STAGE WITH ROUGH FRANCIS TO PERFORM FOR THE WHOLE WORLD TO SEE
October 7th in Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Ballroom
October 9th to be confirmed.
Death's 2009 critically claimed release For The Whole World to See… took the music world by storm with headlines such as "Death was Punk Before Punk was Punk" (Mike Rubin, New York Times) and quotes such as "a wild and exhilarating garage rock album from the 1970s, with a backstory of such mythological heft that it seems, initially at least, implausible." (John Mulvey, Uncut) Peter Margasak of the Chicago Tribune says "The oldest of the brothers, guitarist David, pushed the group in a hard-rock direction that presaged punk, and while this certainly didn’t help them find a following in the mid-70s, today it makes them look like visionaries." Filter Magazine quotes Mos Def saying: “These dudes were pre-Sex Pistols, pre-Bad Brains, pre-all that s#it, and nobody knows them. I don’t understand how the whole world could forget them.”
1970 Detroit, MI – Three brothers started a band and begun playing shows in their garage. At first they played funk and R&B songs, influenced by the Motown sounds coming out of their East Detroit neighborhood. They practiced relentlessly and recorded everything at home. In early 1973, The boys went to the Michigan Palace and saw Iggy and the Stooges perform. From that day forward, their music would never be the same. David wrote the music and Bobby wrote the lyrics and moved more in the direction of rock 'n' roll.
Their songs were political and were becoming more and more complete. The band decided it was time for a deal. David opened up the yellow pages 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 deal was sealed. David and his brothers refused, causing Columbia and Groovesville to back out of the deal. However, with their received advance, DEATH leaked 500 copies of a 45 on their own Tryangle records in 1976.
30 years after Death disbanded and after the passing of David Hackney, sons Julian, Urian, and Bobby Hackney Jr., unearthed the original Death recordings in their father’s attic and helped turn them onto Drag City Records via a record collector named Robert Manis. Inspired by the power and magnitude of their father’s recordings, the young Hackney boys, along with friends Steven Hazen Williams and Dylan Giambatista, created Rough Francis as a way to help spread the word of Death and the newly re-discovered music. The band’s name, Rough Francis, is in tribute to David Hackney, who created the moniker for himself years earlier. Rough Francis began playing and developing their style and sound while sharing their own form of punk rock to select audiences. Although the loud howls, high-energy stage presence, and raw, gritty rock of Rough Francis echoes Death, they are exploring a musical style unique to them. Their sound has appealed to a wide range of fans—from the most core punk enthusiasts to underground hip hop kids.
2010 Burlington, VT – Death and Rough Francis will take the stage in their hometown October 7th, 2010 at Higher Ground Ballroom. This will be one of the most anticipated Death shows since they performed in Detroit last year with many surprises not to be missed. One more show to be confirmed on October 9th.
Death on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/deathprotopunk
Death on Drag City: http://www.dragcity.com/artists/death
Death song on HBO's Entourage: http://www.hbo.com/entourage/episodes/7/83-83-bottoms-up/music.html
Rough Francis on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/roughfrancis
Rough Francis on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/ROUGH-FRANCIS/112537678787101?ref=ts
Contact:
Death – Nicole Yalaz – nicole@dragcity.com – 773.744.1149
Rough Francis -Sara Debrule – sdebrule@okay-okay.com – 802.660.9006
