“This is the Ramones, but two years earlier.” — Questlove of The Roots on Death
What an exciting moment this independent film unveils for music fans everywhere. The first black punk band, Death. Who knew? They had to emanate from Detroit, no question about that 😉
“A Band Called Death” is a story of the burgeoning punk rock scene, of the exploding DIY energy in the 1970s, but it is also a sweet and touching family story. The filmmakers keep it simple, using floating black-and-white photos of the brothers jamming with their instruments, or, hauntingly, walking through a covered bridge in Vermont. Home movies of the boys playing in an upstairs room at their parents’ house shiver with the excitement of their raw energy and self-belief.
It comes full circle that fellow Detroiter’s Jack White and Ben Blackwell via Third Man Records have released the 45 r.p.m. recording, RockFire Funk Express, “People Save The World”. The “history before history” before they became Death, recorded at United Sound Studio in 1973.
Trailer
Related articles
- A Band Called Death (rogerebert.com)
- Scott Mosier Discusses His Documentary “A Band Called Death” (kroq.cbslocal.com)
musicofourheart.blog 
My son and I went to see this documentary tonight at the Cinema Village in NYC. It was a very moving story about family and conviction to a dream.
The music was outrageously good and the late oldest brother David’s ability to see the future was striking.
If you love great stories this is one movie you will want to see unfold.
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Reblogged this on right beat radio.
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