This isn’t the usual blog post about something in the arts or music or theater or dance. Instead it is something of a narcissistic post about a bit of my personal life in music. In the early 1970s I played in what is now described as a proto-punk band called Death. We didn’t have an actual genre for it back in the day. We were just Death. Loud and brash and outside the norm…low energy is how the leader characterized our stage presentation. We weren’t allowed to move except as needed to play our instruments. Music was covers of the Velvet Underground and the Stooges (first two albums). We started writing original material about the time I got tossed out (LOL)!
So here are pictures of me in Death in spring of 1972. Despite playing in bands from late 1964 through late 1975, these are the only photos I have of any of those bands. Go figure. These were taken by an art school friend of mine and are © 1972 by Michael Gehrke
So here I am 50 years later, trying to relearn how to play bass and guitar in my post-pandemic hair, recreating the look from 1972. Nothing has changed, everything has changed…and I feel fine!
Coming to an amphitheater near you! Dream On!
