Discharge (band)

Discharge is an influential UK 82 hardcore band.

Career

Discharge formed in 1977 with the original line up of Terry 'Tez' Roberts on vocals, Tony 'Bones' Roberts on guitar, Roy 'Rainy' Wainwright on guitar, Nigel Bamford on bass and Akko on drums. Shortly after Nigel Bamford left the group, and Rainy moved to bass. This line up sounded much more like the Sex Pistols, but only recorded one demo. The line up and the sound changed in 1979. It became: Kelvin 'Cal' Morris on vocals, Bones on guitar, Rainy on bass and Tez on drums, which many consider to be the "classic" Discharge line up.

The heavy, distorted, and grinding guitar-driven sound and anti-melodic shouted or screamed vocals of the new line up, earned an early crossover appeal to fans of speed metal. Their songs focused on anarchist and pacifist themes emphasizing the grisly effects of nuclear war and the social ills caused by capitalism.

The band's approach to lyric-writing also added to the raw power of the band's sound; Discharge songs often stripped down the lyrics to a guttural, repeated message, to forcefully express a song's theme. Perhaps the most extreme example of this approach is the song "Free Speech for the Dumb," which consists solely of the words from the song's title. The band was also notable for its expression of its political and social themes in its album art, which depicted the horrors of war using an iconic black-and-white photography style.

In 1980, Discharge signed on with Clay Records, releasing the single "Realities of War," which made the UK indie charts. After the EP releases in the same year, Discharge went through many line up changes. Tezz (drums) departed, and was replaced by Dave 'Bambi' Ellesmere (formerly of The Insane) before "Why" was recorded. In 1982, Discharge released a full album entitled "Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing," which made it to the UK album charts.

The Never Again EP saw another line up change. Gary Maloney of The Varukers played drums. Bones departed before "Warning...", which was when Discharge began adding more into metal influences. The band saw yet another change in the line up in 1985, with the release of "Ignorance". The band saw many more changes with it's transition into a more metallic sound. In 2002, however the original line up was finally reunited for the release of "Discharge".

D-beat

Discharge also pioneered D-beat as a punk subgenre, with the D referring to Discharge. D-beat has historically enjoyed popularity in Japanese, Brazilian, and Scandinavian hardcore and punk scenes, and is currently gaining ground in North America. During, and after Discharge's career, it became surprisingly popular to imitate the band. Many bands that followed Discharge's stylistic approach, primarily in Sweden, began using the "Dis-" prefix in their names, and even began using "Des-" words with "Dis-" in its place as a parody; Disfear, Disclose, Discard, Disarm, Dissucks, Distraught, etc. The bands who followed this naming trend also used clones of Discharge's large white logo lettering.

Influence

Discharge's influence on the musical scene can also be seen in the homage paid to the band by a range of metal and thrash groups. Metal superstars Metallica recorded covers of two Discharge songs, "Free Speech For The Dumb" and "The More I See", on their studio covers album Garage Inc.. Fellow thrash metal band Anthrax recorded a cover of "Protest and Survive" on their studio album Attack Of The Killer B's. Plus, the Canadian industrial metal band Monster Voodoo Machine named their second release "State Voodoo/State Control" after Discharge's "State Violence/State Control". The band also recorded a cover version of "Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing", on their "Bastard Is As Bastard Does" single.

Swedish melodic Death Metal pioneers At the Gates covered "the nightmare continues" as a hidden track on their "With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness" album, and Swedish grindcore band Nasum covered "visions of war" for a tribute compilation. As well, the Brazilian thrash-metal band Sepultura also covered Discharge ( "A Look At Tomorrow", "Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing" & "Protest and Survive" ). Soulfly covered "Ain't No Feeble Bastard" as a bonus track on their first album. Nausea also covered "Ain't No Feeble Bastard", which is available on "The Punk Terrorist Anthology, Vol. 1". Napalm Death covered "Realities of war" on their "Leaders not followers part 2."-album.Anarcho Punk band Oi Polloi covered the song "State Violence, State Control" (total anarchoi)

Discography

EP's

Realities of War (April, 1980)
Fight Back (July, 1980)
Decontrol (December, 1980)
Never Again (October, 1981)
State Violence, State Control (October, 1982)
The Price Of Silence (December, 1983)
The More I See (July, 1984)
Ignorance (July, 1985)
Beginning of the End (March 2006)
Discharge/MG15 Split (April 2006)

12"s

Why (May, 1981)
Warning: Her Majesty's Government can seriously damage your Health (October, 1983)
The More I See (Longer versions of the songs on the 7")
Ignorance (Longer versions of the songs on the &"

LP's

Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing (May, 1982)
Discharge 1980-86 Clay LP 19
Grave New World (July, 1986)
Live at the City Garden,New Jersey
Live-The Nightmare Coninues
Massacre Divine (1991)
Shootin' Up The World (1993)
Discharge (2002)

CD's

Beginning of the End (March 2006)
Massacre Divine (1991)
Shootin' Up The World (1993)
Discharge (2002)
Society's Victims Discography (2004)
Why (1982)
The Clay Punk Punk Singles Collection Clay CD 120
Never Again Clay LP/CD 12
Protest and Survive(Double CD) Clay CD 113
Live-The Nightmare Coninues Clay LP/CD 107
Live at the City Garden,New Jersey Clay LP/CD 103
Vision of War Recall SMD CD131
Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing

Demos

1977 demo

External links

Fan Website

English musical groups | Punk rock groups | Later_punk_groups hardcore punk groups | Anarcho-punk

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