Event

A Band Called Death

Before Bad Brains, the Sex Pistols or even the Ramones, there was a band called Death.

Punk before punk existed, three teenage brothers in the early '70s formed a band in their spare bedroom, began playing a few local gigs and even pressed a single in the hopes of getting signed. But this was the era of Motown and emerging disco. Record companies found Deaths music and band nametoo intimidating, and the group were never given a fair shot, disbanding before they even completed one album.

Equal parts electrifying rockumentary and epic family love story, A BAND CALLED DEATH chronicles the incredible fairy-tale journey of what happened almost three decades later, when a dusty 1974 demo tape made its way out of the attic and found an audience several generations younger.

Playing music impossibly ahead of its time, Death is now being credited as the first black punk band (hell...the first punk band!), and are finally receiving their long overdue recognition as true rock pioneers.

"Death lives!" SF Weekly

"A generous, spirited documentary [that captures] one of the strangest and most inspiring of all family stories of tragedy and triumph that this crazy country has produced." Salon

"If you're looking for a 96-minute jolt of joy, look no further than this uplifting, well-made documentary ..." Seattle Times