Dead Heros (NJ)

Dead Heros has to be the greatest undiscovered punk bands in New Jersey. They just released their second 7-inch, "Schizophrenic EP" on Bandworm Records. I’ll cover their discography over at Discography Depot, but you should check out their website at www.myspace.com/deadheros where you can listen to a dozen or so tracks from their singles and demo.

Same Story, Different Page Demo (2002)

1. Same Old Story

2. Unreachable

3. Neck Deep

4. Soldier

5. Two Americas

6. Slave

The band sold two different version of this demo, one with Slave the other one without. Slave, or Slave To The 40, is a Swill Bastards song. (The guitarist Johny used to be in Swill Bastards.)

---

2008 Demo

1. 4 Years Flat

2. Neck Deep in Bullshit

3. Schitzophrenic

The band is selling mp3 downloads of these three demos on their myspace page. According to the singer JJ, the band was really unhappy with how this session turned out and went back into the studio to record what eventually became the Schitozphrenic EP. In all likelihood, there were more songs recorded during the 2008 sessions but these are the only 3 songs to be released.

If anyone has non-mp3 sourced (i.e. lossless) copies of these tracks, or anything from Swill Bastards, send me an email.

UPDATE (Jan '10): I read somewhere JJ has moved to the UK and has joined another band. Not sure what this means for Dead Heros but it can't be good.

Negative Approach

First up is Negative Approach. Easy but not necessarily a slam dunk. Three separate demos, under various names, have been circulating trading circles for years with a previously unknown 4th demo surfacing on the Ready To Fight CD.

1st Demo (5/81)

1. Pressure

2. No Doubt About It

3. Don’t Call Me Up

4. I Don’t Want It

5. Sick of Talk

6. Ready to Fight

7. Lost Cause

8. Chaos

9. Fashionable Idiots

10. Negative Approach

This “demo” is available on the Ready To Fight CD.

---

Lost Cause Demo (8/81)

1. Ready to Fight

2. Pressure

3. Fashionable Idiots

4. Sick of Talk

5. Negative Approach

6. D.A.B.F.

7. Genocide

8. No Doubt About It

9. Lost Cause

Lost Cause from Process of Elimination came from this session. The Ready To Fight linear notes states that Lost Cause was recorded shortly after the 1st demo and the notes from the Total Recall CD says it was recorded 8/81. Listening to the Lost Cause track from this demo confirms it is the same as the one on Process of Elimination/Total Recall.

The name of track 8 has been a mystery all these years until the release of Ready To Fight. Listening to the 1st Demo shows that the unknown song is No Doubt About It.

Side B (except Pressure) of the You Die Now 7 inch is taken from this demo.

---

EP Demo/First Version

1. Whatever I Do

2. Can't Tell No One

3. Sick of Talk

4. Pressure

5. Ready to Fight

6. Lead Song

7. Fair Warning

8. Nothing

9. Negative Approach

10. Why Be Something That You're Not?

11. D.A.B.F.

12. Chaos

There is a lot of misinformation floating around about what this session is and nothing will be clear until someone in the know clues us in. I have received this in trade listed as EP Demo, EP Original Mix, EP Test Pressing, etc. I do not know if this is in fact the rejected test press mix of the first EP since I’ve never heard it to know nor have I ever found a track listing for the rejected version. (Some say it’s the same 10 songs just a different mix, others say it’s 11 songs.) I do know that these 12 songs were released on the I Estimated Your Worth Today tape comp.

I could find no information as to when this was recorded. If this is not the rejected test press mix, then the tracks were recorded sometime between 4/82 and 8/83.

Side A (plus Pressure from side B) of the You Die Now 7 inch is taken from this demo.

---

Tied Down Demo (6/83) [a.k.a. Rice City Club Demo]

1. Your Mistake

2. Friend or Foe

3. Live Your Life

4. Tied Down

5. Hypocrite

6. I’ll Survive

7. Nothing

8. Said and Done

9. Evacuate

10. Genocide

This demo has been circulated heavily and was officially released on Ready To Fight. The version on Ready To Fight only includes the first 8 songs list while the traded version lacks Live Your Life but includes two songs not on Ready To Fight (Evacuate and Genocide, both instrumentals).

Total Recall includes 3 songs from this demo (Your Mistake, Tied Down, & I’ll Survive) and labels them the Rice City Club Demo. The versions of these three songs are noisier on Total Recall than on Ready To Fight but they are the same versions.

This demo, particularly when it's referred to as the Rice City Demo, is sometime incorrectly attributed as being recorded in 1984.

Whatever I Do & Lead Song are both instrumentals.

Welcome

I decided to started this blog to collect in one place demo information for punk, hardcore, punk, oi!, & street punk bands. Over my years of collecting & trading I've had to wade through incorrectly labeled music and wrong information, especially on the older stuff. Hopefully by sharing my work the correct information will be out there for people to find.

Two caveats though: (1) I only do this for bands I like, and (2) sometimes the information is incomplete. Where there is incomplete or disputed information, I plan to document the why and/or how I reached my conclusions. If you have any questions, leave a comment & I'll respond when I can.

Finally, I do not plan to post the actual demos. Please don't ask me to do this. I am willing to trade for demos I am looking for (high quality, non-lossy, low or known generation copies only). I'll note in the posting if I am looking for something.

Some of the bands I have queued first up include Warzone, Black Flag, Negative Approach, and 7 Seconds. Enjoy.

Also, check out the sister blog Discography Depot.