A Band Called Death Page #3

Yeah, that's when we became Death.

MAN:
(ON RECORDING) Death!

(LET THE WORLD TURN PLAYING)

(SINGING)

This picture right here was taken in 1975.

And from our mother's back yard in Detroit.

David looked up into the sky

and he saw a triangle.

As you can see, there's

a triangle right there.

And also there's a face.

David said that that was the face of God

watching over the triangle.

And he used to tell us

that was a message to us, you know.

Hey, this is what Dave was in tune to.

This is what he was all about.

DANNIS:
David wanted to

put a positive spin on death.

It's kind of like birth.

It's not a good or a bad

thing, it's just a thing.

BOBBY:
Yeah, well, see,

this right here was David's concept.

He calls it the death triangle.

And what it basically means

is the three elements of life,

which is spiritual, mental, physical.

And this right here means

that's the guiding spirit.

And that's what David said.

This right here is God.

DANNIS:
The stuff that used to come out

of his head was just so, you know,

it was original, but, you know,

when you first heard it,

it just sounded crazy.

DAVID:
(ECHOING) The ultimate trip.

Death.

DANNB:
David...

Okay, since he's proclaiming

the leader of the band...

We said, "David, we need a contract." Okay?

So, well, David takes the yellow pages,

nails it to the wall

and go gets a dart.

He opens it to the music section,

where you have all your producers

and music offices and...

He opens the yellow pages,

nails it to the wall, takes the dart...

And the dart lands

on Groovesville Productions.

He said, "Those are the guys

we're gonna call."

DANNIS:
There's Groovesville Productions.

I always remember these yellow bricks,

'cause this is where the studio was.

DANNIS:
Now, Groovesville,

they were a production company

that handled people like

Johnnie Taylor, The Dramatics.

And their leader was Don Davis,

who was just a Detroit music mogul.

Hello. My name is Don Davis.

I am a record producer.

I am a music publisher.

And I am a studio owner.

And just more recently,

I am the proud owner

of First Independence National Bank.

DANNIS:
Maybe we should knock

on the door and just...

Yeah.

The Hackney brothers

came in to my office,

because before you get to Don Davis,

the producer,

you had to come through

the Groovesville office,

which was my domain.

Hey, how you doing?

I met the Hackney brothers.

And played me some demos that I just

thought were absolutely wonderful.

BOBBY:
This was Brian Spears' office,

wasn't it?

This is the room where Death auditioned

for Brian Spears.

- This is the room.

- Still got the original furniture.

He had the tape... On this shelf...

On this shelf

he had the reel-to-reel tape.

And Brian sat in this... At this desk.

SPEARS:
I was just blown away

by the energy of David Hackney.

He just knew that this is what

their destiny was gonna be.

DANNIS:
Through a couple of auditions,

we ended up signing with them.

And it just so happens

that they was running the stellar,

legendary recording studio of Detroit

called United Sounds.

I mean, if you were a musician in Detroit,

you knew about United Sounds.

SPEARS:
Let's see, I can tell you

the exact date they were in the studio.

They were in the studio

February the 18th,

it was a Wednesday, in 1975.

"Death and Legacy are

in the studio cutting."

(LAUGHS) It's right here.

BOBBY:
We used to just love

to come here, man.

This is where we spent

the entire summer of 1975.

We spent it right around,

in and around this building,

recording that Death album.

The moment that that band

fired up those instruments,

it was just amazing.

MAN". One, two, three, now!

(PUNK MUSIC PLAYING)

I think with every song that they played,

the energy level

just kept growing and growing,

because they just wanted to show

every bit of talent that they had

on every song.

(POLITICIANS IN MY EYES PLAYING)

SPEARS:
It was amazing to me,

to see such young players

have so much to say through their music.

BOBBY:
Course, we were the loudest thing

that they'd ever seen.

David, he went in there and he showed them

- what his double-stacked Marshalls could do.

- Yeah.

And they were like, "Okay, we hear it.

"Please turn it down."

(LAUGHS)

Exactly.

SPEARS:
Once we were pretty much happy

with the mixes,

I grabbed Don Davis and I said to Don,

"Look, you".

You've gotta listen to these guys."

I'm like, "Brian, have you lost your mind?

"Nobody is going to buy a song

"on a group called D-E-A-T-H.

"What's the matter with you?"

(STAMMERING) I know the name is

gonna be a drawback,

but, you know, I convinced Don

that on his next trip, we need to start

showing the group around.

BOBBY:
We got turned down

by every major label in the UK.

'Cause, I mean,

we had gotten a rejection letter

that said we tried all these labels.

He says, "As far as I'm concerned,

don't even look anymore."

DANNIS:
He went all the way

pretty much around the world

looking for a contract.

Everybody turned us down.

The name had really seemed

to be a roadblock.

So I got this

setting with Clive Davis.

And it caused a very interesting stir,

because they were really focused

on this record,

and they wanted to get involved in it.

The first reaction was,

"Hey, this... You know, great stuff."

Possibly we may be on the brink of a deal,

but there's one sticking point.

Clive Davis expressed

that he really didn't care

for the name of the band.

Brian had told us, he says,

"You guys might have a record deal, uh,

"if you are willing to change the name."

DANNIS:
That sent David into another place,

because he had his Death concept

and the concept went with the name

and the band went with the concept,

and nothing could change!

BOBBY:
David, in no uncertain terms, just

said, "Tell Clive Davis to go to hell."

DANNIS:
Okay, so David, our illustrious

leader, turned the deal down.

When that came out of David's mouth,

me and Bob had nothing coming out of ours.

We were flabbergasted.

Even though we didn't agree with it,

in public, back up your brother.

But in private,

we had a bitter argument about that.

"Listen, man, these guys wanna give us

a $20,000 contract."

And in the '70s, you know,

that's a pretty big contract.

We could've actually just went ahead

and changed the name.

I mean, how many times

we gonna get a contract like this?

And, you know, then Dave got mad at us.

If we give them the title to our band,

Dave said you might as well

give them everything else.

DANNIS:
He always believed in the music,

and I have to admit,

a bit more than me or Bob did,

because, you know,

we were willing to make concessions.

Dave was absolutely not.

And he stuck to his guns.

He stuck to his guns, man.

Yeah, I would've changed

it in a split second.

Okay, I would have.

But my spirit was telling me,

"Go with your brother."

You know, we just went

in the office one day and...

Brian told us that Don has decided

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