'Death' coming to Atlin Arts and Music Festival
Pioneer punk-rock group joins country, folk acts for July festival
If you read the line up for the 2015 Atlin Arts and Music Festival, one name jumps out: DEATH.
The band — and yes, it's spelled in all caps — is coming to Atlin in July.
The group's history goes back to Detroit in the 1970s. Three brothers played "some of the hardest-driving rock-n-roll," of their era but never found success at the time.
The band's demos, recorded in 1975, could not find an audience. DEATH's biography says the group was "rejected for their sound, their name and their color" and they only managed to fund the printing of 500 copies.
A Detroit record label rediscovered the group years later. Drag City records re-released their songs in 2009 as an album called For the Whole World to See.
The second time around — it caught fire.
Although one brother has passed away, the two remaining brothers have reformed the band. Their act has received good reviews and was the subject of a documentary in 2012.
Something for everyone in Atlin
This year's music festival will have plenty for families and a diverse variety of music.
The festival is welcoming 80-year-old Canadian country songwriter Ian Tyson, known for Four Strong Winds.
It's also booked folk and roots songwriter James Keelaghan and Canadian singer-songwriter Danny Michel, a favourite performer on CBC's Vinyl Cafe.
Other acts in the festival's eclectic line up will perform jazz, ragtime, ballads and Afro-folk.
The festival takes place July 10 to 12.