Bad Brains have announced Are You Ready: The First Studio Recordings (Inner Ear – March 1979), out November 6th via Trust Records. Additionally, the legendary hardcore band has unleashed the first single from the collection, the previously unreleased earliest studio version of “Pay to Cum.”
Are You Ready features six of the earliest recordings ever by Bad Brains, captured in a one-hour session at Inner Ear Studios in March 1979.
This version of “Pay to Cum” shows the band spritely and melodic, riding the line between punk rock and hardcore. The video features footage of an early performance of the group from CBGB in the late ’70s, which adds to the sense of early excitement around the group.
Bassist Darryl Jenifer said of the track, “The riff for ‘Pay to Cum’ started as a stream of punk rock vibes fueled by the Ramones, The Damned, and Return to Forever. It was a gift that served as a springboard into our sound – sheer, straight-ahead three-chord mayhem with a few breaks and a stop. The title actually meant nothing to us; it was just a fun-loving play on words.”
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The release of Are You Ready, remixed by Fugazi/Minor Threat legend Ian MacKaye, will be celebrated in Bad Brains’ hometown of Washington, D.C., with a conversation between Jenifer and MacKaye to be held at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on November 5th, as well as the Are You Ready archival exhibition to open at Lost Origins Gallery on November 6th. Pre-orders are available now.
Watch the music video for “Pay to Cum” and see the album art and tracklist for Are You Ready: The First Studio Recordings (Inner Ear – March 1979) below.
Are You Ready: The First Studio Recordings (Inner Ear – March 1979) Artwork:
Are You Ready: The First Studio Recordings (Inner Ear – March 1979) Tracklist:
01. Pay to Cum
02. Don’t Bother Me
03. Black Dots
04. Migraine
05. Send No Flowers
06. Jamming at the Atlantis
