Gerbils, The - Dead Detroit: Lost 1982 Recordings (Vinyl/Record)

The Gerbils were a high school hardcore punk band (with Moog!), from Farmington Hills/Detroit, Michigan in the early 1980's. Relative unknowns on the national stage during their short existence, they gigged regularly at the regional level, sharing noteworthy bills at Bookies and The Freezer Theater with the likes of Social Distortion, Whipping Boy and DC's Youth Brigade.

The band recorded their tunes back in the summer of 1982, but despite their impressive by-the-way-of 2016 pedigree (various members went on to play in The Necros, Negative Approach, Shock Therapy, Laughing Hyenas, DaDa, Glass Heroes, Busted Hearts, and The Afflicted), the master tapes were lost and the songs remained unreleased for over three decades until their 2015 discovery and rescue at the hands of Lysergic Sound Distributors.
There's seventeen warp speed songs here with classic doom and gloom Reagan-era song titles like: "What Don't I Hate?", "Now I Want To Die", "Kill Everyone" and "I Don't Like Cops". This record is like a super-concentrated met hit of punk rock negativity and nihilism.

Material recorded June / July 1982, never properly released prior to this LP.

Last track on side B clearly states what had to be the next Greg "Itchy" McCormick band direction, being a so dramatic slow sad keyboard driven tune in the truly Shock Therapy mood.