Freddy K and the Breeze, Death

Almost more compelling to me than the lost classics of the acid casualties and unknowns that make great music and then disappear are the lost classics of those acid casualties and unknowns that make great music and then find Jesus. For some, that chapter is where the story ends or turns into something far less interesting. But I think the salvation sought by the born-again is driven by very much the same spirit that brought those people to the drugs and the craziness, and perhaps even the music, too. And in that sense, I think it paints a much broader picture of the quest these souls, and perhaps all souls, are on.

Is religion the quick fix? The easiest answer? Sure. But for some people, perhaps the demons are so big that you need a bigger, broader answer. Just as you can't perform surgery with a chainsaw, you also can't cut down a tree with a scalpel. And again, the grandeur in the act of actually going so far as to repent and be born-again is borne of the same grandeur that makes the psychosis (and the music it produces) so compelling. Remember, too, even Dylan succumbed to the arms of the lord at some point.



Freddy K is one such acid-casualty turned Christian Fellow. In the late 80s, in various parts of Massachusetts, he and a revolving cast of bandmates pieced together two albums and a scrapped EP of snarling, druggy garage rock, very much in the vein of the snarling, druggy garage rock that Roky Erickson had been making a few years earlier. Recorded as Freddy K and the Breeze, 1987's "Immortally Wounded" and 1988's "Random Enforcement" were nothing more than regional curiosities, with his drug-fueled antics apparently receiving more attention than the music he was putting out.

The story pretty much trails off there and doesn't pick up again until Freddy reemerges from the woods, now saved, a "follower of Jesus," in his words, with a double CD collection of songs called "God Bless What?"

Here are two songs from his 1988 album "Random Enforcement."

Freddy K & The Breeze - Clean Friends
Freddy K & The Breeze - Kids Were Tough As Nails



While not as drug-fueled or psychotic, Death is another group of musicians who made intense and inspired rock and roll before finding the lord. In 1976, inspired by the local sounds of the MC5 and the Stooges, three black brothers from Detroit self-released a 7" of driven, politically-charged protopunk. Shortly thereafter, the group disbands and the brothers reform as a Christian rock band called The Fourth Movement.

"Politicians In My Eyes" is one of the greatest punk songs you will ever hear. Five minutes of blistering, melodic rage, halfway between Thin Lizzy and Bad Brains. Thankfully, Drag City will be reissuing the two songs, along with a whole EPs worth of unreleased material, in February.

(via Chunklet )
Death - Politicians In My Eyes

More info at:
Freddy K's website
Drag City