MDC

F

ormed in Austin, Texas, and subsequently based in San Francisco, then Portland, Oregon, MDC is an American punk rock band among the first wave of bands to define the sound and style of American hardcore punk. Originally forming under the name The Stains in 1979, MDC have periodically changed the meaning of "MDC", the most frequent being "Millions of Dead Cops". The band's lyrical content expresses radical left political views proving to be influential within the punk subculture.

MDC released material through ex-Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra's independent label 'Alternative Tentacles'. In the 1990s, vocalist Dave Dictor published editorials for the internationally distributed fanzine Maximumrocknroll. Although MDC's initial run ended in 1995, the band spent five years on hiatus before returning in 2000.

The band's origins started out as The Stains in 1979 and playing their first gig under this name in August 1980, MDC. They were one of three pioneering hardcore punk bands in Austin, Texas, alongside Dicks and Big Boys. These bands frequently played together and established the Austin hardcore scene. They released one single as The Stains in 1981, featuring a slower version of the future MDC song John Wayne Was a Nazi backed with Born to Die; both later released on the debut MDC album with Black Flag and D.O.A. as influences, Millions of Dead Cops (1982) on their own label 'R Radical' under the membership of Dave Dictor (lead vocals), Ron Posner (guitar, backing vocals), Franco Mares (bass), Al Schvitz (drums) and Buxf Dicks/Tammy Cleveland/J.J. (backing vocals). Soon before the album release, the band had relocated to San Francisco, California, and renamed themselves MDC.

During the summer of 1982 they became involved in the Rock Against Reagan Tour, during which time they fell out with the band Bad Brains when Rastafarian singer H.R. learned that Big Boys' singer, Randy Turner, was gay. H.R. and MDC's Dave Dictor had an intense confrontation. Upon Bad Brains' departure from the bill, they refused to return a loan owed to Big Boys and instead left a note that reportedly read "burn in hell bloodclot faggot". The incident resulted in the MDC song Pay to Come Along. For MDC, 1982 ended with a tour of Europe with the Dead Kennedys which brought the band greater exposure in the punk scene outside of the U.S., especially in the UK.

By 1983 the band began to deemphasize the "Dead Cops" aspect of its name. Instead a hint of the mew name reference could be seen when they returned with the EP, Multi-Death Corporations. The EP broke new ground by addressing, in the lengthy liner notes and artwork, the growth of corporations and the violent suppression of left-wing politics in Central America. In 1984 they released another EP, Millions of Dead Children (also known as "Chicken Squawk"), this time dealing with vegetarian and vegan issues via a cowpunk tune. Iconoclastic punk rock cartoonist John Crawford, an outspoken critic of the band, was cynical in his assessment of the alteration of the band's initial name, which he characterized as "stupid" and "inflammatory."

Smoke Signals was released in 1986, their second album featuring a more diverse style than previously, with a foray into 1970s style rock with the song South Africa Is Free. This album also saw Gordon Fraser's first appearance as main guitarist. In the same year, MDC backed Michelle Shocked on a version of her song Fogtown that appears as a hidden track on her breakthrough album, Short Sharp Shocked.

Their third album, This Blood's for You (1987) saw them continuing to showcase orthodox hardcore punk style and classic rock, including a cover of the Cream song Politician. Themes again included intervention in Central America and criticism of the Reagan Administration. The albums Millions Of Damn Christians (1987) and Metal Devil Cokes (1989) closed the decade.

The 1990s featured a number of lineup changes starting with their 1991 album, Hey Cop! If I Had a Face Like Yours ..., featuring Bill Collins (ex-(Fang/Special Forces/Intensified Chaos)) on guitar and Matt Freeman (of Operation Ivy and Rancid) on bass. Collins wrote all the music on the album and sang three of the songs.

Shades of Brown (1993) featured the hip hop vegetarian song Real Food, Real People, Real Bullets. MDC, now with guitarist Chris Wilder (ex-Stikky) and bassist Erica Liss, marked the album with a tour of the former Soviet Union, making MDC the first American punk band to tour Russia. This was followed by two more European tours and several U.S. tours until 1995, where began a lull in the band's activity. The lack of new recorded material, coupled with personal problems of band members, launched an informal break-up of the band.

Dictor returned with an entirely new backing line-up in 2000, which included Long Island musicians Matt Van Cura (bass), Erik Mischo (guitar) and John Soldo (Drums) to release Magnus Dominus Corpus (2004) and take part in a 25th anniversary world tour in 2005, with an all-original lineup. Over the next two decades the line-up would change to eventually settle on Russ Kalita (guitar), Barry d'live Ward (guitar), Mike Smith (bass), the returning Erica Liss (bass) and newly appointed Adam Crisis (drums) by 2023 to release Mein Trumpf (2017), Millions of Dead Cowboys (2020) and War Is A Racket (2023).