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S.O.A.

State of Alert (S.O.A.), led by the gruff and arresting delivery of vocalist Henry Garfield, made music both combative and incredibly concise, often in sub-one-minute packages. Garfield (who changed his last name to Rollins in 1981 when he moved to California to join Black Flag), guitarist Michael Hampton, bassist Wendel Blow, and drummer Simon Jacobsen (replaced in the band’s final months by future Faith drummer Ivor Hanson) released an EP on Dischord, No Policy and several songs on the Flex Your Head compilation. Active from Fall 1980 to Summer 1981, S.O.A. was a short-lived but important part of the D.C. hardcore scene’s development. Aside from Rollins’ tenure in Black Flag, band members appeared later in the Faith, Iron Cross, Embrace, One Last Wish, the Snakes, and Manifesto.

Drawn from the Sharon Cheslow Punk Flyers collection, the D.C. Punk collection, and the D.C. Punk and Indie Fanzine collection at Special Collections in Performing Arts at the University of Maryland.

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Fliers

Dark black-and-white flier with an official figure looking into binoculars.

S.O.A. - Reek's - Washington, D.C., 11/28/1980 and 11/29/1980

Black and white poster with stylized text, such as cut out letters, and images.

(Show 1) Minor Threat, Untouchables, S.O.A., Bad Brains, Best - 1929 Calvert St. - Washington, D.C.; (Shows 2 and 3) Unheard Music Festival: Nurses, Untouchables, Type-O, S.O.A., Half Japanese, G.I., Wiggly Mittens, Fluffy Pig - D.C. Space - Washington, D.C., 12/13/1980, 12/17/1980, and 12/18/1980

Handwritten flier for benefit concert featuring bands S.O.A., Minor Threat, Untouchables, etcetera.

S.O.A., Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Untouchables, Best, A Reggae Band - 1929 18th St. NW - Washington, D.C. (circa 1980s photocopy of original), 12/13/1980

Three show flier, containing event details and imagery of skulls and a skull army.

(Show 1) Untouchables, Minor Threat, S.O.A., Bad Brains - 1929 Calvert St. - Washington, D.C.; (Shows 2 and 3) Unheard Music Festival: Minor Threat, S.O.A., Zones, Nurses, Type-O - D.C. Space - Washington, D.C. (Three separate concerts are listed on flier. Circa 1980s photocopy of original), 12/13/1980, 12/17/1980, and 12/18/1980

Unheard Music Festival flier. The bottom half of the flier has a large illustration of two people in an urban setting with cars going by and a construction building in the back.

Unheard Music Festival: S.O.A., Untouchables, Minor Threat, Type-O, Nurses, Fluffy Pig, Wiggly Mittens - d.c. Space - Washington, D.C., 12/17/1980 and 12/18/1980

State of Alert flier with a background image of people partying, and large title text 'S.O.A' with featured bands Minor Threat and Black Market.

State of Alert, Black Market Baby, and Minor Threat - 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., January 10, 1981

Black and white State of Alert flier, with the band name (S.O.A) in large stylized text at the top, and and the featured bands underneath with event details.

State of Alert, Bad Brains, and Minor Threat - Washington, D.C., April 4, 1981

Youth Brigade flier with large white text on a dark background. At the top, 'YOUTH BRIGADE' is displayed in bold letters, with a diamond shape containing a cross placed in between the two words. Below this are the event details.

Youth Brigade, Minor Threat, Red C and State of Alert - Bethesda, Maryland, May 8, 1981

State of Alert flier. The background is black, with white 'X' symbols, and all of the text is black on a white background or black with white stroke, all different fonts.

State of Alert, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, and The Subhumans - Rumba Club, Washington, D.C., May 22, 1981

Black and white concert flier, with all the event details underneath, and everything is overlaid on a topographical Philadelphia map.

State of Alert and Black Flag - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 10, 1981

Zines

The title text on top says 'Capitol Crisis' and there is an image at the center of someone singing on stage holding onto a microphone. There is a banner at the bottom that says 'Black Market Baby'.

Capitol Crisis, Issue 4, March 1981

About

Persistent Vision presents the University of Maryland's digitized special collections materials related to punk in the Washington, D.C. area. Most of these materials reside at Special Collections in Performing Arts (SCPA) in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library. These materials help to tell the story of a subculture and a community that has thrived since 1976.

Curators: John Davis, Ben Jackson
Design: Ben Jackson, Natalie Salive
Authors: Ben Jackson, John Davis, and Jessica Grimmer

With help from: Cindy Zhao, Jeremy Gottwig, Amanda Henderson, Gabby Cameron, Hayden Kramer

Contact Us

Special Collections in Performing Arts is located in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library on University of Maryland’s College Park campus.

For general information about the library and our collections, contact us