Living in the shadow of New York, the world tends to leave out New Jersey when talking about great 1980’s punk bands. But from The Misfits and Bouncing Souls to U.S. Chaos and Adrenalin O.D., there was a thriving punk and hardcore scene centered around clubs like Trenton’s infamous City Gardens. Among the underdogs who never quite got the recognition they deserved outside of the Garden State were Detention.
One of the first Jersey punk bands, Detention were founded in Hillsboro in the early 1980s by Kevin Shields. “Detention came about because I decided to be a player, not a spectator,” he explains. “The easiest way was to recruit my family, so I turned to my brothers. I bought a bass, but I didn’t know how to play it. My brother Paul suggested I get in touch with this guitarist, Rodney Matejek. He showed me how to play simply, and within months, we started coming up with riffs, and what would become songs came very quickly.” Along with Shields and Matjek, the band included singer Paul Shields and drummer Daniel Shields.
Left For Dead Records recently released Dead Rock ‘N Rollers featuring 10 tracks. It includes their debut single, “Dead Rock ‘N Rollers,” and the B-side “El Salvador” along with songs from their eponymous debut album and unreleased music. The record is a time capsule of the roots of East Coast punk rock in its infancy. It’s not over-stylized and certainly not overproduced, just simple, fun blasts of frenetic energy, Loud distorted guitars over vocals that vacillate between politics (“El Salvado,” “Anti-A”) and partying (“Beach,” “Too Noisy”). The vocals sound a bit like Milo from The Descendents and The Dead Kennedy’s Jello Biafra, and you can see a pretty clear line from Detention’s music to Philly’s The Dead Milkmen, who almost certainly ran in the same circles as their neighbors to the east.
The record ends on “Beach,” a regionally specific take on the Beach Boys via punk rock, but a song that still has as much appeal today as it did when it first came out nearly four decades ago.
The band released their self-produced, self-titled album in 1985 before calling it a day. And while they may not have had much more to say to the world beyond these 10 songs (including one instrumental), it’s great that people outside of Jersey will finally get their chance to hear what could have been. The re-release is available on CD and limited edition, 12-inch, 45 RPM vinyl (200 black, 100 coke bottle clear).
