Music
Dannis Hackney
· drummer
Drummer of Death, the Hackney brothers' mid-1970s Detroit trio, whose lost recordings were rediscovered in 2009 and rewrote the early history of punk.
- Detroit years
- 1950s–1977
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
The youngest of the three Hackney brothers, Dannis took up the drums after the Beatles' first Ed Sullivan appearance in 1964 and grew up playing with David and Bobby in the family's east side Detroit home. The brothers bought their first good instruments with money from their mother's accident settlement. His driving, precise drumming propelled Rock Fire Funk Express and, from 1973, Death, including the February 1975 session at United Sound Systems that produced “Politicians in My Eyes.” When the band broke up in 1977 he moved with Bobby to Burlington, Vermont, where the pair played gospel rock as the 4th Movement and reggae in Lambsbread; he later drummed for the Vermont band the Aerolites. After Drag City issued the 1975 tapes in 2009, he returned behind the kit for Death's reunion shows and new albums.
Highlights
- Drums on Death's 1975 recordings, released in 2009 as …For the Whole World to See
- Played with his brothers in the 4th Movement and Lambsbread in Vermont
- Back with Death since the 2009 reunion
- Featured in the documentary A Band Called Death (2012)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Recorded here · 1975
United Sound Systems
The studio where Death recorded on February 18, 1975.