The film “A Band Called Death” will be screened for free in the Gallery Theater, Elaine Langone Center, on Tuesday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. It was released in 2014, and in 2016, the band DEATH was inducted into the new African American History Museum at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.
The film examines the accounts of of three blood brothers — David, Dennis and Bobby Hackney — calling themselves “DEATH” in Detroit in 1975 during the heyday of the Motown era, being an all-black rock band playing at what was considered to be a time of “white rock music.” It will focus on how the three brothers faced harsh rejection, criticism and ridicule from both black and white communities for playing rock music instead of black soul music and Motown. Now over 35 years later, their music is getting worldwide recognition and the three brothers are now being credited by rock music historians with having pre-dated the sound of punk music by over five years.
Bobby and Dennis Hackney will follow the film screening by presenting a free, public talk at Bucknell on Wednesday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m. in the Gallery Theatre, Elaine Langone Center.
Both events are part of the Griot Institute’s Spring Lecture and Performance Series on the theme of “Erasure: Blackness and the Fight Against Invisibility.” Additional information may be obtained at griot@bucknell.edu.