Windian WIN20048 Ebenezer & The Bludgeons Peer Pressure

With tracks featured on three different KILLED BY DEATH comps, Baltimore, Maryland’s EBENEZER & THE BLUDGEONS’ first and only EP “PEER PRESSURE” from 1978 is both a classic slab of early American New Wave and prohibitively rare and hard to appreciate until now. Side A starts with “FAKE”, a straight-head rock n’ roller played with Damned-like precision, followed by “GERTIE”, a wild narration about an albino scene kid and her struggles told over a jangly guitar-led verse and group chant chorus.

Side B is where this record really gets going - “WEEKEND NAZI” aggressively mocks the Nazi chic fad brought over to our shores from UK punk, while “OH! I LOVE THIS WEATHER” predicts with amazing clarity the coming of Fugazi and American Hardcore with its dry, pummeling bass riff and staccato breakdowns.