In October of 1980, 19-year-old Henry Garfield — who you now know as Henry Rollins — formed his first band, the Washington, DC group State of Alert (SOA). The band released 13 songs through Dischord Records — three on the Flex Your Head compilation record, and 10 on their only album, the EP No Policy, which was Dischord’s second-ever release. The band only performed nine shows before disbanding in July 1981. Garfield moved to Los Angeles to become the vocalist of Black Flag, while his bandmates — guitarist Michael Hampton, bassist Wendel Blow, and drummer Simon Jacobsen — eventually went on to perform in groups such as The Faith, Embrace, and Iron Cross.

The band still found time to record, though, and in March 2014, Dischord Records will be releasing a seven-inch, First Demo 12/29/80, that is comprised of mostly unreleased tracks. The recording was done with Skip Groff, who owned the Rockville, Maryland-based record store Yesterday and Today. First Demo 12/29/80 collects the eight songs that S.O.A. recorded with Groff — two of the tracks (“Disease” and “Stepping Stone Party”) were released on Flex Your Head,  and “Gonna Have to Fight” was included on the No Policy EP. The rest are unreleased versions. The demo will be released as a seven-inch and in MP3 format.

First Demo 12/29/80 Track List:
1.Public Defender
2. Gonna Have to Fight
3. Gang Fight
4. Disease
5. Draw a Blank
6. War Zone
7. Riot
8. Stepping Stone Party