In November 2016, MDC released a video for the forthcoming release of a new recording of “Born to Die”, made to protest the Donald Trump presidential campaign . The song’s slogan “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA” was reported to be heard at anti-Trump demonstrations, at The Women’s March…
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MDC’s singer, Dave Dictor , returned with an entirely new backing line-up in 2000, which included Long Island musicians Matt Van Cura (bass), Erik Mischo (guitar), and John Soldo (Drums). MDC released a new album, Magnus Dominus Corpus , in 2004. They took part in a 25th anniversary world tour…
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The 1990s opened with a number of lineup changes, swiftly followed by the 1991 album Hey Cop! If I Had a Face Like Yours … , featuring Bill Collins (formerly of Fang , Special Forces, Intensified Chaos) on guitar and Matt Freeman (of Operation Ivy and Rancid ) on bass.…
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Their third album, This Blood’s for You , followed in 1987 and saw them continuing to showcase orthodox hardcore punk style and classic rock, including a cover of the Cream song “Politician”. Themes again included intervention in Central America and criticism of the Reagan Administration . MDC toured Europe in…
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Smoke Signals was released in 1986, their second album featuring a more diverse style than previously, with a foray into ’70s rock with the song “South Africa Is Free”. This album also saw Gordon Fraser’s first appearance as main guitarist. In the same year, MDC backed Michelle Shocked on a…
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Their involvement in the Rock Against Reagan activities continued through 1983 and they returned to recording with the EP “Multi-Death Corporations” which was distributed in the UK by British anarcho-punk label Crass Records and R Radical in the U.S. The EP broke new ground by addressing, in the lengthy liner…
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In 1983 the band began to deemphasize the “Dead Cops” aspect of its name, as drummer Al Schvitz noted in a Flipside interview:
By 1982 the band had relocated to San Francisco, California, and renamed themselves MDC. By this point the band were active participants in the growing hardcore scene and released their debut LP Millions of Dead Cops on their own label, R Radical; Jello Biafra ‘s Alternative Tentacles helped with distribution.…
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During the summer of 1982 they became involved in the Rock Against Reagan Tour, during which time they fell out with the band Bad Brains when Rastafarian singer H.R. learned that Big Boys ‘ singer, Randy Turner , was gay. H.R. and MDC’s Dave Dictor had an intense confrontation. Upon…
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Formed in the late 1970s as The Stains and playing their first gig under this name in August 1980, MDC were one of three pioneering hardcore punk bands in Austin, Texas , in the early ’80s, alongside The Dicks and Big Boys . These bands frequently played together and established…
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