DMZ was a first-wave American punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 band from Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, strongly influenced by 1960s garage rock

Garage rock

Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...

. In early 1976, Jeff Conolly (sometimes credited as J. Connally, Mono Mann, Monoman, etc.) stole the lead vocalist position in the nascent band by out-performing their singer at one of the band's practices. Along with his vocals he brought two things the band lacked: keyboards (an electric piano) and original songs. Just over one year later, in April 1977, the band went into the recording studio

Recording studio

A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...

 with Craig Leon

Craig Leon

Craig Leon is an American born record producer, composer and arranger currently living in England. Leon was instrumental in launching the careers of many recording artists including The Ramones and Blondie...

 (who had produced

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 the Ramones

Ramones

The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...

 first album

Ramones (album)

Ramones is the self-titled debut studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones. It was released on April 23, 1976, through Sire Records. Prior to the band signing to Sire they were seen by Lisa Robinson, an editor of Hit Parader, during an early 1975 performance. Robinson began popularizing...

). Four songs from that session were released by Bomp!

Bomp! Records

Bomp! Records is an Los Angeles-based indie label formed in 1974 by fanzine publisher and music historian Greg Shaw.-History:The label has featured punk, pop, powerpop, garage rock, new wave, old school rock, neo-psychedelia among other genres, and its roster has included artists such as The Modern...

 on a 7" vinyl EP. DMZ was signed by Sire Records

Sire Records

Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...

 and went to New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 to record their debut album, produced by Flo & Eddie

Flo & Eddie

Flo & Eddie are a comedic musical duo.The two were the original founding members of the Top 40 rock group the Turtles. After the Turtles dissolved, Volman and Kaylan first joined the Mothers of Invention as "Phlorescent Leech & Eddie"...

. It was released in 1978 without much success and by the end of the year the group had splintered. Guitarists J. J. Rassler and Preston Wayne left to start the Odds, and Conolly, bassist Rick Coraccio and drummer Paul Murphy formed Lyres

Lyres (band)

Lyres are a Boston-area garage rock band led by Jeff "Monoman" Conolly. Lyres were founded in 1979 following the breakup of DMZ. Their most popular songs included "Don't Give It Up Now," "What A Girl Can't Do" and "Help You Ann"...

.

DMZ has re-formed periodically; a 1993 set appears on the Live at the Rat album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

.

Early drummer David Robinson

David Robinson (musician)

David Robinson is an American rock drummer. He has performed with many rock bands including The Modern Lovers, DMZ and The Cars.He attended Woburn Memorial High School....

 (who had previously been in The Modern Lovers

The Modern Lovers

The Modern Lovers were an American rock band led by Jonathan Richman in the 1970s and 1980s. The original band existed from 1970–74 but their recordings were not released until 1976 or later. It featured Richman and bassist Ernie Brooks with drummer David Robinson and keyboardist Jerry Harrison...

) left DMZ to join The Cars

The Cars

The Cars are an American rock band that emerged from the early New Wave music scene in the late 1970s. The band consisted of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Ric Ocasek, lead singer and bassist Benjamin Orr, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson...

. Bassist Mike Lewis later joined the Lyres

Lyres (band)

Lyres are a Boston-area garage rock band led by Jeff "Monoman" Conolly. Lyres were founded in 1979 following the breakup of DMZ. Their most popular songs included "Don't Give It Up Now," "What A Girl Can't Do" and "Help You Ann"...

 for a couple of years and later recorded with The A-Bones

The A-Bones

The A-Bones is a garage rock band from Brooklyn, New York. Their name was derived from a song by The Trashmen. The band was formed in 1984 by vocalist Billy Miller and his wife, drummer Miriam Linna; the couple had previously been the editors of the pop culture journal Kicks and later launched...

 and Yo La Tengo

Yo La Tengo

Yo La Tengo, sometimes abbreviated as YLT, is an American alternative rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan , Georgia Hubley , and James McNew .Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called "the quintessential...

.

Partial discography

• DMZ EP (1977, Bomp!
  Bomp! Records
  Bomp! Records is an Los Angeles-based indie label formed in 1974 by fanzine publisher and music historian Greg Shaw.-History:The label has featured punk, pop, powerpop, garage rock, new wave, old school rock, neo-psychedelia among other genres, and its roster has included artists such as The Modern...
  
  )

1. "Lift Up Your Hood"
2. "Busy Man"
3. "You're Gonna Miss Me" (originally recorded
   Sound recording and reproduction
   Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
   
    by the 13th Floor Elevators
   13th Floor Elevators
   The 13th Floor Elevators were an American rock band from Austin, Texas formed by guitarist and vocalist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, and guitarist Stacy Sutherland, which existed from 1965 to 1969...
   
   )
4. "When I Get Off"

• DMZ LP (1978, Sire
  Sire Records
  Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
  
  )

1. "Mighty Idy"
2. "Bad Attitude"
3. "Watch for Me Girl"
4. "Cinderella" (orig. recorded by The Sonics
   The Sonics
   The Sonics are an American garage rock band from Tacoma, Washington, originating from the early and mid-1960s. Among The Sonics' contemporaries were The Kingsmen, The Wailers, The Dynamics, The Regents, and Paul Revere & the Raiders...
   
   )
5. "Don't Jump Me Mother"
6. "Destroyer"
7. "Baby Boom"
8. "Out of Our Tree" (orig. recorded by The Wailers
   The Wailers (rock band)
   The Wailers, often credited as The Fabulous Wailers, were an American rock band from Tacoma, Washington. They became popular around the United States Pacific Northwest around the late 1950s and the start of the 1960s, performing saxophone-driven R&B and Chuck Berry rock and roll...
   
   )
9. "Border Line"
10. "Do Not Enter"
11. "From Home" (orig. recorded by The Troggs
    The Troggs
    The Troggs are an English rock band from the 1960s that had a number of hits in UK and the US. Their most famous songs include, "Wild Thing", "With a Girl Like You", and "Love Is All Around"...
    
    )

• Relics LP (1981, Voxx/Bomp!)
  • Includes the complete DMZ EP, as well as 5 previously unreleased 4-track demos recorded April 1977:

1. "Can't Stand the Pain" (orig. recorded by The Pretty Things
   The Pretty Things
   The Pretty Things are an English rock and roll band from London, who originally formed in 1963. They took their name from Bo Diddley's 1955 song "Pretty Thing" and, in their early days, were dubbed by the British press the "uglier cousins of the Rolling Stones". Their most commercially successful...
   
   )
2. "Do Not Enter"
3. "Shirt Loop"
4. "Guilty Child"
5. "Barracuda" (orig. recorded by The Standells
   The Standells
   The Standells are a garage rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in the 1960s, who have been referred to as the "Godfathers of Punk Rock", and are best known for their 1966 hit "Dirty Water," now the anthem of several Boston sports teams.-The 1960s:...
   
   )

• "When I Get Off"—The Classic Originals CD (1993, Voxx/Bomp!)
  • Includes same 5 demos as on Relics, plus live radio recordings (July 1976, WTBS
    WMBR
    WMBR is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology student-run college radio station, licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and broadcasting on 88.1 FM. It is all-volunteer and funded by listener donations and MIT funds...
    
    , Cambridge, Massachusetts):

1. "Busy Man"
2. "You're Gonna Miss Me"
3. "When I Get Off"
4. "Lift Up Your Hood"
5. "Comin' After Me" (orig. recorded by The Flamin' Groovies)
6. "Bloody Englishmen"
7. "First Time"
8. "Oedipus Show"
9. "Rosalyn" (orig. recorded by The Pretty Things)
10. "Mighty Idy"
11. "From Home"
12. "Are You Gonna Be There" (orig. recorded by The Chocolate Watch Band)
13. "Pretty Girl"

• Live at the Rat CD (2001, Bomp!)
  • Recorded in 1976 + 1993

1. "Intro"
2. "First Time Is the Best Time"
3. "Boy from Nowhere"
4. "Ball Me Out"
5. "Lift Up Your Hood"
6. "Go to School"
7. "Watch for Me Girl"
8. "Don't Jump Me Mother"
9. "Don't Start Cryin' Now" (orig. recorded by Slim Harpo
   Slim Harpo
   Slim Harpo was an American blues musician. He was known as a master of the blues harmonica; the name "Slim Harpo" was derived from "harp," the popular nickname for the harmonica in blues circles.-Early life:...
   
   ; also recorded by Them
   Them (band)
   Them were a Northern Irish band formed in Belfast in April 1964, most prominently known for the garage rock standard "Gloria" and launching singer Van Morrison's musical career...
   
   )
10. "Raw Power" (orig. recorded by Iggy and the Stooges
    The Stooges
    The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
    
    )
11. "Cinderella"
12. "He's Waiting"
13. "Frenzy" (orig. recorded by The Fugs
    The Fugs
    The Fugs are a band formed in New York in late 1964 by poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of the Holy Modal Rounders...
    
    )
14. "When I Get Off"
15. "Out of Our Tree"
16. "Mighty Idy"
17. "You're Gonna Miss Me"