United Mutation were the flagship act on DSI Records in the early 1980s. Based in Northern Virginia, United Mutation attracted the interest of household punk names Ian MacKaye

Ian MacKaye

Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, label owner, and producer. Active since 1979, MacKaye is best known for being the frontman of the influential hardcore punk bands Minor Threat and The Teen Idles, the post-hardcore bands Embrace and Fugazi, as well...

 who partnered with the band for a split label release on Dischord Records

Dischord Records

Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in the independent punk music of the D.C.-area music scene. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release Minor Disturbance by The Teen Idles...

 and Jello Biafra

Jello Biafra

Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...

 who insisted United Mutation open a Washington DC gig for the Dead Kennedys

Dead Kennedys

Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....

. Never prolific at gigging, United Mutation managed to get out releases over the years on not only their own DSI Records and spin off Living Nightengale but also German labels Bitzcore and Lost and Found. United Mutation vocalist Mike Brown's unique delivery has ensured that fans of the crust punk

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...

sub genre continue to spend collector's prices on old vinyl releases as they surface from time to time on ebay.

External links

• 'Still Rockin' on the Ice' (Article on page 14 about United Mutation bassist Jay Fox in The Antarctic Sun, an online newspaper of the U.S. Antarctic Program)