Artificial Peace
Complete Session November '81
2024 Dischord

“ARTIFICIAL PEACE lasted barely a year, but in that short time managed to become a leading band in the early DC hardcorepunk scene. PETE MURRAY had played in the short-lived RED C while MIKE MANOS, ROB MOSS and STEVE POLCARI were in a band called ASSAULT & BATTERY. Towards the end of 1981 they formed A.P. and began playing around town. They were tight, fast, and aggressive, prerequisites for most of the DC bands of the time, but also had a unique sound and surprisingly catchy songs. I loved the band and offered to record them at Inner Ear Studios. In November 1981 the studio was still a 4-track in the basement of DON ZIENTARA’s family house. The ‘live’ room was actually his children’s playroom, and the mixing desk and tape machine were set up next to the furnace in what could be described as spacious closet. A.P. knocked out their 17 songs in almost no time. I think we recorded, mixed, and sequenced the tape in two or three days and were very happy with the results. There may have been some discussion about putting a few of these songs on a 7” EP, but at that time all of the label’s resources had been put into releasing Flex Your Head, our first full-length album. FYH was a compilation documenting the DC punk scene and since A.P were one of the great young bands coming up at that time, we included three songs from their session. There never was an opportunity to do anything with the other 14 songs as Dischord was poor and, like many of the bands in DC at that time, A.P. was not long for this world. However, before breaking up in the latter half of 1982, A.P. recorded again at CAB studios in Rockville, MD and released those recordings on a split 7” (w/The Exiled). This was the fi rst release on the Fountain of Youth label. After A.P. disbanded, Pete, Steve, and Mike started playing with KENNY INOUYE and ANDRE LEE to form MARGINAL MAN. That band would release a 12” on Dischord as well as two full-lengths on Gasatanka and Giant respectively and continued playing for seven years. While working on the Dischord Archives, we came across the Artificial Peace November 81 session and decided that the tape should be finally and properly released in its entirety. Artificial Peace may well be an obscure band, but their effect on the DC scene was signifi cant and played a sure role in the evolution of the music.”—Ian MacKaye, 2010