'Destroy All Art' Is A Punk Rock Compilation Shedding New Light on Obscure Hits of the 90s

Showcasing rare punk songs from the 70s and early 80s, the Killed By Death records were a legendary series of bootleg compilations that began appearing in the late 80s. Inspired by Lenny Kaye’s 1972 Nuggets compilation of US garage rock singles from the mid-to-late 60s, the KBD series shed light on obscure and often limited-run or out of print songs from North American and European punk bands. While a certain mystery surrounded the records - many were produced illegally, and as such, lacked contact information or proper liner notes - their impact was huge and resulted in original copies of some of the singles fetching ridiculous collector prices.

Inspired by Killed By Death, as well as other influential punk reissue series such as Bloodstains Across ….. and Back from the Grave, Andrew Winton has released Destroy All Art, a compilation of obscure songs taken from 90s seven-inch singles. Typically released in small quantities by the band themselves or small labels with little to no promo budget, most ended up in the $3 bins of independent record stores. Including bands from the US, Europe and Germany with names such as Cock Scratch, I’m Gonna Stab You, Epileptix and Last Sons of Krypton, Destroy All Art is brimming with quality obscure punk rock.

We sent Andrew some questions to find out the process of putting the comp together.

Noisey: Did the idea of the comp start with any particular single or song?
Andrew Winton: I can't think of one particular record or song that really lit the fuse. The thought really came sometime during 2005 and 2006 when I started checking out David Hyde's Cheap Rewards articles on the Terminal Boredom website and following the Static Party blog which was run by Scott Soriano and Ryan Wells.

Scott and Ryan both contributed a good amount to Destroy All Art. Scott, who runs SS Records, did the vinyl clean up and transfer to disc as well as label advice and Ryan with the liner notes and record descriptions.

As I scrolled through the entries on the Static Party blog and Hyde's articles, I noticed records that I already had and discovered some real gems that I had never heard of before such as the Firewood 7" which is one of the bands on the comp. Seeing and hearing all of those records really got me to start thinking about that decade and how there were still undiscovered gems out there. I started to wonder why there hadn't been a comp already that was dedicated to that era and then I started to think, hell, maybe I'll do one someday if someone doesn't beat me to it.

How did you decide who or what to include?
It was important to make the comp enjoyable from start to finish and not have records included solely based on their obscurity. I also wanted to showcase a broad spectrum of what was going on during that time in different parts of the country as well as the world and not focus too much on one particular area.

You’ve been putting together this comp for two years! When did you know it was finished?
I originally had 20 tracks and was going to call it Learn to Hate in the 90s, a take on the Bobby Soxx song "Learn to Hate in the 80's." But Scott suggested going with Destroy All Art, the title of the other track on the Stiffs 7". He also suggested that I cut three tracks in order to help with the sound quality and to not overwhelm the listener by having too much content.

Do you have a favourite garage punk reissue?
I think I have to go with Feel Lucky, Punk? the first comp of this kind that I ever bought. It was while I was living in the Bay Area in the late 90's and I remember buying it because I recognized a few of the bands on it like the Queers, The Lewd. That record was definitely a game changer. Also, the Bloodstains Across California and Texas were extremely eye opening for me. Hearing stuff like Bobby Soxx, Vomit Pigs and The Maggots for the first time both excited me and bummed me out at the same time. I thought to myself "How the hell am I gonna find these records?" Thanks to the internet, that's all changed of course.

The internet was a different place back then. Was it funny looking at some of these bands online presence?
With some of these bands I've seen little to no online presence. Last Sons of Krypton has some stuff on YouTube as well as I'm Gonna Stab You and the Stiffs but outside of the blogs and articles I mentioned, there really wasn't much content on them.

What is the rarest or hardest to find single that is included on the album?
I would have to say the Several Species 7" is the toughest pull on this one. Only 100 were pressed and a good number of them are without the original sleeve. Also the I'm Gonna Stab You 7". Three hundred were pressed with very little distribution or promotion. They were also one of the few bands on the comp that I actually saw live. They were great.

Last Sons of Krypton played at Goner Fest. Have many of the bands reformed or still play?
Not to my knowledge. But, perhaps this LP could light the fuse for a few of these bands to come out to do a show or more.

‘Destory All Art’ is available now from Rock N Roll Parasite.