IRON CROSS - Hated & Proud EP 1983

Nothing new in Blogland and not my rips but somehow I listen now to good Skinhead Oi! and for those who do not know them I choose lots of infos from wiki: Iron Cross is a fuckin' great band from Washington D.C. and they play a rough form of street punk and are one of the first bands in the US to adopt the skinhead look and Oi! style. Some early members had close ties to the D.C. hardcore subculture, due to its relationship with other bands, with Ian MacKaye and with Dischord Records. Singer Sab Grey was one of the many roommates in the Dischord House in Arlington, Virginia. The band's name, and with most of its members being skinheads, led to accusations of fascism, which Grey and others in the band and the original D.C. skins have always denied. Iron Cross formed when Dante Ferrando met Sab Grey. Ferrando was previously in the band Broken Cross with Mark Haggerty while in school. When Grey and Dante decided to start a new band, Grey suggested the name Iron Cross. The first lineup consisted of Grey (vocals), Haggerty (guitar), Ferrando (drums) and John Falls (bass). This lineup lasted a very short time, with Falls leaving after Iron Cross's early show at American University. After Falls's departure, the band went through two more bassists before settling on Wendell Blow, the former bassist for the D.C. hardcores of State Of Alert (SOA). The only non-skinhead in the band was Dante, who has usually maintained a spiky punk hairstyle. The band's fourth lineup lasted until just after the recording of their first EP, Skinhead Glory (1000 copies), and just prior to its release. That EP features their signature song "Crucified", which was later covered by many Oi! and hardcore bands. After Blow left the band, he was replaced by John Dunn. Dunn had been an original member of the D.C. skins and was close friends with the band's members. Dunn left the band just before the release of their second EP, Hated & Proud on Skin Flint Records (1000 copies). He was replaced by Paul Cleary, who was a founding member of the D.C. bands Trenchmouth and Black Market Baby. The 1982 compilation Flex Your Head introduced three Iron Cross songs to an audience beyond the eastern United States.

 After further line-up changes that left Grey as the only original member of Iron Cross, the band broke up in 1985. Ferrando went on to form the band Gray Matter with Haggerty. Ferrando also played in the band Ignition. Haggerty went on to play with the bands Three and Severin. Blow and Dunn moved to Los Angeles in the late 1980s, and Dunn went on to play in several alternative rock bands. Grey moved to England, where he married and had children. Since then, Iron Cross has re-released their EPs and previously-unreleased material in the form of the full-length CD Live For Now. Grey, who continued performing and expanding his musical style, moved back to Baltimore and, as of 2006, was playing with The Royal Americans (a rockabilly-style band), was performing solo acoustic shows, and occasionally performed with a new lineup of Iron Cross, which completed a national tour in 2003.

A review: "This new Iron Cross represents a step forward for the band. For one thing, the lyrics are vastly better, especially in "Wolf Pack," where a stand is taken against mindless violence. For another, the songwriting is more developed. Finally, the production is much improved from a technical standpoint, though I personally prefer the gravelly guitar sound on their debut. "You're A Rebel" is an amazingly catchy Oi chant." (Jeff Bale, MMR #9, Oct/Nov 1983)

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