Photo by John Muheim
Trust Records is honored to announce the reissue of 7Seconds’ New Wind in its original form, as well as Change In My Head, which is a completely new take on the classic album with tracks remixed in their entirety by its original producer, Ian MacKaye alongside Inner Ear Studios’ Don Zientara. Restoring and reimagining New Wind’s unreleased tracks “Change In My Head” (available today) and “Compro” from the original 1985 D.C. Session, Change In My Head is a fresh snapshot of 7SECONDS in transition, but still very much of a hardcore punk band.
By 1986, 7SECONDS was a band at a crossroad. Spearheaded by brothers Kevin (Seconds) and Steve (Youth) Marvelli along with drummer Troy Mowat, the Reno-born band had emerged alongside first-generation hardcore trailblazers including Minor Threat to become a positive force in their own right. Having released the landmark album, The Crew (1984) and the scene-galvanizing Walk Together Rock Together EP (1985) on the Better Youth Organization label, 7SECONDS took melodic, singalong hardcore to inspirational ends. Yet, by mid-decade, they were evolving as musicians and looking towards more personal territory in much the same way their Dischord DC brethren were doing during their own Revolution Summer. New Wind embodied that change. Produced in two sessions: one with longtime friend, Ian MacKaye at Inner Ear Studios in Washington D.C. in the Fall of 1985 and a second at Radio Tokyo Studios in Venice, CA early the following year, New Wind was the work of a band with their ethics rooted firmly in their punk origins while being unafraid to blaze new directions away from a scene choking on its own self-imposed rulebook.
Kevin Seconds tells, “The whole time period, between the winter of 1985 and all throughout 1986, was arguably the most important and life-changing period for 7SECONDS. We all were starting to feel like the adults that we fought so rigorously to never become. Members were getting married, having kids, trying to hold down real jobs and face responsibilities while still maintaining our so-called “hardcore cred” and attempting to feel relevant. It was an incredibly emotional and complicated time for all of us but man, did it ever make us tough and more determined to do what we wanted to do as creative people and as a band.”
Steve Youth adds, “There were certainly bands that came before us. Bad Religion, they made records like Into the Unknown, where they shifted their sounds. People were calling T.S.O.L. L.O.S.T, but I loved their second album, Beneath the Shadows, which is more melodic and psychedelic. The Rites of Spring record was also very important to me. Egg Hunt. The boys were listening to U2 as well as the Buck Pets. I was listening to nothing but metal: Metallica, Megadeth, Dark Angel, but I was also listening to a lot of R.E.M.”
While the album is inspirational with 7SECONDS classics, including “New Wind” and “Still Believe”, it’s unafraid to shift gears towards more melodic, lyrically personal directions with “Grown Apart” or “Opinion of Feelings”. Kevin’s voice and the band’s playing is more capable and richer, full of emotion and fire: showing traces of early U2 as well as the likes of Embrace or Marginal Man. An important record, New Wind was a divisive record for its time, garnering praise as well as critique. It also was the beginning of a new chapter for the band who made its name on aggression without anger.
New Wind and Change In My Head will be sold as one release, available across all digital retailers and in stores on May 23 via Trust Records, in partnership with BYO Records. New Wind’s original tapes were restored by Dan Johnson of Audio Archiving Services and was remastered by Grammy Award winning engineer Michael Graves. The vinyl version comes with a 24-page oral history with unseen photographs, flyers and memorabilia all laid out by Bryan Ray Turcotte.
Change In My Head was mixed by Ian MacKaye and Don Zientara at Inner Ear Studios, in January of 2023. The album was mastered by Pete Lyman of Infrasonic Studios.
Mark your calendars: Kevin Seconds and Ian Mackaye link up for a special in person conversation to discuss all things New Wind/Change In My Head. The event takes place in Los Angeles, California at Brain Dead Studios (611 N Fairfax Ave) on Tuesday, April 15th at 7PM. Tickets are on sale now, to purchase, go here. Trust Records will also air the discussion live on the label’s YouTube Here where viewers are welcome to leave questions in the comments.
