Blight

Formed in 1982 in Lansing, Michigan, Blight was created in the wake of another great band's demise - The Fix, one of the earliest bands of the Midwest hardcore scene. Two of its members, Steve Miller (guitar) and Mike Achtenberg (bass) met head on with Tesco Vee - lead throat and ringleader of the legendary Meatmen. With the addition of Pat Clark on drums, the band was complete, and ready to dive headlong into its short and fiery existence.

Staying together for a mere four months, the band's recorded output consisted of a single 7". The eponymous EP, with evocative song titles such as "Seven Winds Over the Gobi Desert", was recorded in 1982 and released on Touch and Go the next year. Live shows were sparse, with only five live appearances in that same time span. The sum total of Blight's recorded legacy consists of the Blight EP, a pair of 4 track demos, and live recordings culled from a July 1982 appearance in Detroit with the Dead Kennedys.

Within the realms of hardcore music, Blight stands as something unique. Sheets of wailing feedback wash over the proceedings unexpectedly mid-song. With the incessant, clanging industrial thud of Lansing as a soundtrack to their existence, the group was bound to sound industrial. Literally. Blight sounds like machinery set in motion. And appropriately, all the parts worked together in unison, a single unit moving forward. Punctuated only by the aforementioned wash of pure noise, or the electrified tones of Tesco's trumpet, the band was propelled by a single-minded purpose. Blight's existence was short, fleeting even, but the energy expounded within that time period was visceral, intimidating, artful, and completely essential. Blight was important, and the din they created was a brilliant one.