Bad Brains’ Long-Lost 1979 Inner Ear Studios Demo Tape Surfaces

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Bad Brains Unearth Mythical First Demo Tape

Are You Ready: The First Studio Recording documents the D.C. punk legends’ 1979 session at Arlington, Virginia’s Inner Ear Studios By Walden Green September 23, 2026 Save this story Save this story

Legendary D.C. punks Bad Brains are issuing their long sought-after first demo tape. Recorded in 1979 at Arlington, Virginia’s Inner Ear Studios and newly remastered by Ian MacKaye , Are You Ready: The First Studio Recording (Inner Ear - March 1979) will be available on vinyl LP, cassette, and digitally come November 6 via Trust Records . Below, hear the early studio version of Bad Brains’ debut 7”, “ Pay to Cum ,” accompanied by footage of the band performing at CBGB’s in October 1979.

In a press statement, Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jenifer said, "The riff for ‘Pay to Cum’ started as a stream of punk rock vibes fueled by the Ramones, The Damned, and Return to Forever. It was a gift that served as a springboard into our sound - sheer, straight-ahead three-chord mayhem with a few breaks and a stop. The title actually meant nothing to us; it was just a fun-loving play on words.”

Bad Brains put out their last album, Into the Future , in 2012. The years since have seen various band members plagued with health issues: Dr. Know was hospitalized for cardiac arrest, Paul “H.R.” Hudson underwent brain surgery , and, in 2020, Bad Brains’ original singer, Sid McCray, passed away . The release of Are You Ready will be preceded by two events: a conversation between Jenifer and MacKaye at D.C.’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on November 5, and an archival Bad Brains exhibition at the city’s Lost Origins Gallery, which opens November 6.

Read about Bad Brains’ 1982 self-titled debut at No. 41 in The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s .

Bad Brains: ARE YOU READY: THE FIRST STUDIO RECORDING (Inner Ear - March 1979) $30 at Rough Trade

Are You Ready: The First Studio Recording (Inner Ear - March 1979) : 01 Pay to Cum 02 Don’t Bother Me 03 Black Dots 04 Migraine 05 Send No Flowers 06 Jamming at the Atlantis

Walden Green is a music writer and cultural critic who joined Pitchfork in 2024. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, his work has appeared in Dirt, The Fader , and Philadelphia . He lives in New York. ... Read More Staff Writer - -

_Originally reported by [Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/story/bad-brains-unearth-mythical-first-demo-tape/)._