Ahead of its 40th anniversary, hardcore punk stalwarts 7Seconds’ New Wind album will be reissued two ways: in its original form with its original title and as Change in My Head. Ian MacKaye, who co-produced the original album a year before he co-founded Fugazi, completely remixed the record with engineer Don Zientara. The band is previewing the record with one of two previously unreleased songs, “Change in My Head,” which the group recorded in 1985. Both versions will be packaged together and available on May 23.
“Change in My Head,” which bears all the hallmarks of the band’s signature sound, charges forward as frontman Kevin Seconds sings about clearing his mind of negative shit. It runs less than a minute but still leaves enough room for a guitar solo.
“The whole time period, between the winter of 1985 and all throughout 1986, was arguably the most important and life-changing period for 7Seconds,” Kevin Seconds said in a statement. “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.”
Bassist Steve Youth, who is Seconds’ brother, reflected on how the album fit into the hardcore milieu of the time. “There were certainly bands that came before us: Bad Religion, they made records like Into the Unknown, where they shifted their sounds,” he said. “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. [Ian MacKaye’s] 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.”
Kevin Seconds will reminisce with MacKaye on the period and the making of the album at a special Los Angeles event on April 15. Tickets are on sale now; the talk will also stream live on the YouTube channel of Trust Records, which is reissuing the album.
7Seconds only live performance at the moment will take place at the Punk Rock Bowling event in Las Vegas on Memorial Day weekend.
Change in My Head track list:
1. “New Wind”
2. “Tied Up”
3. “Opinion of Feelings”
4. “Grown Apart”
5. “Calendar”
6. “Put These Words”
7. “Man Enough to Care”
8. “Compro” (previously unreleased)
9. “Somebody Help Me Scream”
10. “Change in My Head” (previously unreleased)
11. “Expect to Change”
12. “Just One Day”
13. “The Inside”
14. “Still Believe”
15. “The Night Away”
New Wind track list:
1. “The Night Away”
2. “New Wind”
3. “Somebody Help Me Scream”
4. “Tied Up in Rhythm”
5. “Grown Apart”
6. “Man Enough to Care”
7. “Opinion of Feelings”
8. “The Inside”
9. “Calendar”
10. “Expect to Change”
11. “Still Believe”
12. “Put These Words to Music”
13. “Just One Day”
