Bad Brains to release March 1979 first demo on 6 November

Bad Brains will release their first studio demo, recorded in March 1979, on 6 November via Trust Records. The collection is called Are You Ready: The First Studio Recording (Inner Ear - March 1979), a title that names the studio and the month it was taped. It will be issued on vinyl LP, cassette and digital download Pitchfork.

The session took place at Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, Virginia. Ian MacKaye remastered the audio for release, work that cleans and balances older tape so it transfers clearly to new pressings and streaming files. The band's official store describes the set as the first-ever release of that March 1979 session.

Six songs. The running order is 'Pay to Cum,' 'Don’t Bother Me,' 'Black Dots,' 'Migraine,' 'Send No Flowers' and 'Jamming at the Atlantis.'

Trust Records is handling the release across the three formats. A vinyl LP, in industry terms, is a 12-inch record, while a cassette is a small plastic tape and a digital release is a file sold for download or streaming. The official store lists the Black Dot Edition vinyl LP as a presale at $26.98 USD and the black-and-white split cassette at $15.00 USD, with orders due to begin shipping on 6 November 2026 Bad Brains official store.

Two public events in D.C. are organised around the release. Bassist Darryl Jenifer will join MacKaye for a conversation at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on 5 November, the night before street date. The evening programme puts the player and the remastering engineer in the same room to discuss the tape.

An archival Bad Brains exhibition at Lost Origins Gallery opens on 6 November. It is scheduled for release day, giving buyers a place to gather after the record goes on sale. The catalogue for the week therefore pairs listening with looking, with music in shops and paper and photographs on walls.

For fans, this means a chance to hear where the studio story started. A demo is an early test recording, often made quickly and at low cost before a band books longer sessions. This one stayed unreleased for more than four decades, which is why the date, the room and the remastering credit carry weight in the announcement.