It was remarkably frigid on the evening of Friday the 13th outside of the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington. The glowing marquee read, “A Band Called Death with Rough Francis 13.”

As concertgoers slowly filled the theater, it became apparent that what would soon be performed right before our eyes would mark rock and roll history forever: the anniversary of Death’s arrival in Vermont in 1977.

Emerging during the early 1970s Detroit “Motown time,” as Bobby Hackney put it, was Death, a punk group formed by brothers David, Dannis and Bobby Hackney. The three found themselves amid a time when white audiences dominated rock and roll shows, drooling over acts like Bob Seger and The Who’s Pete Townshend’s guitar licks, while black audiences listened to rhythm and blues acts like Earth, Wind, and Fire. Unusually, the three African American brothers played punk.

Despite the band’s originally-infused music inspired by artists like Jimi Hendrix, Alice Cooper and The Who, David Hackney, the oldest brother, led the band in the direction of harder rock, gradually becoming more hardcore, taking on characteristics of prototypical punk rock as the band adopted their fateful name: Death, and would eventually become the first African American group to play punk before punk was punk.

“All of our lives, we grew up with this idea that we had to back up our brother, [David],” said Bobby Hackney in an email, who recalled how David came up with the idea behind the name Death and the logo comprised of four dots; three in the shape of a triangle, and another off the lower right dot- a concept David called the three elements of life.

“Each dot represents a single element: spiritual, mental, and physical,” Bobby said. “The fourth dot represents the guiding spirit that oversees all the elements combined: God.”

Remarkably, the brothers secured a recording contract with their first demo tapes that would compile into their debut full-length album, “…For the World To See” in a Motor City studio in 1975.

Though ironically, the music world never received the album in that incarnation since their representatives failed to sell the tapes to a distribution company.

Despite receiving countless rejections from various record labels due to the intimidating nature of the name, Death, Arista Records’ Clive Davis offered to release the master tapes, but only if the band changed their name, to which David refused.

Bobby recalled David telling his brothers, “If we give them the name of our band, we might as well give them everything else,” stated the Hollywood Reporter .

“We are fighting to maintain our identity,” proclaimed Dannis in the 2012 documentary “A Band Called Death,” directed by Burlington College alumnus Mark Covino and Jeff Howlett, which depicted the nostalgic, yet hopeful story of the band called Death.

With their contract cancelled, the brothers found themselves broke, and forced to sell off their instruments. At the same time, the Hackneys self-distributed singles on 45s, despite radio stations overlooking them.

Death released the single, “Politicians In My Eyes” / ”Keep On Knocking” in the fall of 1976 in Detroit, and by then corporate radio had taken over and it was near impossible to get air play on local rock radio. By February of 1977, brothers David, Dannis and Bobby relocated from Detroit to Vermont, and released two albums and a single as the gospel rock group, the 4th Movement

As David became increasingly homesick, he moved back to Detroit in 1981, and hauntingly enough, he handed over the Death master tapes to Bobby, telling him that one-day, somebody would come looking for them.

Upon David’s return to Detroit, Bobby and Dannis Hackney were left as a bass and drum duo, becoming immediately attracted to reggae music, forming the successful reggae band, Lambsbread, which helped to establish the reggae music scene in New England. The band was also instrumental in helping to establish the legendary annual Vermont Reggae Festival.

During this time in Detroit, while plagued by his demons, David succumbed to advancing alcoholism and detrimental smoking habits, developed lung cancer, and died in October of 2000.

The Hackneys went on to have children, yet never sharing the details of their Death experience with their kids.

“We had moved on in our lives and thought that chapter was over because we went through so much rejection with that music,” Bobby said in an interview with the NY Times in 2009. “We just didn’t want to relive it, and I especially didn’t want to relive it again with my children.”

The article titled, “This Band Was Punk Before Punk Was Punk,” reported that son of Bobby Hackney Sr., Julian Hackney, heard Death’s single at an underground party in San Francisco, and recognized his father’s voice. Soon after, Bobby Jr. did a Google search, and found the gold: Death’s only release. It was through what Bobby Sr. called a “huge underground demand” that the Death single was brought to the spotlight.

The three sons of Bobby Hackney Sr.: Julian, Urian, and Bobby Jr. went on to form a band called  Rough Francis , covering the songs of Death after discovering the old recordings with friends Dylan Giambatista, Paul Comegno, and  Steve Williams .

“[Rough Francis] is unleashed Punk Rock Royalty,” said Ieela Grant, drummer for opening act at the Flynn, Sistas In The Pit. “They are supposed to be doing what is happening. I have got so much love and respect for those guys. All of them have so much talent and energy,” she added.

In 2009, Drag City Records released all seven Death songs from their 1975 United Sound sessions on CD and LP under the title “...For the Whole World to See,” and in September of 2009, Death’s resurgence included three shows with original members Bobby and Dannis Hackney, and Lambsbread guitarist Bobbie Duncan taking the place of the late David Hackney.

“We had the master tapes in our own possession since we came from Detroit, and our brother David had brought extra tapes from Detroit before he died,” said Bobby, remembering David telling the brothers that one day the world would come looking for the Death tapes, and he was right.

Upon embarking on Death’s resurgence tour, the band has now received long overdue recognition. Though physically absent, David’s presence is always felt when playing music, Bobby told the audience at Friday’s show at the Flynn, which also featured Oakland-based act Sistas In The Pit and Rough Francis, who performed original tunes.

“The reception from the crowd was breathtaking during and after the show,” Shelley Doty, guitarist for Sistas In The Pit recalled in an email. “Early in the set I knew we were on a spectacular ride with the audience when I heard audible ‘whoo’s!’ from the crowd during a solo. Here we were, coming to a town where no one knew us, and in fact may not have even known we were on the bill,” she added.

In between opening acts, “A Band Called Death” directors Covino and Howlett presented unreleased deleted scenes from the making of the film. 

Death is currently writing and recording new music, having just released their first single this year since 1976, “Relief” / “Story of The World” off their “N.E.W.” album set to release in April.

“I know that if we are all still going, we’ll be playing rock and roll and whatever inspires us to create and perform music,” said Bobby Sr., who recalled during Friday’s show at the Flynn that upon Death’s arrival in Vermont as the three strolled along Main Street, David had pointed toward the marquee of the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, and said that, “one day we’d see our name up on there.” And now, Death performs, as David had wanted: for the whole world to see.