two videos- Willful Neglect live at The Upper Deck- Minneapolis, and Castle Greens- North St Paul, 1982

St Paul’s finest. Two minutes total for each clip! This is how they rolled back then.

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Thanks to Roger DeBace for getting these videos together, they give me goosebumps.
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Bio:

Willful Neglect were a band from the East Side of St. Paul, Minnesota. The band was formed in late 1981. In less than a year Willful Neglect had 12 original songs and in the summer of ’82 decided to record at Blackberry Way Studios with Steve Fjelstad, who also recorded many Twin Tone Records acts. The result was the Willful Neglect 12″ EP, released November of 1982 on the band’s Neglected Records. Maximum Rock’n’Roll fanzine called “Abort the Mission” from the EP “one of the best songs of 1982” on the cover of MRR issue #4.

They were featured on local CBS affiliate WCCO-TV on a “Local Punk” news report, where a show at Castle Greens in North St. Paul was filmed for broadcast. The band also played clubs in St Paul & Minneapolis such as The 7th Street Entry, McCafferty’s, and Goofy’s Upper Deck with bands such as Hüsker Dü, Minor Threat, The Circle Jerks, Loud Fast Rules (who became Soul Asylum), The Effigies, Rifle Sport, Man-Sized Action, Final Conflict, Ground Zero, The Reds, and Civil Defense. They then started to play other Midwestern cities such as Chicago and Milwaukee while becoming friends with The Effigies, Die Kreuzen, Naked Raygun, Articles of Faith, Sacred Order, Rights of the Accused, The Clitboys, and Negative Element.

Willful Neglect recorded their second 12″ EP Justice For No One in early 1983, once again employing Steve Fjelstad at Blackberry Way. The Replacements recorded their EP Stink the very same month in the same studio. Justice For No One was released in the summer of 1983 on Neglected Records. The band then toured the West Coast in August, playing Reno, San Jose, San Francisco, San Fernando Valley, East LA, and Albuquerque. They shared the stage with bands like DRI, SS Decontrol, Government Issue, Agression, Ill Repute, The Fuckups, Los Olvidados, Plain Wrap, and Personality Crisis, and stayed at the BYO house in Hollywood while in southern California.

A third record was recorded but not released “Big Enough to Get It” Six of the tracks from Big Enough… have ended up on 1982-1984, a CD released Fall of 2003 on Neglected Records. This CD contains all 23 tracks from both of the first two EPs with the six bonus tracks.

Rory and Jimmy, fall 2013