I had been holding off on posting this one for a little while, because my copy of the S.L.A. - Evil Empire LP didn't have any of the inserts, but just this week, I found another copy with the insert packet still sealed and I consulted some people about the history of the band, so here we are.
The S.L.A. were a somewhat short lived hardcore punk band (1984 - 1986) that was started by Derby O'Donnell on guitar, and Laura O'Donnell on bass who were married. They were a heavily political band, which of course riled up a certain cross section of individuals, and it's those white power skinheads that did their best to ruin virtually any show that The S.L.A. played. Eventually, this all led to the break up of the band.
Tracks 1 - 11 were engineered by Greg Sage in December of 1984, while tracks 12 - 15 were engineered by John Lindhal in Marck of 1985. The last two tracks on the album are live covers that were recorded by Greg Sage and Tom Robinson at Satyricon on 12/8/84. A couple of the tracks from this album later ended up on compilations, like the
Northwest Hardcore tape, and the City Of Thorns LP on Mystic Records. I've yet to see any evidence of another recording existing from The S.L.A., whether it be a demo, 7" or any other format.
I'm not sure what all the members were up to after The S.L.A., but I've been told that Laura became a professional harp player. Singer, Peter Nelson, went on to become the singer of Mule / Apt. 3G. A bass player that had succeeded Laura, by the name of John Bender, would leave the band in '86 to start up Dead Conspiracy as a punk band, but we all know what path they would take a mere year later, as Dead Conspiracy soon became underground progenitors of the death metal scene.
The S.L.A. - Evil Empire
[Eat Me Records - 1985]
