HIS DARK MATERIALS: Before forming the Dark, all four members were in the locally based the Decapitators from 1979 until 1980. That group played just one show at a rec center in Shaker Heights, delivering some of their own material along with 90 minutes of covers of songs by the Ramones, Dead Boys, Germs and Crime. A year after the band stopped playing, Dark ran into Griffin on the RTA Rapid, and the two began talking about playing together again. They asked Dark’s brother Scott Eakin to play bass and friend David Araca to play drums. On Nov. 1, 1981, they officially became the Dark. Word got out that Mike Hudson (of the local punk band the Pagans) was putting together a compilation album titled Cleveland Confidential and was looking for bands around the area to be on it, The Dark set up a meeting with Hudson, and he was knocked out by how young they were. The Dark debuted live on Jan. 9, 1982, and Hudson became their manager after that night.
FROM PUNK TO HARDCORE: The Dark moved out of the punk scene and into the hardcore scene, playing infamous Club Hell shows in the Akron area. “We had a unique sound,” says Dark. “We mixed punk and hardcore with some death rock and Gothic stuff.” The band recorded an album before imploding in 1984. Dark says it was a particularly fertile period for Cleveland’s underground rock scene. “I personally think that Northeast Ohio had a fantastic music scene back then,” he says. “I just think it was very underrated, and that’s why I put out The New Hope compilation in 1983 featuring many of the bands at the time. There were unique bands, and they didn’t sound the same either. I have great memories of that time. I saw all kinds of different bands — not just punk. Let’s put it this way. I had a great time growing up.”
BLAST FROM THE PAST: When Griffin, who now lives in Cleveland and runs the indie label Scat Records, decided to dig into the vaults to re-release the Dark songs from the early ’80s on Scat as a vinyl and digital download dubbed Dressing the Corpse, Dark suggested some version of the band play a release party. Griffin agreed and will reunite to play a few songs with Dark at an upcoming Beachland Tavern show. “When we get up and play at the Beachland, it will be me doing songs from my past bands,” says Dark. Dressing the Corpse arrives on Scat Records on March 23. It features four unreleased tracks: a live track from 1984; the first recording of the single “I Can Wait” from 1981; and two tracks recorded in a friend’s living room in 1982.
WHY YOU SHOULD HEAR THEM: Songs such as “I Can Wait” feature distorted guitars and possess a simmering intensity and a Dead Boys-like quality. The muffled vocals and brittle guitar solo in “Put Your Hand Through the Plastic” suggest the main energy of the Sex Pistols.
WHERE YOU CAN HEAR THEM: thedarkcle.bandcamp.com/album/dressing-the-corpse.
WHERE YOU CAN SEE THEM: The Tom Dark Band performs with Tufted Puffins, Kill the Hippies and Muzzle at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 25, at the Beachland Tavern.
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This article appears in Feb 22 – Mar 7, 2023.
