Punk Rock Flashback: 7 Seconds — Skins, Brains, and Guts

There is nothing more uplifting than being an outcast in a small town. To claim individuality and move away from the herd is something to be celebrated. And there’s nothing more lonely than being an outcast amongst a system of closed-minded pricks who spent more energy yelling childish names than trying to understand how uniqueness and creativity works outside of social norms. “Hey art fag!” “Look it’s the freak fuck!”

In high school there were not many punks in my small town. We had the token New Wave alternative couple with the Howard Jones hair and Siouxsie short cut. I’m sure they were either feared or ridiculed. But they were off in their own planet.

But punks were a rarity outside the city and being a skate kid, I was looking for a new kind of kick. I roamed the halls of school with skater thrash albums and skate stickers on my board, my folders. . . sax case.

One day, a kid came up to me, “You into punk music?” He needed money for weed, and I was in search of vinyl. I was fresh into discovering punk rock, and I needed to grab hold of any ounce of speed that I could get. I was immersing myself in the hardcore scene, and it adrenaline at its purist form. I will not elucidate on each album that fell into my hands; albums I still have with me today. That will come at a later time. For my purposes here, one of those albums was 7 Seconds, Walk Together Rock Together.

That album changed my life! Through each flaw and each crackle, its scars became a handbook for how to live. Kevin Seconds spoke to me.

“It’s not the way we look.
It’s not our stance, our style, our hair.
Forget those stupid barriers.
Take down the ‘flag’ you wear.
Just people living on,
With different heart and different minds.
If we lived in the same world,
Why can’t we stand in the same line.”

Those lines became the backbone of how I treated everyone despite whatever difference or flaw that we had. If we can walk together, then we can rock together. I took that philosophy to the pit, to the streets, and in school. Suddenly, shallow words and derogatory messages meant nothing to me.

Provo, Utah’s 7 Seconds manifested through different genres throughout the years. After dissecting every morsel of Walk Together, Rock Together, I wanted more. I spent many days going to the city and the northside. On the Broad Ripple strip was one of the coolest alternative music shop, Second Time Around. Picture basic record store layout, but with the freshest punk, goth and New Wave echoing throughout the store. It was there I heard Skins, Brains and Guts. It was dirty and raw. Kevin Seconds sped through gritty lyrical cadence. It was not the same inspirational poster demeanor as Walk Together, Rock Together. And it was not as polished as 1984’s The Crew.

“Smash this town to bits we do, no one’s gonna mess with you.
Take ‘em on we ain’t afraid, angry kids so hear us say:
We’re Skinheads, brains, guts!

This was an EP coming from a band trying to find their way. A catalyst to the Reno hardcore scene and eventually a pivotal band in the Youth Crew movement. Kevin Seconds’s songwriting was intelligent, blending in sarcasm with a strong stance for anti-racism (“Racism Sucks” and “Anti-Klan”). The skins bought it, and those who paid attention celebrated it. Their Oi sound only made it all feel more real.

Skins, Brains, and Guts was a regression from how I was introduced to the band. But the early 7 Seconds era is full of passion and fury that emitted raw energy that fired up many punkers ready hungry to inspire West Coast hardcore of the 1980s.