A while back, Henry Rollins casually mentioned he was working on something with Ian MacKaye. As usual, that was enough to send people spiraling into speculation. A reunion? A spoken word thing? Some DC-meets-LA conceptual project? Turns out the reality was quieter, nerdier, and far more punk in the way that actually matters.
This story starts not in a studio, but in a house.
Gaye Advert, bassist of The Adverts, recently came across a forgotten tape sitting among her belongings. No hype, no archive label hunting for product, just a reel that had slipped through the cracks for decades. She sent it to Rollins, knowing he’s one of the few people obsessive enough to take this kind of thing seriously.
When the tape was digitized, the surprise hit hard. It contained two unreleased recordings by The Adverts: early versions of “We Who Wait” and “New Boys.” These were not alternate mixes or rehearsal demos that had quietly circulated before. These were proper studio recordings from 1977, never officially released, and largely unheard.
Even better, they were produced by Larry Wallis of Pink Fairies, tying the recordings directly into that messy, volatile moment when UK punk was still bleeding into underground rock, proto-punk, and counterculture leftovers. The tape itself dated back to a March 1977 session, meaning these songs were captured right as the first wave of punk was detonating across the UK.
Rollins handled the process the right way. No rush job, no digital shortcuts. The tape was transferred and preserved carefully, treated like the fragile artifact it was. From there, the decision was made to release the recordings properly, not as a curiosity, but as a real piece of punk history.
The two tracks will be released via In the Red Recordings, a label that has always understood the value of raw, unpolished punk and garage music. This is not nostalgia cosplay. It’s a straight archival release, finally giving these recordings a place in the world.
What makes this especially satisfying is how unplanned it all feels. Nobody was hunting for “lost Adverts material.” There was no anniversary deadline. No campaign. Just a band member finding a tape, sending it to the right person, and letting the music speak for itself.
That’s also a good excuse to remind people who The Adverts actually were.
Formed in 1976, The Adverts stood slightly apart from many of their punk peers. T.V. Smith wrote songs that were sharper and more literate than most, while Gaye Advert’s presence alone made the band stand out in a scene that was still overwhelmingly male and aggressively hostile. Their early singles, especially “One Chord Wonders,” were self-aware without being smug, fast without being disposable.
Then came “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes,” a song dark enough, weird enough, and catchy enough to punch through into the UK charts without softening its subject matter. Their debut album, Crossing the Red Sea with The Adverts, remains one of the strongest full-length punk records of the era, not because it’s perfect, but because it’s tense, frustrated, and smart in a way few bands managed in 1977.
The band burned out quickly. Internal issues, pressure, and the speed at which punk consumed its own took their toll. Like many first-wave bands, The Adverts left behind a short catalog and a long shadow.
Which is why this release matters…
Not because it “changes history,” but because it fills in a missing corner of it. Punk was never as documented as people pretend. Scenes were chaotic, preservation was accidental, and entire recordings vanished simply because no one thought they would matter later.
Sometimes punk history survives because someone didn’t throw something away.
