Minor Threat to release Out Of Step Outtakes to mark the 40th anniversary of the original EP

Minor Threat and Don Zientara at Inner Ear Studio (Image credit: Dischord)

Dischord Records are to release an Out Of Step Outtakes EP by Minor Threat on seven inch vinyl to mark the 40th anniversary of the original EP.

A press release from the Washington DC label explains the story behind the EP, as follows:

In January 1983, Minor Threat went into Inner Ear Studio for the first time as a five-piece (Brian Baker had moved from bass to second guitar and Steve Hansgen was now playing bass). They had six new songs that would end up being the center piece of what became the Out of Step 12″ EP.

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The band had also decided to re-record the song Out of Step with some extra language to try to clarify the lyrics, as well as Cashing In, a tongue-in-cheek song about the DC punk scene which they had only played live once.

After much debate, Cashing In was added as a hidden track on the original vinyl release though not listed on the cover or label. There was still blank tape on the reel, so they decided to record an instrumental with the working title, Addams Family and then recorded new versions of In My Eyes and Filler to hear what they sounded like with two guitars.

Addams Family ended up being used as a coda to Cashing In, but the other two songs were never mixed and largely forgotten for over 35 years until the multitrack tapes were taken into the studio to be digitized in 2021.

Surprised by the discovery, Ian [MacKaye] and Don Zientara mixed the two songs along with the complete take of Addams Family. These outtakes are now being released on a 7″ to mark the 40th anniversary of the release of Out of Step.

The EP can be pre-ordered here.

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.