Veteran singer/guitarist Sonny Vincent is best known as the leader of the Testors, the New York City punk outfit he founded in the mid 1970s. Later on, he was in bands with Bob Stinson (the Replacements) and Cheetah Chrome (the Dead Boys), and he’s also played with members of the Sex Pistols, the Stooges, the MC5, as well as others of note—too many to list here. Vincent’s punk rock roots run deep, going back to a period before the genre was even established. There’s a compilation of proto-punk Vincent material that’s about to be released, and Dangerous Minds has a preview.

In the mid 1960s, Sonny Vincent was a teenage runaway living on the streets of New York City, but after he was arrested multiple times for pot possession, he was sent to reform school, then enlisted in the military—all against his will. In 1969, while on leave from the Marines, he cut the intense acid-blues number “She’s Like Hiroshima” with his first band, the Distance. In the early 1970s, after Vincent was discharged, the group reconvened. Though they had a wealth of original songs that they wanted to play live, gigs were tough to come by, as most smaller venues were only interested in hiring cover bands, and the Distance didn’t do covers. They did manage to book one show with a then virtually unknown Suicide (the poster for the gig is above).
 

Sonny Vincent fronting the Distance in 1971.

The Distance broke up following a major dust up between Sonny Vincent and Anthony Vitino, the bassist of the group. By the way, Vitino is currently serving life in prison for murdering the lead guitarist in his next band…!

“She’s Like Hiroshima,” along with two Distance tunes from 1971, are on the new Sonny Vincent collection, Diamond Distance & Liquid Fury: 1969-76. The compilation contains additional proto-punk fierceness from Vincent’s subsequent bands, Fury (1972) and Liquid Diamonds (1973-74). There’s a Testors demo (1976) on the set, too. Diamond Distance & Liquid Fury: 1969-76 will be released in late January by HoZac Records. The first 100 orders come with a free reproduction of the Distance/Suicide poster. Pre-order yours through HoZac’s webstore or get it get on Bandcamp.
 

 
Five of the LP’s recordings haven’t been heard before, and that includes all three of the Distance tracks. We have the premiere of our favorite of the Distance songs, the fiery “Lament.”
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Obscure gems from Cincinnati’s 1975-82 punk underground