More than one turn-of-the-decade punk band — including the Austin, Texas group that became MDC — called itself the Stains, but the Latin-American LA quartet that issued an album (recorded in 1981) on SST is remembered as an early and skilled pioneer of hardcore’s metal developments. A heavier and humorless mid-speed variation on early Black Flag, the accomplished and well-produced (by Spot) Stains has standard punk attributes but breaks the rules: guitarist Robert Becerra doesn’t just play chords in lockstep with the bass, rather he works in and around the patterns and takes occasional brief solos.
A decade later, the Stains — who had evidently broken up for a number of years — resurfaced on the LA club scene playing cheesy heavy metal.