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Chicago, 1988

PIONEERS OF CHRISTIAN HARDCORE PUNK IN THE 1980s

The Lead was one of the very first Christian punk bands to emerge from the fledgling Christian underground in the mid-1980′s. Their career spanned the years 1984 through 1991.

In those years they recorded four EPs, a full-length cassette and a full-length CD, played three Cornerstone festivals and briefly toured the eastern half of the U.S. three times. Their style of music changed as the years passed, starting from a base of pure punk into hardcore and then finally crossing over into thrash. The Lead was the second band signed to REX Music, in 1987. That year they played Cornerstone for the first time.

The bands they played with, either as openers or headliners, included Suicidal Tendencies, DRI, MDC, Marginal Man, Cynic, Bloodgood, the Crucified, Believer, Whitecross, One Bad Pig, Deliverance, Vengeance Rising, and Crashdog.

The Lead was comprised of Nina Llopis on bass and vocals, Julio Rey on guitar and vocals, and Robbie Christie on drums and vocals. In 1989, guitarist Andy Coyle was added, and he remained with the band until 1991.

In 2006, Retroactive Records re-released the band’s entire back catalog as a 2-CD set.