First Degree

Listening to First Degree's 1987 album called Youth.
Anyone know anything about these guys ? Album rocks ! But the internet doesn't seem to have much info on this old album.

All I saw was this page with an illegal download... but it also said:

Melodic Hardrock from the USA produced by First Degree and Howard Conder. Paul Sisemore: Guitar, Lead and Backing Vocals, Lance Rowland: Bass, Lead and Backing Vocals, Kent Bradley: Guitar, Keyboards, Dan Kilbourne: Drums.

That illegal download is about the only way to find this.

For the record (see what I did there?), I didn't download it.

Yeh, that's where I got my info from too. Just hoping to find more info like who went on to do what, lyrics, etc.
As for the download... I don't consider that illegal since the record is decades out of print, hasn't been picked up by any other label, and you couldn't buy one if you WANTED to. I'd have no problem DLing it if I didn't already have an mp3 copy from a trade I did years ago.

SO UPSET ! I found the LP on ebay and put a bid on it. Would have gone higher to win it, but I was at a friend's house and forgot it was ending - someone came along and bought it for a buck more ! Arrrrggghhhhhh !!!!!

Guilty/Forgiven wrote:

SO UPSET ! I found the LP on ebay and put a bid on it. Would have gone higher to win it, but I was at a friend's house and forgot it was ending - someone came along and bought it for a buck more ! Arrrrggghhhhhh !!!!!

 I quit buying stuff on ebay because I had a few bad experiences with sellers, and I got sick of having stuff sniped away from me at the last minute.

^ I'm gettin there.... that's for sure

If I buy stuff nowadays through Ebay, it is usually from someone with the Buy It Now feature.  That way, I can decide if that's a good price and I don't have to worry about getting sniped.

I just scored an original Vinyl "Get It" by X-Sinner.... omg, I'm so excited !!!!

I seem to recall something about this band. is this the same band that put out Rock Of Offense?

Rock of Offense was First Strike. I've got that LP. Pretty good.

First Degree is a rarity. Most never heard of it, but it's a shame as they had some good material. They only had one release called "Youth". I have the mp3s from a friend (which I could upload and share for anyone interested - it's beyond OOP, so no worries)

Guilty/Forgiven, checked my gospel enyclopedia for First Degree, but no news about this band.

Give them a listen - they're pretty good:

http://www.4shared.com/file/TuNWlOq8/First_Degree_-_1987_-_Youth.html

AFTER Adfly, SKIP ad then:
Click only on the links with the arrows to download it:

First Degree was a rock band from Lakeland, FL. To my knowledge they only released the one record. I saw them play on a number of occasions in my youth. One time in particular, they were one of four bands that played a back to school bash at the Polk Theater in Lakeland when I was in middle school (mid 80's). I remember three of the four bands. First Degree, Blind Beggar, and Scarlett. That show was the only time I recall seeing Blind Beggar and Scarlett play live though I did see the lead singer from Bling Beggar at shows from time to time. Two members of Scarlett went on to play in St. Warren from Tampa. As for First Degree, I seem to remember hearing that one of the members committed suicide. Not sure which one. I met a youth pastor at a Lakeland church years ago that claimed to have been a member of First Degree at one time but was not a part of the band when they recorded the record. There is a golf pro at a public golf course in Lakeland that has the same name (Paul Sizemore) as the lead singer from First Degree. He is the right age to have been in a band at that time and is a life long resident of Lakeland. It's difficult to tell from the small grainy picture from the record, but compared to the current photo I found of Mr. Sizemore, it could be the same person.
I'm no expert on First Degree but hopefully my limited first hand experience in enlightening to those who may be curious.

God Bless,
John Davis

Thanks for that info, JD!  Welcome to CHM!

Yes JD, thank you for the information and welcome to CHM.

Let's welcome our new CHM member Racer JD.