About IA
Imminent Attack was formed in September 1981 with members from Mt. Horeb, and Madison, WI. The band first consisted of Kevin Gayton(vocals), David Gayton(guitar), B-rad Skaife(drums), and Mike Hunsberger(on bass), but a few changes were made to the line-up over the years. The first change came when Mike realized not only he sucked at bass (he just got his first bass, a JetGlo Rickenbacker 4001!!! a few months earlier) but couldn't play in front of more than 3 people. This is when Jim Kading started playing bass in the band. Mike later played "second" guitar in the band.(don't call it rhythm guitar please!!) Late in the 80's Brad quit the band and Frank Attaway sat behind the drum kit. IA was mostly a metal band by this time. IA turned out to be a pretty important local mid-west punk/metal band for most of the 80's. The band started out playing originals as well as classic covers from Eddie Cochran, Black Sabbath, Chuck Berry, and the Ramones to name a few. IA had quite a following in the mid-west and played with many bands including: The Dead Kennedy's, Black Flag, Motorhead, Husker Du, The Circle Jerks, Die Kreuzen, Tar Babies, DRI, Batallion of Saints, Crucifucks, Exciter, The Exploited, 7 Seconds, The Descendents, M.D.C. and many more... In that time a few tapes and an album were released. Most of the recordings were done by the guy's over at Smart Studios.(There is currently a Smart Studio Documentary where IA may be mentioned but it's doubtful much will be said. ) Butch Vig and Steve Marker of Garbage if you didn't know. (boy, have they come a long way) Due to lack of marketing, location and generally having no money or a record label, the band never really reached the potential they should have. Well too bad... that's punk rock.
An excerpt from B-rad's book about naming the band:
The next big thing was a name for this band. I had been writing lyrics constantly and had a couple songs that ended up becoming staples of our set for the duration we were a band. I thought about calling us “Air Raid” but was at a show and saw a flier for “Wayne Kramer’s Air Raid.” Guess that idea got shot in the ass.
The next came from a list my Grandma kept by her phone when I was little that said “Imminent Attack” on it. Like most things we did, the name was ahead of its time. Back then you no one ever talked about the threat of an imminent attack. Most people didn’t even know what it meant.
If we named the band IMMINENT ATTACK we’d be different. We didn’t want to be a political band but figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a name that meant something deeper than the words itself. Most people simply called us I.A., though. So we agreed and made t-shirts at our kitchen table with masking tape and spray paint.
Full listing of bands we opened for or played with: (as far as we can remember)
ANGST, BLACK FLAG, BEYOND POSSESSION, CHAOS HOARDE, CIRCLE JERKS, COUCH FLAMBEAU, CRUCIFUCKS, DEAD KENNEDY’S, DESCENDENTS, DEPRO PROVERA, DIE KRUEZEN, DICKS, D.O.A., DRI, HELL HUE, EXCITER, EXPLOITED, F.U.’S, I.N.R.I., JODY FOSTERS ARMY, JUSTICE LEAGUE, JUVENILE TRUTH, MDC, MECHT MENSCH, MEIN KAMPF, MURPHY’S LAW, MOTORHEAD, NO RESPONSE, P.O.S., RAW POWER, RED MEAT, SACHARINE TRUST, SAINT VITUS, SEISMIC WAVES, S.N.F.U., SUBURBAN, MUTILATION, TAR BABIES, TOXIC REASONS, TWISTED, VERBAL ABUSE, WEST WORLD, and more...