Mikhailt. Kalashnikov’s AK-47 is a punK Rock band from Houston, Texas. 

We started playing together in a rehearsal studio that had once been a storage building for a local mortuary school. We shared the space with Really Red and The Plastic Idols. 

We played our first show on April 1, 1979 for a Rock Against Racism concert held at Paradise Island (later known as The Island). The line-up included The Vast Majority, Really Red, The Ruse, The Hates, and Legionnaire’s Disease.

The original members included Harry Leverette/Raton Pi (guitar) and Stew Cannon/Neutron Stu (lead guitar), Jim Crane/James Allstar (bass), Jim’s cousin Andre (vocals), and David/Sleepy (drums). We stumbled upon David playing his trap kit in a vacant lot because he had no where else to play.

Tim Fleck/Phlegm became the band’s new vocalist in the summer of 1980. He wrote the lyrics to The Badge Means You Suck, but when the Houston Police Officer’s Association filed a million dollar lawsuit against us, the band underwent some changes.

Over the next few months, Penny Smith (vocals), Mike Huard (bass), and Seth Oliver (drums) joined the group, and AK-47 resumed performing in January, 1981. Later that summer, Carshal Heinbuch became our new drummer, and this line-up emerged as the loudest, fastest, tightest version of the band.

AK-47 played regularly around Houston until 1986. We performed numerous times at The Island with bands like The Recipients, Three Day Stubble, I’llbeonthefonetoyou, The Inanimate Objects, The Hates, and The Vestal Virgins. We played a memorable show at Joe Starr’s Omni with The Insect Surfers.

We played Rudyard’s several times, including a 1984 New Year’s Eve show. We also played at the University of Houston Coffeehouse, Cabaret Voltaire, the Consolidated Arts Warehouse, and the Lawndale Art Center. We even played for an autumn dance at Mt. Carmel Catholic High School.

AK-47 played only a few out of town shows. We performed with Really Red at Esther’s Pool and then at Raul’s in Austin. We played again with Really Red at Jay’s Famous Lounge & Cockpit in Cankton, Louisiana. AK-47 returned to Louisiana in 1982 to perform for two nights with the Shit Dogs in Baton Rouge at the Damn Shame club. 

AK-47 has played a couple of Island reunion shows in recent years, including performances at The Mink (2009), Walter’s Downtown (2013). Our most recent performance was for Take This Fest and Shove It! (2019) at Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar. We still jam, perform, and record whenever we can all get to Houston. 

We released our single, "The Badge Means You Suck" b/w "Kiss My Machine" in March, 1980. The Houston Police Officer’s Association filed a million dollar lawsuit for defamation but never served papers. The publicity enabled us to do a second pressing. The record has since become a collectible.

See Stuart Schrader’s review at SHIT-FI.com for some reasons why.
www.shit-fi.com/spotlights/AK-47

See A Houston Punk Band’s Protest Anthem Still Resonates, Forty Years After Its Release by Susan Shepard (Texas Monthly, March 10, 2021) for some good back-story.
www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/houston-punk-bands-protest-anthem-still-resonates-forty-years-after-release/

The artwork for the record jacket and labels is an important part of what makes "The Badge Means You Suck" b/w "Kiss My Machine" a sought after record. Jimmy Bryan is the artist who did these designs. He also helped to create the two-screen 35 mm slide shows that accompanied AK-47’s live performances at The Island.