Wind of Change was a late '80s hardcore band from Phoenix, Arizona burned fast and bright. During that short time, they dropped a demo, a pair of EPs, and toured throughout the U.S., sharing stages with everyone from Youth of Today and Verbal Assault to Insted and Gorilla Biscuits along the way.
After their break up, members of Wind of Change would resurface in such bands as Kerosene 454, Regulator Watts, and Hoover. Guitarist Jason M. Peterson carved out a wildly different creative path—one that’s earned him international acclaim as a photographer and creative director. Now based in Chicago, he runs the advertising agency The Times, bringing the same sharp eye and instinct for emotional immediacy that once fueled his hardcore years.
With Numero Group about to announce a Wind of Change reissue set, I caught up with Jason to revisit the band's run, talk about the tension and chemistry that powered them, and explore how his hardcore past still shapes the photographer and creative force he is today.
Tell me a bit about your upbringing and how music entered the picture.
I was born on the east side of Cleveland Ohio, discovered punk and hardcore via college radio when I was super young (12). I went to elementary school and middle school with the kids that would end up forming Confront.
I moved to Arizona right as I turned 16. I was going to shows and pretty deep into hardcore at this point.
Tell me about moving to Arizona and getting involved with the hardcore scene there.
I had a few penpals and tape traders from Arizona, so the transition into the Phoenix scene was pretty easy. The first band I started was called Youth Under Control. This was in 1985, and was the precursor to Wind of Change.
I met [Youth Under Control/Wind of Change vocalist] Jim Wall in my 11th grade marketing class when I first moved to Arizona, and we became close friends.
What were the bands that you all were listening to when you changed the name from Youth Under Control to Wind of Change?
Well Youth Under Control was super influenced by simple early straight edge hardcore: Youth of Today, Straight Ahead, Breakdown. As we learned to play our instruments better, we wanted a more unique sound.
When we formed Wind of Change, it was fall of 1987 and lots of bands were transitioning into a more what would be called an early emo sound. Bands like Dag Nasty, Embrace, Rites of Spring, 7Seconds, and Gray Matter were all big influences on us at the time, as well as the hardcore stuff we grew up on like Uniform Choice, Youth of Today, and Agnostic Front.
Let’s get into the Wind of Change Kids Who Care! demo. What do you remember about making it and how it was received?
The demo was recorded in the winter of '87. We quickly wrote and practiced the demo songs for a few months and wanted to get something out quickly to capture the change in sound from the Youth Under Control demo. It was really well received at the time.
Admittedly, I don’t know much about the AZHC of that era. What was it like? Were you playing out a ton locally? What were some of the other bands from the scene there?
Ok, the hardcore scene in Phoenix in the '80s was really dominate on the west side of town. Mainly JFA put Arizona on the map. The Mad Garden days were '82-'84-ish. We really got going on the east side of town starting in 1986.
We loved all the older bands especially JFA and Junior Achivement. We were part of the newer wave of hardcore with bands like Last Option and Desecration.
You bring up Last Option, so what is the story behind Step Forward Records and the first 7"?
Tons of West Coast bands played Phoenix so we were put on tons of those shows early on. Step Forward was originally a zine started and run by Eric Astor. He was the drummer in Last Option. He put out the Last Option EP and the first Wind of Change EP, ...A Promise Kept. He would later join Wind of Change for the second EP and tour.
You mentioned having pen pals back before you moved to Arizona. Did you maintain that during Wind of Change? Who was the "spokesperson" for the band and making the connections outside of Arizona? That was such a vital part of underground music before the internet.
Yeah, I think that’s the part bands wouldn’t understand now. We would meet bands that would come to town, make friends and share phone numbers and addresses. We met Youth of Today in '85 when they toured with 7Seconds in a station wagon.
Tape trading with kids around the world help spread the word about Wind of Change. Me and Eric Astor were the main mouthpieces for the band and scene in Arizona in general. I wrote columns for Alternative Press when it was still a zine. I also wrote for Maximumrockandroll and
Flipside back then.
How do you feel about that first Wind of Change 7", ...A Promise Kept., today? Do you think it captured the band's essence during that time or would you change things about it?
...A Promise Kept. was really good, I think it was where we were at the time. We didn’t know what we were really doing in the studio and mainly just played the songs live. I’m still proud of it. If we recorded those songs now it would be a lot better produced.
Let's get into the songs on the Rain single. The band's style definitely shifted there.
Rain really was the start of [guitarist] Alex [Dunham] taking over more of the song writing. Up til then, I was doing most of the writing in the band. We spend more time in the studio doing the two songs. It was more where the sound ended up.
We broke up with 8 new songs that were planned to be recorded after the summer '89 tour for a full LP to come out on Wishingwell Records.
Why did you break up? Releasing something on Wishingwell at that time was "the big leagues" in the late '80s [laughs].
Yeah, it’s the only reget I have with the band. We started the band when we were 15-17 years old and were growing up and a bit apart. After the summer tour, we were burned out. Wind of Change had a hard core practice and work ethic. We went hard.
I was at a point where I needed to figure out a career. The rest of the guys went on to form Kerosene 454 and Hoover and continued through the '90s.
When did you get into photography? How did that develop into a career? I'm sure it wasn't easy to get to that point.
I did all the design for Wind of Change and a lot of the Arizona bands. I went to art school after Wind of Change broke up and moved to New York City, taking a job in advertising.
I did photography on the side my whole life, and when social media first really hit in like 2012, my photography exploded on Tumblr, Facebook, and instagram. Now I have dual careers running my own ad agency and fine art photography. I spend most of my free time shooting music.
How often do you come across hardcore folks in your work life through the years?
A lot and I hire a lot of people in hardcore. DIY spirit and understanding go along way. Here’s a good story. The Wind of Change tour in the summer of 1989 was like 40 shows. The show in Chicago got messed up and canceled. We ended up playing a small house party in the suburbs at Tony Victory [Brummel, owner of Victory Records] parents' house. It was like 20 people.
Last year, I was in a new business meeting with a couple people and the creative director was like, "oh yeah, I saw Wind of Change play in Tony’s living room in 1989!" It’s crazy how much of my life and work revolve around hardcore.
That is awesome. It's such a small (hardcore) world.
I take my vacations to go on tour with my teenage friends bands like Judge and Youth of Today.
You mentioned to me before this interview that along with the forthcoming Numero Group reissue campaign, there will also be some Wind of Change shirts being reprinted, along with the Drug Free Youth design.
[Wind of Change drummer] Eric [Astor] printed the Drug Free Youth shirts to promote his label, Step Forward Records.
That shirt got around!
We sold them across the country on tour. It was part of the Youth Crew uniform for sure.
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Wind of Change on social media: Instagram
Jason M. Peterson's music photography: Instagram
Jason M. Peterson's non-music photography: Instagram
Tagged: wind of change
