Dirty Rotten Imbeciles
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| D.R.I. | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Houston, Texas, USA |
| Genre(s) | Hardcore punk, crossover thrash, thrashcore, thrash metal |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Label(s) | Dirty Rotten, Metal Blade, Beer City Records |
| Members | |
| Spike Cassidy Kurt Brecht Rob Rampy Harald Oimoen |
|
| Former members | |
| See: Previous member section | |
Dirty Rotten Imbeciles (also known as D.R.I.) are a thrashcore/crossover thrash band that formed in 1982.
The band never gained any mainstream audience, but were an influence on their contemporaries — most notably Suicidal Tendencies, Corrosion of Conformity, and S.O.D. — alongside whom they are considered the early pioneers of the sound that would later be called crossover thrash. This genre was also coined from their 1987 album of the same title.
Although the band is still active today, D.R.I. have released no new material since their last album, Full Speed Ahead, was released in 1995.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Early days (1982–1986)
The Dirty Rotten Imbeciles' formed on May 2, 1982 in the city of Houston, Texas. The original line-up consisted of Spike Cassidy (guitar), Kurt Brecht (vocals), Eric Brecht (drums), and Dennis Johnson (bass).
The group started practicing at Kurt and Eric's parents' home. The noise made by the band would draw regular complaints from Kurt and Eric's father. This led to the band gaining their name when they were described as a "...bunch of dirty rotten imbeciles". This was also an inspiration for the song "Madman" which featured a clip of Kurt and Eric's father interrupting a band practice to complain about the noise.
Two months later, on July 2, 1982, the band played their first show at Joe Star's OMNI, in Houston.
On November 6th & 7th of 1982 D.R.I. recorded their first release, the Dirty Rotten EP, fitting 22 songs into 18 minutes on a 7" EP. Only 1000 copies of this EP version were pressed, making it now a very rare collector's item. Demand caused this EP to be pressed into a 12" LP version, released in 1983, aptly titled Dirty Rotten LP.
In 1983 D.R.I. relocated to San Francisco, where they lived in their van and ate at soup kitchens in between gigs. Dennis Johnson quit the band and returned home to Texas. He was replaced with Sebastion Amok, and within a few months D.R.I. found themselves on the "Rock Against Reagan" tour with the Dead Kennedys. At the conclusion of this tour, they replaced Sebastion Amok with Josh Pappe.
Their next release was the 4 song 7" EP "Violent Pacification" in 1984. After touring in the summer of 1984, Eric Brecht got married and left the band. He was replaced with Felix Griffin. Also in 1984, one of their songs, 'Snap' appeared on the anti-war benefit compilation P.E.A.C.E. along with other famous hardcore and punk bands such as Crass, DOA, Dead Kennedys and MDC[1].
D.R.I.'s second full-length release, Dealing With It, came in March 1985. The group toured extensively in support of the album. During the recording of the album, Josh took a leave from the band. Mikey Offender (bass player of the Offenders) was asked to play for the album, although Spike played bass on the songs that Mikey didn't have time to learn.
The songs on Dealing With It leaned slightly towards a metal direction, but still kept the band's thrashcore sound.
On April 26th, 1986, they recorded their show at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles and released the video, which was entitled Live At the Olympic.
[edit] Crossover thrash-period (1987–1996)
Their third album, Crossover, released in 1987, was perfectly named since the songs on this album had a strong metal sound to them. As the band began to "crossover" to thrash, their songs became longer, slower, and more complex. The press has called D.R.I. the major band of the "crossover" movement, a style that combined hardcore punk and heavy metal. This music invited a mixed audience of punks, skinheads, and metal fans to their shows, who introduced things like stage diving and slam dancing to the metal audience.
The Live At The Ritz video was recorded next, on June 27th 1987, at The Ritz in New York, during the band's worldwide Crossover tour.
In February of 1988, the Dirty Rotten Imbeciles returned to the studio to record Four Of A Kind. The songs on this album continued in the band's metal style. They released a music video for the song, Suit and Tie Guy, and the Dirty Rotten LP was remixed to include the songs from the Violent Pacification EP, and was re-released.
The band toured Europe again to support the Four of A Kind album, then once home in the U.S., Josh Pappe` left the band because of an offer to play for Gang Green. He was replaced by John Menor.
September 1989 brought the release of Thrash Zone. Two music videos were released from this album, Beneath the Wheel and Abduction. Sometime after this, Felix Griffin left the group and was replaced by Rob Rampy.
During the spring of 1992, Definition was released on Spike Cassidy's own label, Rotten Records. A music video was released for the song Acid Rain. The video would later be featured in an episode of MTV's "Beavis and Butthead".
D.R.I. toured in 1992, opening for Testament, as well as headlining their own shows. During this tour, they recorded their gig at the Hollywood Palladium on November 27th. It was released in 1994 as their first live album, appropriately entitled Live. It was, more or less, "released as a stepping stone between Definition and Full Speed Ahead". Soon after recording the show, John Menor leaves D.R.I. He is replaced by one of the band's long time friends and roadie, Chumly Porter.
The group took part in headlining the Lolitabazooka Tour, in the fall of 1994.
In 1995, D.R.I. released Full Speed Ahead. They also made another music video, this time for a song called Syringes In The Sandbox.
In January of 1996, they started touring North America with Acid Bath opening for them. But in April, Rob and Spike ran into some trouble trying to cross the Canadian border because they had both been previously charged with driving under the influence in the U.S. All of their Canadian dates had to be cancelled.
[edit] Studio inactivity (1997–2005)
During 1997 and 1998, D.R.I. continued to tour the world extensively, including European & South American dates. In March of 1998, D.R.I. launched their Official Web Site.
During 1999, D.R.I. appeared as one of the headlining bands on the "Social Chaos" in North America Tour. One of their songs, I'm The Liar, is used for a Social Chaos Tour CD compilation. The CD contained one song from each band that appeared on the tour. During August of 1999, in the middle of the tour, Chumly left the band after tiring of touring. He was replaced by Harald Oimoen. Oimoen had been working on and off with the band for years, doing everything from photography and merchandise to bass tech. The band resumed the tour missing only two shows.
In the year 2000, D.R.I. Founder/Guitarist, Spike Cassidy, lost Rotten Records to D.R.I. Manager, Ron Peterson under acrimonious circumstances. D.R.I. fired Peterson, left Rotten Records, and took its catalog of CDs in search of a new record label. They have since re-released their albums on the Beer City label (with bonus material).
The turn of the millennium saw the Dirty Rotten Imbeciles headline the "Millennium 2000 Tour" in the spring & fall.
The constant cycle of touring continued into 2001 with DRI extensively touring the US on the "The Old School Tour” culminating in a headlining appearance at the Milwaukee Metal Fest.
2002 marks DRI's 20th anniversary and the beginning of a new era for the band. DRI signed with Beer City records agreeing to reissue their back catalog and a produce new studio CDs and DVDs.
To celebrate both of these momentous occasions, DRI embarked on a huge world tour. This tour went all over the US, Japan, Europe and South America. In fact the tour continued well to into the year 2003.
The first Beer City reissue came out in 2003. The Dirty Rotten CD featured the original full length Dirty Rotten LP and the Violent Pacification 7” EP as well as a number of never before released bonus tracks and interviews. Included within the bonus tracks were live recordings of DRI’s first show ever and live computer video footage from the band's only performance at New York's famous CBGB’s from the 1984 "Violent Pacification" tour.
2003 also brought the second Beer City reissue for Dealing With It. This CD contains the original album plus rare and never before heard bonus tracks as well as live video footage. The footage is from a mid 80’s interview from a San Francisco cable access show.
DRI embarked on yet another tour in 2004 that would take them all over the US and all over Europe again. After completing the tour, they decided it was time to start working with Beer City on the Live At CBGB’s’ CD and DVD and the reissue of the Crossover album. The live at CBGB's DVD and CD was reissued and is available on Beer City Records. The reissue of 'Crossover' was delayed due to Spike's illness (see below)
[edit] Recent activity and the future of the band (2006-present)
While touring in Europe in April 2004, D.R.I. demoed four new songs for their follow-up to Full Speed Ahead. No official title and release date have been set. One out of four of the demos, "Against Me", can be found for downloading at the "record news" from their official website.
In March 2006 Spike was diagnosed with colon cancer, putting the band's current tour and future performances on hiatus until his recovery. Plans to release a new studio LP are also on hold until Spike has recovered.
As of December 2006, Spike has completed all radiation and chemotherapy after being diagnosed with cancer in March 2006. A one-foot section of large intestine (colon) was removed through an eight-inch (203 mm) incision in his stomach. The surgery, which took place on March 27, 2006 was said to be successful in removing all traces of the cancer. All is going well with his rehabilitation and he is expected to make a full recovery soon. D.R.I. expects to be on tour in 2008.
[edit] Members
[edit] Current members
- Spike Cassidy – guitars (1982–present)
- Kurt Brecht – vocals (1982–present)
- Rob Rampy – drums (1990–present)
- Harald Oimoen – bass guitar (1999–present)
Current Bassist Harald O. is also well known for his Rock n' Roll Photography. His album credits include such legendary recordings as Metallica's Ride the Lightning and the "Cliff em' All" Home Video; Slayer's album Hell Awaits and "LIVE ! A Decade of Aggression"; Exodus's "Bonded by Blood" and "A Lesson in Violence"; Machine Head's "Burn My Eyes" & "The More Things Change", amongst many others. He is currently playing bass in the East Bay Drunk Punk band Kill Kops.
[edit] Previous members
- Dennis Johnson – bass guitar (1982–1983)
- Sebastion Amok – bass guitar (1983)
- Josh Pappe – bass guitar (1984–1985) (1985–1989)
- Mikey Offender – bass guitar (1985)
- John Menor – bass guitar (1989–1994)
- Chumly Porter – bass guitar (1994–1999)
- Eric Brecht – drums (1982–1984)
- Felix Griffin – drums (1985–1990)
[edit] Discography
| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1983 | Dirty Rotten LP | Debut album. |
| 1984 | Violent Pacification | EP. |
| 1985 | Dealing With It | First release on Metal Blade Records. |
| 1987 | Crossover | The genre "crossover" was coined from this release. |
| 1988 | 4 of a Kind | (Metal Blade Records) |
| 1989 | Thrash Zone | Last release on Metal Blade Records. |
| 1992 | Definition | First release on Rotten Records. |
| 1994 | Live | Live album. |
| 1995 | Full Speed Ahead | Last studio album to date; last release on Rotten Records. |
| 2001 | The Dirty Rotten Power | Split with Raw Power. |
| 2001 | Greatest Hits | Compilation album. |
| 2005 | Live at CBGB's 1984 | Live album. |
| 2008/2009 | Untitled 8th studio album | For several years, there has been a rumored new D.R.I. album, but it never materialized. |
[edit] Trivia
- The D.R.I. song "Couch Slouch", from the album Dealing With It, appears on the popular video game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.
- Many Power Violence and Grindcore bands have covered their songs, such as Capitalist Casualties and Agoraphobic Nosebleed.
- Kurt Brecht is featured on the song "Silent Spring" on Dave Grohl's musical project, Probot
- The infamous "Skanker Man" logo was designed by original Drummer Eric Brecht as a High School art assignment to create a "corporate" logo (he got an "A" on it).
- Slayer covered the song "Violent Pacification" in their Undisputed Attitude punk covers album.
- Anthrax covered and recorded "Snap" and "I'd Rather Be Sleeping" from Dealing With It and is found on the reissue of Volume 8: The Threat is Real.
- in NOFX's song 13 Stitches, DRI are mentioned in the line "My girlfriend started to cry cuz we had to leave, before DRI played 50 lousy songs..."
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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