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Dirty Rotten Imbeciles

 
Artist: D.R.I.
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Group Members:

Kurt Brecht, Spike Cassidy, John Menor, Josh Pappé, Felix Griffin, Eric Brecht, Dennis Johnson

Similar Artists:

Sick of It All, Gang Green, Crumbsuckers, Suicidal Tendencies, Descendents, Black Flag, All, Morbid Saint, Stormtroopers of Death, Doctor Know, D.O.A.

Followers:

Powerhouse, Napalm Death, Dark Angel, Cro-Mags, The Accused, Eat Skull, Stigmata, Disturbed, Napalm, Caliban

Performed Songs By:

John Menor, Felix Griffin, Kurt Brecht, Spike Cassidy
See D.R.I. Lyrics
  • Formed: 1982 05, Houston, TX
  • Genres: Rock
  • Representative Albums: "Dirty Rotten LP," "Dirty Rotten LP/Violent Pacific," "Dirtiest...Rottenest"
  • Representative Songs: "I Don't Need Society," "Commuter Man," "Couch Slouch"

Biography

D.R.I. (aka Dirty Rotten Imbeciles) were one of the first bands to fuse hardcore punk with thrash metal, along with Suicidal Tendencies and Corrosion of Conformity. Starting off as a speedy, straight-ahead punk band, they gradually mixed more elements of heavy metal into their sound; as they did so, their songs got longer and featured more sections and more variety in tempo. D.R.I. managed the then-rare feat of crossing over to metal audiences while retaining their skatepunk and hardcore fan bases -- they had something for all those audiences to love (or hate). Vocalist Kurt Brecht and guitarist Spike Cassidy were the two constants throughout the band's frequent lineup shifts, and kept them going for well over a decade.

D.R.I. were formed in Houston, TX, in May 1982, evolving out of a defunct hardcore band called the Suburbanites. Singer Kurt Brecht, drummer Eric Brecht (his brother), and bassist Dennis Johnson had all played in that outfit, and with new guitarist Spike Cassidy in tow, they renamed themselves Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, after a frequent insult from the Brechts' father (who objected vehemently to their rehearsals). The band was soon performing live around Houston, and before the end of the year, they issued a 22-song debut, Dirty Rotten EP, on their own Rotten label. Pressed in limited quantities, it was reissued as a 12" LP in 1983, appropriately retitled Dirty Rotten LP. The wider exposure for this version helped make the group's name in the punk underground, and after a supporting tour that year, they relocated to San Francisco.

The going was rough at first, and bassist Johnson quit to return home to Houston. He was replaced by Sebastian Amok for a tour with the Dead Kennedys, after which Amok was in turn replaced by Josh Pappé for the 1984 EP Violent Pacification. Eric Brecht also left the band later that year to get married; he would soon join Hirax. In the meantime, D.R.I. replaced him with Felix Griffin. During the recording of the band's second album, 1985's Dealing With It, Pappé took a leave of absence to deal with a drug problem. Mikey Offender, of the Offenders, filled in for him during the remainder of the sessions, and the album was released on the Death label. With Hirax's help, D.R.I. scored a deal with Metal Blade, and a substantial buzz built around the group, especially when Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo praised them in an interview.

D.R.I.'s Metal Blade debut arrived in 1987 in the form of the boundary-blurring Crossover, whose title made their punk-metal fusion ambitions crystal clear. Their songs were growing from short bursts of speed into full-fledged, multisectioned compositions, and their unification of the two genres was the most seamless of their career. On the 1988 follow-up, 4 of a Kind, the metal influences began to predominate, even if the band's hardcore roots were still audible. Buoyed by the video for "Suit and Tie Guy," 4 of a Kind became the first D.R.I. album to make the national charts. The following year, Pappé accepted an offer to join Gang Green, and was replaced in D.R.I. by John Menor, formerly of Mantas. Menor made his debut on 1989's Thrash Zone, the band's most metallic offering yet, and one that was also widely acclaimed among their best. "Beneath the Wheel" and "Abduction" landed some airplay on MTV, and the album became their second straight to chart.

Thrash Zone proved to be the band's final effort for Metal Blade, however, and Felix Griffin departed in 1990, effectively bringing D.R.I.'s most successful period to a close. After a couple of short-lived replacements, Griffin's slot was filled by Rob Rampy IV, and Spike Cassidy revived the band's Rotten label to release 1992's Definition. By this time, the alternative explosion had substantially reduced the audience for thrash, and Definition accordingly looked back on the band's punk roots; still, much of their old audience had evaporated. After recording the late-1992 gig that was eventually released as the Live album, Menor left the band and was replaced by Chumly Porter. Porter made his debut on the 1995 studio set Full Speed Ahead, and the band spent the next few years touring, even if there was no new product to speak of. Porter left in 1999 and was replaced by Harald Oimoen, who helped continue D.R.I.'s road-warrior existence. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Dirty Rotten Imbeciles
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
D.R.I.
Origin Houston, Texas, United States
Genres Thrash metal
Crossover thrash
Thrashcore (early)
Hardcore punk (early)
Years active 1982–present
Labels Rotten, Metal Blade, Beer City
Fringe Product
Website Official site
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 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 Crossover.

Although the band is still active today, the only new material D.R.I. have released since their 1995 album, Full Speed Ahead, was a web-only demo release of the track "Against Me" in 2004.

Contents

History

Early days (1982–1986)

The Dirty Rotten Imbeciles formed on May 2, 1982 in the city of Houston, Texas, from the ashes of the hardcore outfit Suburbanites. The original line-up consisted of Spike Cassidy on guitar, Kurt Brecht on vocals, Eric Brecht on drums and Dennis Johnson on bass guitar, which was basically the Suburbanites with Cassidy on guitar. Cassidy's room mate played guitar in the Suburbanites.

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. The "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.

Two months later, on July 2, 1982, the band played their first show at Joe Star's OMNI, in Houston.

On November 6 & 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 26, 1986, they recorded their show at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles and released the video, which was entitled Live At the Olympic.

Crossover thrash-period (1987–1996)

Their third album, Crossover, released in 1987, was suitingly 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.

The Live At The Ritz video was recorded next, on June 27 1987, at The Ritz in New York, during the band's worldwide Crossover tour.

In February 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 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 27. 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 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.

Studio inactivity (1997–2005)

During 1997 and 1998, D.R.I. continued to tour the world extensively, including European & South American dates. In March 1998, D.R.I. launched their official web site[2].

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 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.

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[3]. The reissue of 'Crossover' was delayed due to Spike's illness (see below)

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", was to be found for downloading at the "record news" from their official web site. The track is at present unavailable.

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.

The official website states Cassidy to be cancer free as of August 2008.[4] D.R.I. are currently scheduling rehearsals and gearing up to play shows again starting in the fall 2009.[5]

Members

Current members

  • Spike Cassidy – guitars (1982–present)
  • Kurt Brecht – vocals (1982–present)
  • Rob Rampy – drums (1990–present)
  • Harald Oimoen – bass guitar (1999–present)

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)

Discography

Studio albums

Other releases

Trivia

Ambox style.png
 Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (March 2009)
  • The D.R.I. song "Couch Slouch", from the album Dealing With It, appears on the popular video game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.
  • Kurt Brecht is featured on the song "Silent Spring" on Dave Grohl's musical project, Probot
  • 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.
  • Capitalist Casualties covered the song "Dennis Problem" in their album "A Collection of Out-of-print singles, splits eps, and compilation tracks".
  • Agoraphobic Nosebleed covered the song "I Dont Need Society" and "I'd Rather Be Sleeping" in their compilation album "Bestial Machinery".
  • "Despise You" covered the song "Couch Slouch" in a split album with other bands called "Left Back/Left Down".
  • "Mr. Bungle" sometimes covered the song "I Dont Need Society" in live shows.
  • 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..."
  • 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.
  • The song "Beneath The Wheel" from the 1989 album Thrash Zone is featured in the EA sports game Skate 2.
  • Ampere covered the song "Money Stinks" on their split with Das Oath.

References

  1. ^ KFTH - P.E.A.C.E. Compilation 2xLP
  2. ^ "Official Web Site". http://www.DirtyRottenImbeciles.com. 
  3. ^ "Beer City Records". http://www.beercityrecords.com. 
  4. ^ "Official D.R.I. News". http://www.dirtyrottenimbeciles.com/news.htm. 
  5. ^ "Blabbermouth article". http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=124288. 

External links

v • d • e
D.R.I.
Kurt Brecht • Spike Cassidy • Rob Rampy • Harald Oimoen
Dennis Johnson • Sebastion Amok • Josh Pappe • Mikey Offender • John Menor • Chumly Porter • Eric Brecht • Felix Griffin
Studio albums
EPs
Other releases
Live • The Dirty Rotten Power • Greatest Hits • Live at CBGB's 1984

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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