D. R. I. – THE EARLY YEARS (’82.-’85.)
RETROSPECTIVE
This is something that I wanted to do for a
while and since the first D. R. I. record, the almighty „Dirty Rotten EP“ came
out in March 1983. this retrospective of one of the best hardcore punk bands
ever fits pretty good to be discussed 40 years later. D. R. I. is one of my
favorite hardcore punk bands, at least the early phase of the band when they
played some of the fastest and most furious hardcore puk music on the planet.
Their later crossover/thrash metal records are OK in my opinion, but they don't
mean that much to me as their earlier records (OK, I also really dig „Crossover“
album) which are in my opinion some of the best hc/punk records ever released.
While D. R. I. is pretty known band in hardcore punk and metal community and
they have fans all over the world, I've rarely seen any deeper dive into their
early years and for some reason most of the interviews I've read with D. R. I.
are usually quite short with basic band stuff that we all know. So, this is my
attempt to try describe the genuinity of their earlier records. I also want to
expose their early demos to the world, because I don't recall ever seeing
anything anywhere about their early demos which are great and fans of the band
should know about it and listen to it.
I first heard about D. R. I. in early 90's when
I was still a dedicated metalhead kid, but I'm not sure if I really listened to
their records, maybe I've heard some songs here and there (from the
crossover/thrash metal phase) but that was preatty much it. During 1992. I've
already switched from metal to being a hardcore punk kid learning as much as I
could about the bands and finding music wherever I could. I saw in some
hc/punk/metal catalog an add for D. R. I. – Dirty Rotten EP and it said it's a
22 songs records in 17 music. I was like, OK, this has to be something really
good and I have to find this record. I think this was sometime in 1993. and at
that point I only had dubbed tapes with hc/punk and some metal music, I still
didn't own any original records (although my brothers had bunch of records but
they were more into metal and alternative rock). One day I went to a record
shop called „Iz Sve Snage“ which was at the time one of the rare record shops
in my hometown that was selling alternative music including hc/punk. There I
found Dirty Rotten LP on a CD in the metal section and while I was looking at
the huge track list I said to myself no way this is metal music and this really
has to be something amazing. I bought the CD and this is the first record that
I've ever bought (the second is a Bad Religion live bootleg CD, just in case
you wanted to know, haha). The CD is actually a 1988. re-release on the bands
label Dirty Rotten Records of Dirty Rotten EP/LP including Violent Pacification 7˝ EP
from 1984. and two bonus songs from 1984. (one was released on a P. E. A. C. E.
2xLP compilation in 1984.). Anyway, when I put the CD in a record player I was
blown away with the intensity of the record and how fast it is. I've studied
this record all the way through, I know every word and every second of the
music on it and to this day, this is still one of my favorite hc/punk records,
like ever in any universe or in any dimension. This record literally influenced
me how I shaped my writing of fast riffs. I was lucky seeing and playing with D. R. I. in 2004. in
my hometown Zagreb, Croatia. My old band opened for D. R. I. at the show and
altogether this was a great show, they played lots of early material and the
band was pretty good. I've spoke to Spike Cassidy and he complemented my fast
drumming and I've told him how Dirty Rotten LP is the first CD that I've ever
bought and that it's one of my favorite hc/punk records ever.
Here's a short history of the beginning of the
band before I go into their records. D. R. I. aka Dirty Rotten Imbeciles is an
American hardcore punk/crossover/thrash metal band that formed in May 1982. in
Houston, Texas. They were first called US D. R. I. but soon removed „US“ from
the bands name. The original line up was consisted of Kurt Brecht on vocals,
Spike Casidy on guitar, Dennis Johnson on bass guitar and Eric Brecht on drums.
Everyone except Spike before forming D. R. I. played shortly in a hardcore punk
band called Suburbanites. The band had rehearsals in the house of Kurt and
Eric's parents and their father was regulary complaining about the noise they
made and described them as: „bunch of dirty rotten imbeciles“ which led to the
name of the band. This also inspired the band to write a song: „Madman“ which
was released on their classic „Dealing With It!“ album in 1985. and the song
had a recorded clip of Brecht's father complaining about the noise. D. R. I.
played their first show on July 2nd, 1982. at Joe Star's OMNI in Houston. On
November 6th and 7th, 1982. D. R. I. recorded their first record The Dirty
Rotten EP and the rest is histroy, But let's back up a bit.
THE FIRST DEMO (1982.)
OK, there were probably some rehearsal demos
before this one, but this particular demo is circulating on bootlegs and online
for quite some time so let's talk about it. The demo was first released in
2000. on a vinyl as: „The Dirties, The Filthiest The Demos“ but also on a tape
(probably during the early 2000.'s) as: „1982. Demo Tape!“ and also on a tape
in 2020. called „Demo Tape“. I also remember seeing the CD version online few
years ago, but recently I couldn't find it on the net and it's not listed on
Discogs. The LP version has 30 songs and both Tape versions have 32 songs but
there is a slight difference in order of the songs on these releases. The
version of this demo that I have on mp3's has 32 songs and it has also
different order of the songs than the LP version and the first Tape version and
it's mostly fits to the second Tape version except for song Sad To Be that it's
not in the same order on the version I have like it's on the Tape. It's
possible that I have the rip of the CD version which I'm quite sure that
exists.
It's unknown when exactly this demo was
recorded but considering that the band formed in May 1982. and their first
record was record in November 1982. I'm guessing the demo was record during the
Summer of 1982. but I can't be 100 % sure. I'm guessing the demo was recorded
in the bands rehearsal place and it could be a mixboard recording or maybe just
a record player, again this is something that I can't tell for sure. But I can
say that the recording is quite good for what it is - a rehearsal demo, it's
raw but not to the point that it's unlistenable and I quite like it.
The demo was of course recorded with the
classic original band line up: Kurt on voclas, Spike on guitar, Dennis on bass
guitar and Eric on drums. While the demo is not as fast as the Dirty Rotten EP,
the band is still quite fast and already sounds pretty tight. Of 32 songs, 30
songs are by the band and there are two covers at the end of the demo which are
both rock and roll classics: Johnny B. Good and Louie Louie (which is next to
Stepping Stone one of the most covered R'nR classic songs by the early hardcore
punk bands). Of the bands own 30 songs on the demo, most of the songs are the
ones that were few months later recorded for the „Dirty Rotten EP“, 20 songs
exactly which means that only two songs from the EP are not here, which are:
„Commuter Man“ and „Dennis' Problem“. So, you get 20 early versions of the
classic D. R. I. songs from the first EP which is amazing! As I've said before,
these versions are pretty furious and a great fast and pissed off hardcore punk
just like the EP, only a little bit less faster and more raw. From the rest of
the songs, there are six songs that were later recorded and released on
„Dealing With It!“ LP in 1985. These early versions are quite similar to the
album versions except they're more raw soudning here and „Equal People“ song
has a different part than the studio version but it's the same song basically.
There are 4 songs that weren't released on the bands records except for „We Are
US“ which the diffetent (and slower) version was released on The Dirty Rotten
CD reissue in 2002. on Beer City Records. Other three songs are: „Guilty“,
„Shame“ and one with Unkown title. The song „Shame“ is not the same song as
„Shame“ song on „Dealing With It!“ album despite the same title. All these 4
songs are rippers and in my opinion these songs deserved to be included on some
of the official band records.
Overall, this is a great demo and a very cool
represantion of the early D. R. I. and I'm glad that this exist at least in mp3
files and on bootlegs but it would be cool if this demo gets a proper release
one day with more info about it. By the way, on the mp3 file that I have, it
says 1984. but that's obviously not the right year of the demo. Also, songs
„Plastique“ and „Why“ are combined into a one track in the file.
DIRTY ROTTEN EP/LP (1983.)
On 6th and 7th November of 1982. D. R. I.
recorded their first release: „Dirty Rotten EP“ and released it as a 7˝ EP in
March 1983. on their own label Dirty Rotten Records. As we all know, the record
contains 22 songs in 17 minutes which is mind blowing considering that by that
point nothing like that was ever released on the planet (not that I know of).
The line up of the band was still Kurt on vocals, Spike on guitar, Dennis on
bass guiatr and Eric on drums. There's no info where the band recorded the EP,
but I'm guessing is some local studio in Houston, it was produced by the band
and the engineer was the dude called Guz Buzbee. The record was pressed only
1000 copies on 33 rpm and it wasn't the best quality sounding wise. Later in
1983. the band pressed the remixed reissue of the EP on a LP format (with
collaboration of R Radical Records that was the MDC bands record label) and
switched the A and B side. Here's an interesting thing, the version of the
record that most of D. R. I. fans known in the 90's was the LP or the CD
version which has „I Don't Need Society“ as an opening track while the original
7˝ EP version has „Sad To Be“ as an opening track. When I found out about this,
my brain exploded because the reissue version is so much better in my opinion
and I still can't fantom the fact that originally the band didn't go with the
order of the tracks like they did later with the reissues. And I'm not the only
one who think that. The mixes are also different on the original EP and on the
reissue versions of the record. The EP is more raw and it's not really that bad
as I've expected, because I heard it for the first time in 2000's but I still
like more the reissue version because it sounds more powerful and I'm kind of
used to that version.
As for the Dirty Rotten EP/LP no matter what
version, this record is so freakin' amazing from start to finish. „I Don't Need
Society“ song has some of the best hardcore punk intros ever written, slowly
building into a manic and pissed off hardcore punk thrash attack. Also, the
lyrics of the song are iconic: „Your number is up you have to go, The system
says: „I told you so“, Stucked in a
plane like a truckload of cattle, Sent off to slaugher in a useless battle,
Thousands of us send off to die, Never reylly knowing why, Fuck the system they
can't have me, I don't need society“. I still get goosebumps listening to
this song every time I hear it. What I really like about this record, not just
how fast and furious is, but that it's also catchy as hell, this is not some
random fast noise, every chord and riff has its place and every song is so well
structured that it's just amazing. Also, I love the lyrics. No matter how short
are some songs, most of the songs have lots of lyrics written so Kurt had to sing it really fast. But what's amazing is that you can actually
understand every word on the record which is again fuckin' amazing. Also, the
lyrics are written really good, just like the music on the record, every word
make sense and it's memorable regarding most of the songs having lots of
lyrics. Although you might not see Dirty Rotten EP/LP listed on peoples best
hc/punk lists very often, I think this record is one of the most influental
hc/punk records ever, influencing extreme fast hc/punk bands like Deep Wound, Siege, Lärm, Napalm Death, Crossed Out, No Comment etc. Again, I like more the reissue remixed version which is opened with „I Don't Need Society“ song but any version of this record is great whatever song is an opener. Fun fact, one of my old bands covered „Closet Punk“ song, but we never played it live and it was released only on one of our rehearsal tapes.
As I've said before, Dirty Rotten EP/LP was first reissued combined with Violent Pacification 7˝ EP (1984.) and two bonus songs from 1984. on a CD and tape in 1988. on Dirty Rotten Records and few more record labels, depending in which country was the release licenced. In 2002. Beer City Records re-leased a CD version with Violent Pacification EP and a bunch of early demo, compilation and live tracks. In 2005. Beer City Records re-leased a CD version of Dirty Rotten LP with the origininal track listing opening with „Sad To Be“ song and in 2010. also on both 7˝ EP and LP vinyl versions with original track listing.
VATS DEMO (1983.1984.)
OK, this one's a real treasure and there is
even a bit of mystery about this demo because there's no info about it
anywhere, at least I couldn't find it. Also, few facts that I know about it
still kinda confuses me if the demo was recorded in 1983. or 1984. I didn't
know this demo exist until like ten years ago when I found it on Soulseek
althought two songs were released on the Dirty Rotten CD re-release in 2002.
but I didn't know that there were bunch of more songs on the demo.
Vats demo has 14 songs and all of the songs
were before or after the demo also once again recorded and released on the
classic early records of the band and few songs were even before recorded on their
1982. demo. The demo was recorded at Vats which was a legendary punk squat in
San Francisco during 80's and the place before it was squatted used to be a
Hamm's Brewery. There's a drawn cover art for the demo that said it was
recorded in 1983. but the drawing was sing by KB ’84. So, was the demo actually
released in 1984.? If it was how there's no mention of the demo anywhere? Also,
the linup written on the cover art is also interesting, three of the members
are original early band members: Kurt on vocals, Spike on guitar and Eric on
drums but the fourth members on bass guitar was supposedly Barry Dalive. If
you're not fimiliar with the name, Barry Dalive is mostly known for playing a
guitar in RKL and few more obscure hc/punk bands. The thing what confuses me a
little bit is that in any bands biography there's no mentioning of Barry Dalive
being in the band. But it's not impossible and this could be sometimes during
1983. before Josh Pape joined the band which means if this theory is correct
that Vats demo predates Violent Pacification session, which could be possible.
As I've said before, only two songs from Vats
Demo were officialy released in 2002. on Dirty Rotten CD re-release on Beer
City Records. These songs are early version of „I'd Rather Be Sleeping“ (which
was later re-recorded and released on "Dealing With It!" LP) and „No People“
which is the only version of the song that I know it exist. Anyway, of all 14
songs on the demo, most of the songs were later re-recorded and released on "Violent Pacification" EP and "Dealing With It!" LP, only Yes Ma'am was released
before on Dirty Rotten EP (not this verson but the EP version of course). Few
of the songs in their earlier versions also appeared on the 1982. Demo. The
quality of the recording is pretty good for the demo and this could be easily
released on a record as a EP because it's that good. Any fan of early D. R. I.
or any fan of early 80's hardcore punk should be aware of this demo and listen
to it because it's great representation of the band still not going metal route
and playing fast, furious and just plain great hardcore punk. Wile I love the
classic versions of the songs on the bands records I also love these demo
versions of: „Slit My Wrists“, „Bail Out“, „Stupid, Stupid War“, „I'd Rather Be
Sleeping“, „Madman“ and the „No People“ song is also great!
The only thing about the demo that I don't
like is the fact that I don't know more about it and I would really like to
know the story behind the demo and also a proper record release of Vats Demo would
be nice. Also, that's what people should ask the bands in the interviews,
interesting topics like this demo, why everyone always ask the same boring
questions to bands instead of interesting stuff about the forgotten demos and
stuff.
VIOLENT PACIFICATION EP/SESSION (1984.)
In 1983. D. R. I. relocated to San Francisco (like their friends from MDC) and practicaly lived in their van at the time. The original bass guitar player Dennis Johnson quit the band and moved back to Texas. He was replaced by Sebastian Amok with whom the band went to their first US tour called „Rock Against Reagan“ together with MDC and Dead Kennedys. After the tour Sebastian left the band and joned The Dicks, another important early 80's Texas punk band and he was replaced by Josh Pappe. With that lineup the band record Violent Pacification 7˝ EP in late 1983. and the record was released in 1984. on Dirty Rotten Records and R Radical Records. While the record has 4 songs, the whole session has 6 songs, the other two that weren't released on the EP are re-recorded version of „Sad To Be“ and the early version of „Madman“ that was later re-recorded for the bands classic „Dealing With It!“ LP from 1985. These two songs were originally released on „Rat Music For Rat People Vol. 2“ compilation LP in 1984. on CD Presents, Ltd. Later both songs appeared also on „Dealing With It!“ CD re-release from 2003. on Beer City Records. There's a mp3 file circling online titled as 1983. Demo which is actually the Violent Pacification session, just in case if you stumble on 1983. Demo somewhere online. While both „Sad To Be“ and „Madman“ songs were released in different versions on the classic D. R. I. early records, these two versions are also great, intense and furios just like you would expect early D. R. I. to be.
As for the Violent Pacification EP, it's another classic record of the band, in the same vein as their first EP, fast, furious but also very catchy and memorable. I first heard it on Dirty Rotten CD re-release from 1988. which I've mentioned before that it was the the first CD that I've ever bought. EP is opened with the title song „Violent Pacification“ which is one of the most known songs by the band and I believe it was covered a bunch of times by various international hc/punk/metal bands. While the first part of the song is the usual early manic speedy hc/punk blast, the rest of the song is in the circle pit slower vein, later going faster and faster and building up until the end of the song. Also, the song is longer than usual early D. R. I. songs, clocking in almost 3 minutes which makes it the longest D. R. I. song at the time. B side of the EP has two typical fast as hell songs „Running Around“ and „To Open Closed Doors“ and another classic D. R. I. song „Couch Slouch“ which also has the fast parts but also in the middle of the song there's a slower break that sounds just great. „Couch Slouch“ was also later re-recorded and released on „Dealing With It!“ LP and that version is also a ripper. So, Violent Pacification is another great early record of the band, just pure classic that still holds up.
As I've said before, Violent Pacification EP was first re-released on Dirty Rotten CD (Dirty Rotten Records 1988.), then on Dirty Rotten CD (Beer City Records 2002.) and in 2010. Beer City Records re-released it on a original format as a 7˝ EP vinyl. Also on the CD re-releases the song order of the EP is reversed just like the first EP. Fun fact, one of my old bands covered „Violent Pacification“ song and we even recorded it and released it on our CD in 2004. We played a show with D. R. I. in 2004. but we didn't want to play the song at the show because we tought that it would be kinda cheesy to do it. But the interesting thing was that when D. R. I. played the song at the show, we noticed that they play it much slower than us, haha.
DEALING WITH IT! LP (1985.)
After touring in the summer of 1984. the original drummer of the band Eric Brecht left the band and he was replacede with Felix Griffin. Eric went on to play drums in various metal/crossover bands including playing on the first Death demo and later in bands Hirax and Attitude. Also Josh Pappe left the band during the recording of Dealing With It! LP and Mikey Offender (from Offenders, RIP) played bass guitar on the half of the album while on other half of the songs Spike played bass guitar. Dealing With It! album was released in March 1985. on Death Records and Enigma Records, both bigger labels, Death being the metal/crossover label and Enigma with all over the place rock genres.
While the album was a slight step to metal/crossover territory (mostly in two slower and longer songs „Nursing Home Blues“ and „Argument Than War“), this is still hardcore punk which is not a surprise because some of the songs on the album dates back to the bands 1982. Demo. The production is much better than on the previous records, but nothing too polished or weird like some other 80's mid and late 80's hc/punk and metal records. There are 25 songs on the album and while there are still present short and under the minute songs, some songs are two minutes long and the two before mentioned more metal influenced songs are more than 3 minutes long. But, as I've said before, this is still D. R. I. in their fast, furious and catchy hardcore punk style. While the band never sounded sloppy, here they are even more tight and it's noticable that Felix is a little bit more technical drummer than Eric, but still I love the drumming on the album, every beat is on point.
While most of the songs were new to the fans of the bands (at least to the ones who haven't heard the previous demos) when the album was released, some songs from previous two EP's were re-recorded for the album like: „Yes Ma'am“, „Couch Slouch“, „I Don't Need Society“ and „Reaganomics“. Also two songs that were released on compilations in 1984. were re-recorded for the album: „Snap“ and „Mad Man“. All these versions are great as the original verions of the songs. All in all, this is a great album and while I would put Dirty Rotten EP before this one on any list, „Dealing With It!“ deserves to be on the list of the best 100 hardcore punk records of the 80's. It's also interesting how this record doesn't sound dated and I can't get tired of it no matter how much times I've listened to it.
With this album, D. R. I. closed their first hardcore punk phase and went on to be one of the first and most well known crossover bands, meaning they mixed hardcore punk and thrash metal genres creating a new genre. Later Josh Pappe got back to the band and with that lineup, in 1987. the band released their first metal/crossover album „Crossover“ which still in my opinion sounds very raw and pissed off and I really like that album. Other albums which are more thrash metal influenced doesn't do much for me, but I understand there's a lots of people also diggin those records which is fine by me.
COMP TRACKS AND LIVE RECORDS (1983.-1986.)
Just few more things about early compilation tracks and live records of early stuff. OK, the first D. R. I. song ever released on a compilation is actually the song I didn't mentioned before: „Runnin' Around“ on „Cottage Cheese From The Lips of Death“ on Ward-9 Records released in 1983. This was a compilation of Texas hc/punk and post punk bands including also Really Red, The Offenders, The Dicks, Big Boys, Butthole Surfers and more. This is actually the first recprded version of „Runnin' Around“ but I'm not actually sure if it's live or studio version. There's also from the same session (or a live show) version of early version of „Couch Slouch“ which was released with „Runnin' Around“ on „Dealing With It!„ CD re-release in 2003. on Beer City Records. Both of these versions are pretty cool and every fan of early D. R. I. should check out these versions. Both songs are later re-recorded and released on the classic „Violent Pacification 7˝ EP in 1984.
Next is the early version of „Snap“ released on „International P. E. A. C. E. Benefit Compilation“ which was a double LP released in 1984. on R Radical Records. The compilation featured hc/punk bands from all over the world. There's also the early version of „Explorer“ from the same session that was first released on Dirty Rotten LP re-release in 1988. on Dirty Rotten Records. These versions are quite cool, a little bit more raw than the re-recorded versions released on „Dealing With It!“ LP in 1985.
Then we have re-recorded version of „Sad To Be“ (which original version was released on „Dirty Rotten EP“) and early version of „Madman“ released in 1984. on „Rat Music For Rat People vol 2“ compilation on CD Presents, Ltd. Later both songs were re-released on „Dealing With It!“ CD in 2003. I've already talked about these versions but I will say it again, these are really cool versions of classic early D. R. I. songs and shouldn't been missed.
That's pretty much it for the studio compilation songs, here are few more with live songs. These both compilations were released in 1986, when D. R. I. already switched to crossover/metal sound but these live songs are their early songs, so maybe you would want to check them out. Live versions of „I Don't Need Society“ and „Soup Kitchen“ can be heard on „Eastern Front – Live at Ruthie's Inn double LP compilation released on Restless Records with bunch of metal and few hc/punk bands (Raw Power for example). Also live versions of „Yes Ma'am“ and „Soup Kitchen“ can be heard on „US Speedcore Invasion“ compilation LP released on Disaster Records with bunch of metal bands.
As for live records with early D. R. I. material, there is only one officialy D. R. I. live record recorded in their early period which is „Live at CBGB's 1984.“ released in 2005. on CD and DVD by Beer City Records and also in 2015. on vinyl by the same label. Although this live recording was before released on various bootlegs, it's cool that it got officialy released because it's a great presentation of the early period of the band sounding awesome and tight live. Here you have 40 songs of early D. R. I. stuff played furious and pissed off but still tight and not missing any beat or riff. They played here completely both first two EP's and more than half of „Dealing With It!“ LP, so what more do you want!?! As for other bootleg D. R. I. live stuff, I have quite a few live shows in mp3 format from the early period which are pretty decent, so if you want them, let me know.
D. R. I. still tour although the band didn't released anything from 2016. and their last full lenght album was released in 1996. But, it's cool that the band still have energy to tour and the band is still respected and loved in the hardcore punk and metal community. I'm sharing the links for 1982. Demo, VATS Demo and original mix of Dirty Rotten EP, everything else discussed here is still available and in print (at least through reissues), so if you want to support the band and the labels that released D. R. I. stuff, go for it! Hopefully some of you will like this tribute to early period of one of the best hardcore punk bands ever, in my opinion.
Who am I? D. R. I.!
The Snake
1982. Demo
VATS Demo
Dirty Rotten EP/LP
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