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.
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.)
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