About D.R.I.
Dirty Rotten Imbeciles is an American crossover thrash band that formed in Houston in 1982 and would later relocate to San Francisco. The band is currently composed of two of its founding members, lead vocalist Kurt Brecht and guitarist Spike Cassidy, as well as bassist Greg Orr and drummer Rob Rampy.
D.R.I. never gained a mainstream audience, but the integration of their hardcore punk roots with thrash metal influences was a stylistic catalyst for their contemporaries – most notably Suicidal Tendencies, Corrosion of Conformity, Stormtroopers of Death, the Cro-Mags, Nuclear Assault, Adrenalin O.D., and Cryptic Slaughter – alongside whom they are considered to be one of the major pioneers of what would later be called "crossover thrash". These bands had a heavy influence on modern thrash metal.
To date, D.R.I. has released seven full-length studio albums. Other than three new songs on the 2016 EP But Wait... There's More!, they have not released a full-length studio album since Full Speed Ahead in 1995. Despite this, the band has continued to tour almost every year, and gone on hiatus intermittently, notably between 2004 and 2009, when Cassidy was diagnosed with colon cancer. Since the late 1990s, D.R.I. has been working on their eighth full-length studio album, which remains unreleased.
Dirty Rotten Imbeciles ) was formed in Houston in May 1982 by former members of the hardcore punk band Suburbanites. The original line-up consisted of Spike Cassidy on guitar, Kurt Brecht on lead vocals, Eric Brecht on drums and Dennis Johnson on bass, which was basically the Suburbanites with Cassidy on guitar. Cassidy's roommate played guitar in the Suburbanites.
The group started practicing at Kurt and Eric's parents' home. The noise made by the band allegedly drew 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. They initially went under the name US D.R.I for a brief period before shortening it to D.R.I. Presumably, the "US" stood for the band, as mentioned in interviews off of the extended version of the Dirty Rotten CD. Photos of the band can be found with the original US D.R.I logo. The "Skanker Man" logo was designed by original drummer Eric Brecht as a high school art assignment to create a "corporate" logo. He received an "A" on it.
Two months later, on July 2, 1982, the band played their first show at Joe Star's OMNI, in Houston.
Map & Directions To Venue
