D.R.I. Interview

Dirty Rotten Imbeciles

Galaxy theatre, santa ana, ca.

April - 2002

Not very often does a band have the privilege of celebrating their 20th anniversary, less often does the band enjoy one another after all of those years. I caught up with those DIRTY ROTTEN IMBECILES in their costa mesa hotel room to find out just how much they are enjoying themselves and mostly, their fans.

CaBands: Thank you for taking the time to talk with me guys, can you
Introduce yourselves?

D.R.I.: I’m Spike, Kurt, Rob, HAROLD!!

CaBands: Well first, we at California Bands would like to congratulate you. You’re one of the few bands to have made that 20 year Milestone.

Spike: There’s not too many of us. Especially one’s that have never Broke up.

Kurt: There are a few bands that have been around that long, but have Broken up a few times, and got back together.

CaBands:But D.R.I. has seemed to find a way to stick together through The thick and thin. Wow! That is impressive.

CaBands:How did you decide on naming the band DIRTY ROTTEN IMBECILES?

Kurt: When we first started, our practice space was my bedroom. As Soon as my dad was getting home from work every evening Just as Spike would come over to start practicing. So as soon My dad came home, we would be blasting, you know, we Didn’t really have my room sound proofed at the time, so he was always coming in and yelling at us, calling us Names. He said it sounded like hell coming out of that Room, it probably did. He would call us lots of names and One of them was you DIRTY ROTTEN IMBECILES, so we Were kind of stuck for a name because we had a show Before we had a name, which probably happens to a lot of Bands. We had to come up with something fast, they had to Make the fliers. It was originally called US D.R.I. we had That for a while then decided to drop the “US” part.

Spike:You’re dad was the madman (Talking to Kurt). He used to also Call us a bunch of morons. So we were going to call Ourselves B.O.M., but we went with D.R.I.

CaBands: I am sure he was very proud of you (Kurt nods)

Spike: He was pretty proud of it wasn’t he Kurt?

Kurt: Oh yeah, once we moved out everything was all right
(laughter fills the room)

CaBands: Sorry to jump subjects, but this is something that amazed me, You’re album crossover was exactly that, Basically opening a virtually untouched fan base never Been touched by a punk band before. Therefore Reunifying the punk scene. Has that ever brought a Problem? Bringing such a diverse crowd together had to have created fighting among an already angry youth.

Kurt: Definitely, there were a lot of problems at first. It took a while For people to get used to it

Spike:That was one thing we didn’t like about the punk scene, it was Supposed to be like…you know, anarchy, anything goes Then all of a sudden all of these rules started coming up. “you can’t have long hair, you can’t listen to this kind of music, you can’t do this or that” we didn’t like that at all

Harold: Damned punk rock purists

Spike: We had our own little niche that was different than the rock Kids, and I think everybody (punks) wanted to keep that Separate, keep the metal kids out.

CaBands: Again many feel you’ve led the way, just as the album title States: crossover

Harold:I remember in San Francisco, there was a club on broadway Called Stella’s, they had metal shows, across the street They would have punk rock shows. Little by little People would start crossing the street.

Spike: Well, at first kids would line up on both sides of the street Throwing rocks and bottles at each other. Call names and fight what not, and little by little people started Crossing that street.

CaBands:Do you attribute your 20th anniversary to that? Because you are one of the few bands that have been able to reach Such a broad fanbase?

Spike: Dedication, not wanting to work a real job

Kurt:Bodily threats from fans

CaBands: I noticed in the past, you have had a problem getting into Canada, do you still have that problem?

Spike: Yes we still do. We can go anywhere in the world, but Canada

Harold:Take off eh!

Spike:and that’s one place you don’t even need a passport for

CaBands:That was because of a DUI. And yet they are lenient with Narcotic use, amazing. Their loss!

Spike:It’s not though, that’s the border. It’s the kids who lose! The government doesn’t really care.

CaBands: Now, I’ve read about a tribute album. 25 bands or so, Recording D.R.I. covers. When can we expect That?

Spike:It’s about 30 now. The tentative date is July 1, 2002 Tentatively.

CaBands: Any big names?

Spike: MR. BUNGLE, one of the most popular ones I guess. They have a live version of “I don’t need society” It’s really kind of a crude recording I guess but..

CaBands: (interrupting) that makes it even better in my opinion
(laughter….i made D.R.I. laugh…RAD) What about the cover Slayer did?

Spike:yeah, but we couldn’t get the permission to use it from Their record label.

Kurt: Isn’t that strange, we can’t get our own song. Next time Some big band wants to use one of our songs, We’ll say yes if we can use it in the future.

CaBands:Who is your label now?

Spike: We are in the middle of merging to Beer city records

CaBands: You had some major problems with Rotten records. I Know in the past D.R.I. was a hands on band, Has that prevented you from handling the Business side of your music?

Spike:Definitely not. If anything, it made us be more of a hands on band.

Kurt:We went back to doing like we did before originally, Which is almost everything ourselves.

Harold: So we don’t get screwed over

Kurt:That’s how we wound up getting screwed, was letting somebody else take control of everything.

CaBands:D.R.I. has inspired countless musicians. Who are your Inspirations?

Kurt: The first bands that I saw which was back in ‘81-’82 were Black Flag, T.S.O.L. it inspired me to see them get in a van and drive off, it made want to go, I knew I wanted to do that. They didn’t have any certain Kind of rock star look, the music didn’t seem that Hard, it was just screaming and stuff. It seemed Doable rather than going to some big rock concert.

Spike:Well to start playing guitar, I was inspired influenced by a Lot of classic rock bands like, Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, bands like them. When we Started D.R.I., it was Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Minor Threat, a lot of others. After a couple years, About the time we started writing ‘Dealing with It’ they were Metallica, and SLAYER, so that’s Where the metal influences started showing up. From there I got more into Nuclear Assault, Prong, C.O.C., ……PRONG!!!!! I heard they just Got back together, they have a new album out.

CaBands:Now, you did a lot of work with Metallica, is this true?

Harold: Yeah, Cliff Berton was bad!! I’ve never seen anybody like Anything like him in my life. To this day I don’t Think there’s anybody who’s come on and blow everybody away as he does, with his stage presence and all. I use to do photos for them back in the day. I roadied for D.R.I. back in the day, did photos for them too, and that led to this. But I am more into 70’s stuff, like Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath, Getty Lee, I like Rush lot. Ted Nugent all the cool 70’s stuff. As far as new bands, Machine Head is really cool, Sepultura, Slayer, Metallica, I get into some Weird stuff sometimes too. I didn’t think this (D.R.I.) At this point in my life, it’s great, I am having the time of my life, it’s a blast

CaBands: Right on, it shows through your music. How about you Rob?

Rob:I started getting into punk rock when I was really young At about 13 or 14.one of the first bands I was Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, I really liked them a lot. They Were all really a big influence on me, since I Was just starting to play about the same time From there I played in a bunch of different Bands. Somehow, I met D.R.I.’s guitar tech Who lived in the same town as I, so we Became friends. About a year later, I heard D.R.I. was looking for a drummer, so he gave Me all the information to try out. I ended up Doing 2 or 3 days worth of try outs, and… They chose me. 10 years

CaBands: I noticed a greatest hits album last year, but it only had Songs from your first 3 albums, why is that?

Spike:that’s what the record label had put out. They said they Wanted to do a greatest hits album. I was asked To work with them on it, I sent them all kinds Of art work. I was supposed to supervise it, And approve it before it’s release, well I didn’t Receive a copy for 6 months after it’s release.

CaBands: When can we start looking for new material? Anything In the works?

Spike: we are just starting to write again.

CaBands: What label will you be going through?

Spike:we are in the process of merging with Beer City records

CaBands:anything you would like to shout to the fans?

Spike: we would like to thank everybody who has helped us These past 20 years, by buying records, Stickers or buttons, told us we suck or saying We’re the greatest band in the world, we Appreciate it. If you would like to write to us At: D.R.I. pnb 130, 2440 16th st. San francisco, ca. 94013. Check us out at:

WWW.DIRTYROTTENIMBECILES.COM

Or our new express URL:

WWW.DRI1.COM

Rob:support your local scene!!

Spike: yeah, support your local scene. A lot of people don’t. a lot Will only go to the show to see the headliner.

Harold:with that I would like to mention my other band, INHALANT, check us out at
www.rhythmsofevil.com , it’s a 3 piece band with a drummer I have been jamming with for about 20 years. We did a demo 5 years ago, Spike helped us with one about 11 years ago. We’re getting ready to record another real soon. I do that to keep me busy when D.R.I. has nothing going on, to keep me busy.

CaBands: I know the turnout of shows in the past, how are they now?

Kurt:total mix, it’s great. We get a lot of people who saw us a Long time ago, and finally coming back. Some Who see every tour, and seems like a lot who Are coming out for their first time. Just Like it’s always been I guess.

Spike:one last thing.

Support WWW.CALIFORNIABANDS.COM Please...

- Rodney@cabands.com

Also Check Out The D.R.I. Show Review