D.R.I.

Releases : 27     Total votes : 0     Reviews : 0

Added by realemopolice Last edited by SludgeLeader

The band's name stands for "Dirty Rotten Imbeciles".

D.R.I. are considered by many to be "the fathers of crossover thrash" along with Suicidal Tendencies, S.O.D., M.O.D. and Excel. According to an interview with Kurt Brecht, they did not coin the term "crossover" themselves, but rather adopted it from people starting to refer to the band's roots in one genre (punk) crossing over into the metal crowd.

The band was first called US D.R.I.; after their last show under that name on December 31st, 1982 at The Island in Houston, they changed their name to simply D.R.I.

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). They started out as a hardcore punk band, then got thrashier and thrashier.

D.R.I. is considered one of the first bands to use the blast beat with their song "No Sense!" from their Dirty Rotten EP.

Being one of the first crossover bands and first few hardcore acts to have acclaimed recognition in some mainstream light, D.R.I. has suffered a lot of heavy criticism from other hardcore punk bands like Sore Throat, Electro Hippies, and several others.

Although D.R.I. hadn't released new material until 2016, they have never broken up. The band still tours and performs on occasions. They went on hiatus from 2006 to 2009 when Spike Cassidy was diagnosed with cancer and he's been recovered since.

Two or more of their members played in the band Boody Print in the early '90s. It's unknown whether or not they released anything.

The song "Couch Slouch" appeared in the 2005 video game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.