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D.I. (band)

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D.I.
This article is about the band. For other uses, see DI.

D.I. (frequently written as DxIx) is a Southern California punk band featuring ex-Adolescents and Social Distortion drummer Casey Royer on vocals. Royer formed the group after he and former Social Distortion original member Rikk Agnew, left the original Mike Ness crew.

Since forming in 1982, D.I. has had many line-up changes and Royer has been the only constant member of the band. The band once broke up and reformed, sometimes with former members of The Adolescents and Social Distortion (including the Angew brothers Rikk and Alfie). During their years of touring and recording albums, D.I. never gained a large mainstream success, but they have influenced many of today's later punk groups, including F.T.E.[1], Face to Face, Guttermouth, Jughead's Revenge[2] and The Offspring.

History

D.I. was formed in 1982 and combined the Orange County punk sound with a decidedly gothic style on their debut self-titled EP. The EP featured five songs including "Richard Hung Himself" (originally written by Casey Royer While he Played for The Adolescents, recorded it with the Adolescents to later Re-record it in D.I. ), "Venus De Milo," "Reagan Der Fuhrer," "Purgatory," and "Guns." This EP was later reissued as Team Goon with extra tracks including versions of Gary Glitter's "Rock & Roll Part II" and Devo's "Uncontrollable Urge." Their first proper album Ancient Artifacts was a more straight ahead Orange County sounding album that included new versions of "Guns" and "Purgatory" from the EP.

D.I. released two more albums Horse Bites Dog Cries (1985) and What Good Is Grief to a God? (1988). Before recording sessions for What Good Is Grief to a God? commenced, guitarist Rikk Agnew left D.I. in 1987 to pursue his career with Adolescents and released two more albums (Brats in Battalions and Balboa Fun Zone) before splitting up. Rikk was replaced by Stevie DRT. D.I. released their next album Tragedy Again in 1989. After that, the band remained silent.

Generally considered their best studio album, Horse Bites, Dog Cries is seen as a continuance of The Adolescents famed Blue Album, with fast punk guitar riffs and vocals that suggest the hopelessness of a punk in Orange County, like the Agnews and of course Casey Royer. Tracks like "Johnny's Got a Problem", "Youth in Asia", "Imminent War" and "Hang Ten in East Berlin" demonstrate the band's real motives on this classic record.

A live album, Live at a Dive, was released in 1993. After Stevie DRT left the band, original drummer John Knight rejoined and their fifth album State of Shock was released in the following year. Following the release of that album, D.I. went on an extended hiatus from 1995 to 1997. The loss of their record label soon followed by members of the State of Shock line-up involved with their various other activities, leaving the group unsure of whether or not they would continue recording and performing. After two years on hiatus, D.I. headed back into the studio around 1997 to record what would be their follow-up to State of Shock and shopped them around to labels but nobody was interested.

Numerous line-up changes went on before they had their current line-up, consiting of Royer, Chckn (guitars), Clinton (guitars), Eddie Tater (bass) and Joey Tater (drums). As of this moment, Royer would become the only constant member of the band. D.I. had continued touring since then and On the Western Front, their long-awaited sixth studio album, was finally released on August 14, 2007.

The band also recently appeared on Discovery Channel's Monster Garage, and it turns out that D.I. is the shows host's favorite band.

Line-ups

Dates Members & prominent instruments Notes
(1982-1983)
(1983-1984)
(1984-1987)
(1987-1988)
(1988-1990)
(1990-1992)
(1992-1995)
(1995-1997)

D.I. on hiatus

(1997-1998)
(1998-1999)
(1999-2000)
(1998-2000)
(2000-2001)
(2001-2003)
(2003-present)

Discography

Studio releases

Year Title Notes
1984 Team Goon EP; plus extra tracks.
1985 Ancient Artifacts Debut album.
1985 Horse Bites Dog Cries Contains material from Ancient Artifacts.
1988 What Good Is Grief to a God? Contains a re-recording of "Johnny's Got a Problem".
1989 Tragedy Again First D.I. album not featuring re-recordings of any song from their previous albums.
1994 State of Shock Final album before their first break up in 1995.
2007 On the Western Front First studio album since the reunion.

EP, compilation and live albums

Year Title Notes
1993 Live at a Dive Live
1999 Short Music For Short People Compilation including various other bands.
2002 Caseyology Compilation; also features unreleased material.
2003 Best of D.I. Compilation

Trivia

  • The initials D.I. have no meaning. Casey Royer (singer / founder) is actually humored by all of the "what it stands for" thing. Many popular guesses include "Drug Ideology", "Dick Insertion" and "Doggy Intercourse" (the popular D.I. logo actually shows a dog in a mounting position). It is noteworthy, however, that D.I.'s publishing name is Damned Immature.
  • D.I. should not be confused with the Thrasher Magazine skate-rock band Drunk Injuns.
  • The American thrash metal band Slayer covered "Spiritual Law" and "Richard Hung Himself" on their 1996 album Undisputed Attitude.
  • D.I. played "Richard Hung Himself" live in Suburbia, a film by Penelope Spheeris
  • D.I. played a few songs in the adult film Little Runaways, released by Punx Productions.

References

  1. ^ "F.T.E. at Myspace" (HTML). MySpace.com. Retrieved February 19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ "Jughead's Revenge at Myspace" (HTML). MySpace.com. Retrieved February 19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
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