D Generation
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- For other uses, see; D Generation (disambiguation)
D Generation (also known as DGen) was a punk band formed in 1991 in New York City. During its history, the band released three albums to much critical acclaim and were signed to Chrysalis Records. Although the group was often characterized as a glam band, their music and sound was more often akin to groups like The Clash and the Sex Pistols.
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[edit] History
The band's original line-up consisted of Jesse Malin (vocals), Richard "The Atomic Elf" Bacchus (guitar), Georgie Seville (guitar), Howie Pyro (bass), and Belvy K (drums). Seville and K were shortly replaced by Danny Sage and Michael Wildwood, respectively.
[edit] Debut
The band first signed with Chrysalis Records, with whom they released their debut album D Generation. Despite a generally favourable critical reaction, the album failed to garner high sales. The band, however, did earn a spot on the Airheads soundtrack in 1994 (a cover of "Degenerated" by Reagan Youth ), but the movie's director felt Jesse Malin's voice did not fit the face of Brendan Fraser, so Brendan was asked to overdub his vocals.
[edit] No Lunch, and tours
Feeling that Chrysalis wasn't supporting them properly, the band abandoned their contract and moved to Sony Records, releasing their second album, No Lunch on the label in 1996. At this time D Generation played shows supporting such bands as Social Distortion, The Ramones, and KISS. Shortly after, Bacchus left the band, and was replaced by ex-Murphy's Law and Agnostic Front member Todd Youth. The band was forced to tour Europe with Green Day in early 1998.
[edit] Through The Darkness: Band split
D Generation then recorded their third album: Through the Darkness but again the album failed to reach the sales that were hoped for, despite scoring the lead-off single on the soundtrack of the very popular film The Faculty just a few months prior. Just prior to the tour in support of that album, Todd and Micahel left to form the short-lived band Chrome Locust with bassist Jin Hennghan, and released one self-titled abum before breaking up. For the tour, the band recruited drummer Joe Rizzo and Richard Bacchus briefly returned on guitar, and was then replaced during the band's last few dates by Jim Wallerstein. The group disbanded after playing their final show in their hometown at Coney Island High on April 21, 1999.
[edit] Post-D Generation
Later in 1999, Jesse, Howie and Joe Rizzo formed PCP Highway with guitarist Esko. The band recorded a number of demo tracks and toured the east coast in 1999. Around the beginning of 2000, Howie Pyro was offered an invitation to Join Danzig's band (which now also included Todd Youth on guitar) and PCP Highway disbanded; a planned album, titled Dreamless, was never released. Meanwhile, Rick was performing with his new project, Vasquez, which included Eric Kuby on drums and former Hanoi Rocks bassist Sami Yaffa. This group released an independent EP titled Two Songs.
In 2000, Jesse began playing a series of solo shows and released a self-produced CD titled 169 EP but, by the end of that year, re-teamed with Esko and Joe Rizzo, along with bassist Johnny Pisano, to form a new band which was initially called Tsing-Tsing (a handful of shows were played under that name) and then re-christened Bellvue. That band released one album, To Be Somebody, in April of 2001 on Goldenseal Records. This album was re-released in October of 2001 with a slightly different tracklist. By 2002, this project had disbanded and Jesse again began to persue a solo career, issuing the Ryan Adams produced The Fine Art of Self Destruction, in late 2002, followed by The Heat in 2004. He is currently at work on his third album, which is slated for a Fall, 2006 release on Billy Joe Armstrong's (of Green Day) label, Adeline Records.
Currently, Rick is recording and touring as a solo artist and still plays the occasional gig with Vasquez (now called The Luckiest Girls) and has released one independent CD titled The Bicycle Diaries. Howie Pyro and Todd Youth have also both left Glenn Danzig to persue other projects. Danny Sage relocated to L.A. after DGen broke up and is currently working on a solo album.
