Old Lady Drivers and Blatant Crap Taste…

Edit: Purchasing information for this CD has been removed, as Alan Dubin emailed me to let me know that this is in fact an unauthorized bootleg. The good news is that the band is currently in negotiations with a couple of interested labels to secure a proper CD release for this classic material!

Old Lady Drivers (usually referred to as OLD) were from New Jersey (It's just a coincidence this time, I swear!) and released their debut self-titled LP in 1988 on Earache, and at the time consisted of the trio of Alan Dubin, James Plotkin, and Ralph Pimentel (the core of the band—Dubin and Plotkin—are of course in Khanate at present). This collection, titled "Regurgitation", sees that 1988 LP on CD for the first time, along with the band's half of a split 7" with Assück (1990), and the Regurgitation (pre-Old Lady Drivers) "Bathrooms Rule" demo (1987). Now, inexplicably listed under the CD tray and tacked onto the end of the disc is a 16-track Extreme Noise Terror live set recorded in 1988 in Burladingen, Germany—which makes this entire release just scream bootleg, especially since I have no idea who sent this to me, and the only contact information listed is a Huntington Beach P.O. Box under the name of "Old Lady Drivers Records". Plus, the layout totally blows ass (though it does include lyrics and some weird "liner notes" that seem to be minimal commentary penned by the guy who pressed this up), so... I dunno. It's always cool to see rare material become available again, especially on CD, so I'm down with that, but bootlegs are definitely touchy. I don't know the story behind this release though, so fuck it.

As you'll hear in the tracks below, the initial incarnation of OLD was a raw, silly grindcore band with smartass humor just oozing from every track. The music consists largely of noisy guitar riffs and blasting percussion with cackled vocals that run the gamut from shrieked screams or snarled yells to more lighthearted fare, and some of the guitar parts have that humorous edge happening as well. On occasion there's an oddball clean break or something a little more melodic and "musical" (if not left-of-center), which indicates as a precursor to their later material that the band wasn't exactly a straightforward grindcore act by any means, but the bulk of these jams bears more in common with a snotty hardcore/punk or crossover act of the mid- to late-80's, so its age does show (which isn't a bad thing). As one might expect, the Regurgitation demo sounds like OLD with a more straightforward crossover thrash/grind sound and a barely rawer recording, but the live tracks from Extreme Noise Terror sound pretty damn weak and it was an incredibly stupid decision to include them on the CD in my opinion. Here's a handful of tracks from the real content of the disc:

OLD "Total Hag"
OLD "I Laugh as I Chew..."
OLD "Rape, Carve, Smoke"
Regurgitation "Aggravated Assault"