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The Gauntlet: O.L.D. (Old Lady Drivers) |
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O.L.D. (Old Lady Drivers) Bio
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Hailing from New Jersey USA ,the band were originally called Regurgitation, and were responsible for the widely circulated late 80's demo tape "Bathrooms Rule" which attracted the attention of Earache to their brand of well executed, super-fast grind, albeit with a zany sense of humour.The line up of Jim, Alan and drummer Ralph Pimentel recorded the blasting self-titled debut album "Old Lady Drivers" in 1988, and it is an important early document of the USA grind scene, but sadly predates the time Earache was releasing its output on CD, so is only on vinyl LP to this day. Musically, It showcased the bands blistering grind with OTT vocals, encompasing juvenile themes, but early signs of Jim Plotkin's undoubted guitar talents shine through regardless.
O.L.D. dispensed with Ralph's services,(replacing him with a drum machine, programmed by Jim) and embarked on a handful of low key New York shows, but as a 2- piece with drum machine,they never caught the imagination of the predominately metal crowds they played to. For the next album, 1991's "Lo Flux Tube" , the band recruited Jason Everman on bass - before joining OLD , Jason was briefly in an up n coming Seattle band called Nirvana,and is in fact pictured on the front sleeve of their debut "Bleach" on Sub Pop. Jason quickly moved on, this time to Soundgarden and Mindfunk, and was replaced for the 3rd OLD album, "The Musical Dimensions Of Sleastak" by Herschel Gaer. By this time OLD were evolving into a 2 person studio-only project, the line up problems ensuring that live shows were non existent.
Open minded Metal and Alternative fans began to embrace the band - much like fellow Earache artist Godflesh, the drum machine was too much for traditional metallers to accept in the early 90's - however, the uniquely shimmering effects-laden guitars of Plotkin along with the intricately programmed beats found many admirers who were bored with the generic scene at the time, and even attracted attention from the more arty crowd including noted saxophonist and genre magpie, John Zorn. Plotkin became further immersed in studio technology and embarked on numerous collaborations of an Ambient nature, many with fellow Earache artist Mick Harris (Scorn) whom he joined on a UK touring stint as guitarist.
Always out to challenge their audience, the band broke new ground with 1993's "Hold Onto Your Face" - Plotkin decided it would be a Remix album, which was something that only happened in dance music at the time, not rock bands , and several up and coming producers from the Hardcore Techno scene were duly let loose on the OLD material. The results were nothing short of shocking .The record has historical importance, as Brooklyn's gabba-king Rob Gee and the UK's Ultraviolence, both as unknowns, made their official debut remixes on this release. Mick Harris' debut remix is included also.
Having alienated all but the most open minded of their fans, the band returned to spectacular form for 1995's supreme "Formula" album, as OLD's final swansong on Earache, it is a true undiscovered classic, with superbly crafted trademark multi-layered guitars and mellower vocals adding up to a timeless piece of work that rewards listeners discovering it, even many years after.
Post Earache, OLD fell apart but the talented Jim Plotkin continues to collaborate on countless projects, most notably Flux, Atomsmasher and doom project Khanate. A full list of projects are available here
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