DEAN DIRG - '26 Kicks to Make The Whole World Pay' CD PRESS

DEAD SPARROW (DEAN DIRG - '26 Kicks...' CD, Dead Beat)
Even at volume one this release by German quartet Dean Dirg that compiles their two releases The Last Kind On the Block and their self-titled release, into one tight twenty-six song twenty-six minutes and forty-one seconds record, sounds loud as hell. The band follows the loud garage format pretty firmly, basing their songs on a few really short riffs the likes of which are repeated as many times as humanly possible in the span of less than a minute. The speed is kept evenly throughout the record which makes for an upbeat affair, this is really is as energizing as razor-sharp garage rock ever gets, with the occasional hardcore flare peeking through, especially during “!!!!”, a track that shortly straddles a line between aggressive beatdown and charming bar rock band that recently graduated to school dance violence.

There really isn’t much differentiating each song here, some of these tracks are indeed so short and the space between tracks is usually minimized to nano-seconds which are later obliterated to smithereens via even more speedy riffage and the slightly angry vocals of mustachoed Doph.

The first 14 tracks belong to The Last Kind On the Block record and the difference in aesthetics and energy between this and the second half of 26 Kicks… is barely audible. The main difference comes in the aural shape of a guitar sound that is more spiked, a bit rawer and even more deafening in the second part of this record. But judging by this the band is keeping it lively, at lighting speed, with much disheveled gusto and quick as fuck. Dean Dirg literally runs track after track without any regards for the listener’s lack of stamina. Man do these Germans have energy, and at a whopping twenty-six tracks this record is bound to leave you grasping for air.

SCANNER (DEAN DIRG - '26 Kicks...' CD, Dead Beat)
Instigating a tidal wave of snotty Garage Punk from the confines of Germany come the terribly named quartet DEAN DIRG, shooting a bombardment laden with confidence, an armoury of arrogance and an entire vault of shit-hot Punk Rockin' coolness. The 26 tracks here compile the band's two LPS - s/t from 2002 and 'The Last Kid On The Block' from 2004 - and fly by in a total of 27 minutes!! MY kinda rock 'n' roll! It's incendiary shit too; imagine THE HIVES covering 'Group Sex' - CIRCLE JERKS with the spite of THE BRIEFS and a hint of MOTORHEAD and the bile of early NEW BOMB TURKS!! Yep, fast, thrashy, unpolished, noxious rock 'n' roll with serious early USHC undertones. Tracks from the latter album - 'Nailed To The Couch' and '!!!!' in particular - certainly impress the most but 'Try My Ass', 'Fuck Yeah' and 'Kill The Boss' shred the ears with equal conviction. Totally unrelenting - has rock 'n' roll ever sounded this great?

SUGARBUZZ MAGAZIINE (DEAN DIRG - '26 Kicks...' CD, Dead Beat)
Forming in 2000, Dean Dirg has been ploughing through villages, cities and entire countries like a train gone on some rabid, rampant killing spree. Prepare to jump the tracks and feel/hear the steel wheels of power crunch everything in their scopes. Like a drowning man gasping for air is how you will feel after audibly enjoying this gem.

A cross between a hell of a lot angrier Humpers on speed mixed with Dead Kennedy’s era- In God we Trust Inc and/or if Black Flag and Circle Jerks morphed into one band and had Henry Fiats Open Sore’s bastard love child.

If you have sadistic tendencies and like being slapped in the face than Dean Dirg, fulfill that obligation while leaving permanent handprints on your mug for years to come. 26 songs of pure mayhem bliss comprised of 12 songs from their S/T debut lp (2002 Pandora’s Box Records) and 13 songs from “The Last Kid on the Block” Lp (2004 Sterodrive Records)

Dangerous, fuelled on high energy and ready to take North America by storm.

PEACEDOGMAN (DEAN DIRG - '26 Kicks...' CD, Dead Beat)
The DEAN DIRG sound can be easily summed up. “Garage-core” describes this German act to a T. Take the speed thrash of THE CIRCLE JERKS, CRUCIFIX, DEAD KENNEDYS, NEON CHRIST, and a host of other hardcore hellions and mix it with the tangy twang of garage groups a la TTHE FUZZTONES, CHESTERFIELD KINGS, BILLY CHILDISH, WOGGLES, HIVES, THE MUMMIES, etc. In other words, guitarist Claus Daniel finds a way to play the entire chord at break neck speeds. You see, unlike most punk rock bar chord billys that play 2 or 3 strings at the lower register, this guy plays all 5 to 6 of the strings of the entire chord. When you hear an E or G, you are hearing all the notes of the chord. On a technical level, it sounds like you would need 2 guitar players to get the sound this guy does. It’s just one dude and he’s a rhythmic virtuoso.

The rest of the band fares well also. They are super tight and could be described as (Aussie 80s legends) THE CELIBATE RIFLES on crack. If tracks like “Dean Dirg’s Bored”, “Everyone Back Off”, “Rock Out”, “Our Laugh’s on You”, “Make the Whole World Pay”, “Suicide Just Won’t do the Trick” and “Kill the Boss” don’t easily describe the group’s mission statement, then you have clearly missed the point. Each one of the 26 songs averages between a minute and a minute and a half. The songs are culled from 2 different albums but who can tell? The disc hits right in the neighborhood at around the 30 minute mark, so the band barely wears out its welcome here.

NOW WAVE (DEAN DIRG - '26 Kicks...' CD, Dead Beat)
The other day I was trying to build this huge, black, five-foot-tall, six-foot-high, 1500-CD-holding shelving unit I bought. I was listening to the Buzzcocks' second album Love Bites. It was not going well. Now I am not the most mechanically-inclined person (as most of my friends like to point out). And when I was almost done after easily over an hour, I realized I had built all five shelving walls upside down. They were all screwed on tight, and the goddamn thing was almost ready for the fun part, the actual organizing. But now all the unfinished edges that were supposed to be black and facing the wall and not visible, were facing the outside and were clearing the wrong color. The unfinished edges were supposed to be facing the inside! God damnit!

Let's just say that I was a little pissed. And I definitely needed some more appropriate music. I mean, of course the Buzzcocks are great. But I can only listen to about zero love songs when I'm pissed. So I put on one of the newer Dead Beat Records releases by a band called Dean Dirg. I hadn't listened to it yet, but it looked cool and had an interesting name and title. And this disc ended up being so fast and tough and loud, and I was so annoyed and pissed and tired that after soaking up the rockin' 26 Kicks to Make the Whole World Pay, I was completely finished with the damn CD stand in about 20 minutes when it should have taken another hour.

Thanks, Dean Dirg.

EQUALIZING DISTORT (DEAN DIRG - '26 Kicks...' CD, Dead Beat)
DEAN DIRG dish out the ass kicking garage-core. Take NEGATIVE APPROACH and cross it with HENRY FIAT’s OPEN SORE and DEAN DIRG is what you get. It’s all amped up rock n roll with a mean ness to it. It seriously reminds me of a garage band covering “Tied Down”. For locals DEAN DIRG would be TEEN CRUD COMBO replacing their MOTORHEAD riffs for SOA back to basics punk. DEAN DIRG’s short blasts of punk will knock hipsters on their ass. Think of DEAN DIRG as a punk rock dividing rod, instead of separating the wheat from the shaft, they separate the punks from the poseurs. Too underground for their own good but too good to be kept a secret. Their back to basics punk n roll will appeal to fans of the REGULATIONS looking for a little more gusto. Dead Beat’s CD collects DEAN DIRG’s self titled LP and their “Last Kid on the Block” LP. Once you have been convinced of the greatness of this band you will need to hunt down the 10” and their split with HFOS. Start here first.

NOW WAVE (DEAN DIRG - '26 Kicks...' CD, Dead Beat)
Some bands wanna give you a good time. Others wanna move you to tears. And then you have Dean Dirg, who wanna beat you senseless with a steel pole and then fuck you up the ass with it. Good god! 26 Kicks To Make The Whole World Pay is a relentless onslaught of pissed-off, super-fast punk rock delivered with madman ferocity and seemingly superhuman energy. Reminiscent of both early '80s hardcore and so-called "modern punk", Dean Dirg's hot-and-hyper assault will give you a boner or a headache, depending upon your personal preferences in recorded music. Compared to Dean Dirg, most of today's hardcore/trash/punk bands sound like they're merely going through the motions. These German wildboys play every note like they really mean it, each song a minute's worth of cruel and unusual punishment, guitars scorching and voice abrading and drums hitting so hard you'll feel it sitting in your room.

With a garagey guitar sound not unlike The Hives' and an earsplitting attack comparable to groups like The Krunchies, Dean Dirg will appeal to fans of all sorts of aggressive punk rock. But you damn well better be man enough to take such abuse. Collecting all the tracks from the band's 2002 self-titled debut LP and the 2004 follow-up Last Kid On The Block, this CD release from Dead Beat may dish out more Dean Dirg than you can handle. Buckle up, tough guy!

DAVE MCGURGAN.COM