Dead City Rejects

Name/Nicknames: Jeremy King or just "King"

Age: Born April 2nd, 1975 (thirty years and some change).

Instrument: Singer, Guitar, Drums (retired)

Band/Former Bands: Current: Dead City Rejects

Past: Indignant Few - Drums (1989-1991) IDC - Drums (1991-1993) Acid 9 - Vocals, Drums & Guitar (1995-1997) Speed Kills - Drums (1997-1999) B.S.P - Vocals & Guitar (1998-2002) Haircuts That Hurt - Guitar (2003-2004) Stand in musician (drums): Skam Impaired, Ants in an argument

Current Bandmates: Brent Starkey - Bass; Jason Ott - Guitar; Chico - Drums.

How long on instrument: Vocals- Nine years; Guitar- Eight years; Drums- Eighteen years (though not consistent since 1998)

Jeremy King

Equipment: Mesa/Boogie Single Rectifier - stage guitar amp;

Mesa/Boogie Heartbreaker - studio guitar amp

Two(2) custom built 4x12 Celestion guitar cabinets

Korg rackmount guitar tuner

Nady wireless guitar system

Custom Epiphone Riviera archtop - primary guitar

Gibson "Les Paul" double cutaway - secondary guitar

Epiphone "Les Paul" model - practice guitar

Jay Turser JT-50 - acoustic Guitar

Metal (usually chrome or nickel) guitar picks.

Influences:

Chuck Berry, Bad Brains, The Clash, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Jimmy Cliff, Ramones, Motley Crue, Dead Boys, The Specials, Undermine, Fear, Eddie Cochran, Hound Dog Taylor, Shakira, Count Basie, Social Distortion, Billy Holiday, Flogging Molly, Beethoven, Buju Banton, etc.

First Gig:

My first show was in July 1991 at Tewligans on Baxter Ave. (now Cahoots) back when I used to play drums for Indignant Few. I remember being delayed flying out of Glasgow, Scotland the previous day because all of the planes had been diverted to Iraq to export British and Scottish citizens back to the United Kingdom during the Gulf War. When we finally landed in New York City our connecting flight had already departed for Louisville, forcing my family and me to stay over in NYC.

The airline was gracious enough to put us up in a hotel until the following morning. So, once settled into our room I decided (as any sixteen year old would do) to venture out and wander the streets of New York in search of a pay phone (after all, Holden Caulfield had no problems, right?). Eventually I track down a phone and make contact with the band, only to find that we have a show the next day starting approximately two hours after I'm scheduled to arrive back home.

Anyway, I didn't get mugged, maced, or assaulted in New York (but I did buy a very cool poster). I simply took-in the ambience, went back to the hotel, woke the next day and flew home to play a very jet-lagged, yet unforgettable show with several other great bands that I can't remember.

Hobbies: Travel. I love life, everyday is an amazing adventure for me (just ask all my `wives', they're out back in the pool). I love to read whenever possible. Beautiful people make me smile, sincere people make me happy and assholes keep the blood flowing. Good stories keep things fresh and new. I'm a huge fan of spontaneity, surprises and change. I have a longtime passion for being on two wheels; whether on my motorcycle, my BMX bike, or my mountain bike. Sex is a drug. It does strange things to the mind and soul and I think I may have a slight addiction. But, I would also have to include it in with my list of hobbies.

Favorite Movies: I have about 300 movies in my home collection and hefty late fees at multiple video stores, so to list a favorite is impossible. Rather I will simply summarize the ones that stand out immediately and made the greatest impact:

Naked Lunch; Barfly; The Outsiders; Fight Club; Decline of Western Civilization; East Of Eden; Rumblefish

Favorite Books: Everything by Ernest Hemmingway; "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson; Tom Robbins "Jitterbug Perfume"; The Harry Potter collection by J.K. Rowling; Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" & "Desolation Angels"; "Junky" by William S. Burroughs; "Nine Stories" by J.D. Salinger; "Bring Me Your Love" and pretty much everything else by Bukowski; Fyodor Dostoevsky (when I'm feeling introspective) and most books about pirates.

Favorite Food: I love really great scrambled eggs, especially after a long night of adventures. Mix the eggs up with cheddar cheese, green peppers, maybe some ham or sausage and just the right amount of garlic; add a side of fresh fruit and maybe some French Toast. Then, of course, compliment the meal with exceptionally strong hot coffee and a mimosa or two. Delicious.

But, the most amazing meal I've ever had was prepared for me by my life-long love about two months ago. I can not do the eloquence of this meal literary justice, so I will just simply list the courses and preface it by saying that she is Italian (as was the meal) and she had just recently move back to United States from Italy.

The meal itself was Vermicelli pasta and handmade sauce, baked eggplant, manicotti, spinach salad and - Louisville Music News

When the Ramones enlightened the universe of punk rock on July 4, 1976 — the band’s first British gig, attended by some people you might know, like Joe Strummer and Johnny Rotten — neither the band nor the innumerable bands that show spawned had any clue how the legacy would linger. But punk rock made it, so to speak, surviving numerous corporate attempts to tag and sell it, and an abundance of crap-ass bands that claim the nomenclature but sabotage the reality by placing fashion over form. What those cretins always fail to grasp is that simple adage: Punk rock is about attitude: Punk can be a guy in a suit — if he thinks the right way.

Sunday’s show at Headliners has that spirit of punk rock: the don’t-give-a-shit, exploit-that-which-oppresses-you kind of feeling. And yes, there will be rapid-fire, jagged guitar distortion, and leather, and dyed Mohawks aplenty, for a nice rounding out of the punker stereotype.

Louisville’s Dead City Rejects, the always-at-it quartet with a new 22-song record on the July horizon, will draw from their five-album discography to mix with some new tunes off the forthcoming full-length. The Dollyrots, a Los Angeles-based trio with a taste of ’60s choir girl harmony mixed with some riot grrl punk (or maybe like the Donnas, save the canned rock caveat), and Bang Sugar Bang, another L.A. outfit in the X vein, stop by to rock it.

After DCR, the local Grotesque Burlesque troupe takes the stage with its “Mafia Girls Destroy” show, a seductive mix of mildly erotic leg splits and girl-to-girl insinuation that hearkens as much to the olden days of vaudeville as the current days of pole-rubbing strippers. As far as social criticisms go, this one attacks on the once-conventional American attitude that women are inferior to men. It works pretty well, goading horny dudes into drooling over fantasies of the sexy seductresses slowly slipping off one another’s clothes while show tunes blast as soundtrack. All the while, the strapping gentlemen are reacting to everything that is supposedly wrong with the societal perception of the “woman as sexual predator” archetype. It speaks loudly to the tension between chauvinism and sexual desire, and the whole thing probably pisses off as many people as it pleases. That’s a good measure of success for things like this.

Speaking of measuring success, the DCR’s 2003 live album — a solid force mixing early Rancid, the Clash and 12-bar blues, for starters — was recorded at CBGB’s, the womb from which their brand of punk rock was born. Though it’s a small, dingy club past its prime, the cultural impact is like a Muslim heading to Mecca: It’s a spiritual conquest more than a rock show.

So the idea laid forth is this: Punk rock is not dead, despite the rumors. Just watch these people prove it.

BY STEPHEN GEORGE
sgeorge@leoweekly.com
LEO Weekly - 04/20/2005

Dead City Rejects, Dollyrots, Bang Sugar Bang, Grotesque Burlesque Headliners Music Hall Sunday, April 24 1386 Lexington Road 584-8088 $6; 18+; 8 p.m. - LEO Weekly

Sunday, Feb. 8
Dead City Rejects
Local punk rockers Dead City Rejects are holding a record release show at Uncle Pleasant's on Sunday, Feb. 8, to celebrate their new disc, Live from CBGB's.
Recorded at the legendary NYC punk club on Aug. 29, 2003, the album features new versions of older songs, as well as a smoking cover of the Clash's incendiary hit, "Tommy Gun." There's also a video for "Wild Irish Rose," a song that originally appeared on DCR's 2002 release, The Ghetto Box Sessions.
Also appearing are local punkers The Revenants and Nowhere Fast, and Chicago's Destroy Everything. Uncle Pleasant's is located at 2126 S. Preston St. Call 634-4147 for more info. -Stephen George
- Louiville Eccentric Observer

Do you fancy yourself in punk rock basement shows? Does the sound of over-distorted, wedged-together power chords make you tingle inside? Well I think I've found something for you to check out. The Dead City Rejects have been making an honest effort to garner a following around Louisville since they formed in 1998. But for this album they traveled to the Big Apple to play an underground music club you may have heard of by the name of CBGB's (yes, THAT CBGB's).

For the band's first effort at a live recording, they throw together a straightforward, 30-minute set of high adrenaline rock. But wait! As I listen on, the sounds become a little sweeter. They lead in to their hit single, "Dissidence & Barbed Wire," with a proposal to the crowd of helping them out with a lift from alcoholic beverages. As the music takes off, it brings an almost ska-melodic vibe to the song, making it much more appealing to the ears. Grab your mate and do the happy dance to the Irish, Dropkick Murphy-esque "Wild Irish Rose." This is by far the standout track on the recording.

Given that I have heard both Rouge Album and Dead City Rejects (the band's self-titled album), I can say with certainty the studio efforts from this band are more impressive. For the long time fans of the Rejects, this disc is a necessity. And for people that rock hard, this is something to check out. - Louisville Music News

To any music entrepreneur, there’s always that search for something new, but that still retains the ability to take us back to older times, something that grabs us and throws us back… lets us reminisce a bit. How many times have you sat there bored with today’s styles and sounds, looking, wanting, needing something unfamiliar yet with that familiar feeling? Out of Louisville, Kentucky comes just that.

The Dead City Rejects, a loud, energetic, and obnoxious foursome of old school punks, with a raw, and true to their roots sound. With songs like Annihilate, Janus Faced, Dissidence & Barbed Wire and Leather Jacket, they get you up and ready to pit the moment the first riff hits.

DCR started out as B.S.P. (Blitzkrieg Sucker Punch, Bull Shit Posse, Boy’s Suck Penis, etc.), back in 1998, in a little downtown Louisville diner/club called Primizies Pizzeria playing for free beer and pizza. The original lineup included: Jeremy King-vocals & guitar, Doug Walker-lead guitar, Joey Argabrite-bass, and Pat King-drums, were a hit with their first gig. The T-shirts they made with cans of spray paint sold out fast as their popularity quickly rose.

As years passed and members changed, Jeremy King found himself with a strong lineup that now makes up the Dead City Rejects: Jeremy King-Lead guitar and vocals, Jason Ott-rhythm guitar and vocals, Graham Goff-drums and backing vocals, and Brent Starkey on bass and vocals.

They have three full-length CD’s available: Dead City Rejects (s/t) – 2002, Ghetto Box Sessions (containing material from 1998-2001 includes everything from out takes and demos to recordings made on an old ghetto box) & The Rogue Album (originally recorded as B.S.P. in 2000). These albums can purchased via their website at www.deadcityrejects.com, there are also many songs, photos and a video available. If you like what you hear, let them know, a Detroit show may be in the works for this spring/summer.
- Erie Square Gazette - Detroit, MI

There was a time when the term "punk" stood alone as a music modifier. The Ramones, Stiff Little Fingers, the Clash; these were punk bands that emphatically looked and played the part. These days it seems when you say "punk," you're only halfway home. We have dance-punk, noise-punk, gutter-punk, pop-punk — every flavor of punk under the sun, save for the original.

The Dead City Rejects are a refreshing dip into punk's past. Complete with spiked mohawks, Union Jack moon stompers and studded belts, the Dead City Rejects look like they stepped right out of 1970s London.

Thankfully, these punk purists are not just dressed for success; they also play with the manic energy that started the revolution all those years ago.

Background

Though dead serious now, the Rejects actually started in 1998 as BSP, or Blitzkrieg Sucker Punch, a sort-of joke that included singer/guitarist Jeremy King and guitarist Jason Ott. When the duo decided to buckle down, they changed the name and incorporated more influences like ska and reggae.

When King's brother, drummer Pat King, grew more busy with his other band, Skam Impaired, Rejects fan Graham Goff begged the guys for a tryout and earned his spot. Original bassist Mike Foreman was kicked out in 2002 because of a personal dispute, and Louisville legend Brent Starkey agreed to fill in for an upcoming tour and decided to stay on permanently.

Sound

While the Rejects continuously pump out speedy punk anthems, the sound is decidedly raw without completely abandoning melody and tunefulness.

On four albums, including one recorded in September live at New York's famous punk club CBGB, the Rejects play with an energy and anger similar to Rancid, perhaps the most legit punk band to garner commercial success. King even looks and sings like Rancid's Tim Armstrong.

King's vocals are husky but not haggard, and Ott and Starkey provide added vocal punch during particularly anthemic choruses.

In a world in which Blink-182 somehow has street cred, the Dead City Rejects do well to remind listeners that good punk rock isn't the sole domain of high school dumbasses.

Outlook

The Dead City Rejects' popularity is rising to the point where the guys are forced to turn down shows.

"We just did two nights in Chicago and they wanted us to do a third, but we just couldn't stay," King said.

At the end of August, the band will go on a week-long tour that will include stops in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Baltimore and another gig at CBGB. October brings another week on the road, and the band will make its maiden voyage to Los Angeles, where the Rejects have scheduled meetings with label representatives.

The band has a three-song demo it will shop around to labels, but if the Dead City Rejects are destined to be touring only a week or two at a time to keep the van from blowing up, then, well, that's still better than a real job.
- Velocity Magazine