Debbie Gibson were a short-lived d-beat/hardcore band from Perth, Western Australia. I would say their timespan was approximately late summer, early the-season-that-comes-after 2006. The music was a mixture of thrashy d-beat and occasional blast beats with a bit of an 80's hardcore scrappy feel and liberal doses of chaotic feedback. Their influences were Discharge, Rudimentary Peni and modern Scandinavian/Amerikan d-beat acts. The lineup was Zaheer on guitar, Luke on bass, David on vox and Rama on drums. Zaheer and Rama had previously played in the quite popular asian-power crust/d-beat punk band The Magoos.Three quarters of the band had been together in an un-named previous incarnation with a nice English (I think) chap named Dee on vocals. This didn't work out for some reason and through a convoluted doom-band-member-wanted ad scenario the second, aforementioned lineup was formed and the appropriation of the Debbie Gibson name occured. They practised for a few months and played their first and only gig supporting the awesome Amerikan d-beat band Artimus Pyle at the 208 House in Maylands. Highlights of this period include leather drumming gloves, crispy squid, 'dbeat-blast-dbeat-blast-dbeat????', extreme volume and excessive coffee consumption (primarily attributed to guitarist).
This gig went reasonably well, however it was to be the end of the Debbie Gibson tale. After the first gig, practices ceased to exist and an icy exchange between the exam/caffeine-stressed guitarist and the singer prompted a lengthy period of silence which was eventually broken with a phone call giving the singer the boot.
The other members regrouped to continue the d-beat direktive. Luke moved on to second guitar, Craig (of Perth hardcore punk bands Battletruk and Negative Reply I think) joined the band on bass, and a Swedish chap named Dennis took up vocal duties. This band, as of mid-2008 still exists and is called Nine Must Die, now a quartet, as Zaheer was given the boot due to his attention wandering away from the band's pure d-beat direction.
As for the present day, Zaheer is now playing in a stoner-rock band called Atolah, Rama sings and plays guitar in the Misfits-esque combo Raped By Wolves as well as drumming in Nine Must Die, Luke is a crack submarine pilot as well as the guitarist in Nine Must Die and David plays in Whalehammer, Burning Sensation, Leppard Messiah and Rat Columns.
As far as I know, Debbie Gibson left behind one sonic artifact, a tape recorded in a rehearsal room at Lounge Guitars in West Leederville. The tape captures the band's set of 7 or 8 songs or so. It was recorded through one Radio Shack mic into one track of a Tascam four-track cassette recorder. The mic had to be placed outside, behind the door of the rehearsal room as the band's vicious volume level inside the room was too much for the mic to handle. As could be expected, it sounds like a really loud band playing in the next room, where a tornado and/or an industrial vacuum are wreaking havoc. The songs include 'Hammered', 'War (This Is What It's Good For), 'Torture Chamber', 'DIY Surgery', 'Born Again (As A Scumbag)', 'Mandatory Vasectomy' and some others I can't recall the titles of. It's actually pretty raging! I left the 10 minute set unedited as it is quite enjoyable in this fashion, with false starts and short, vague between song discussions in place. D-BEAT APOCALYPSE!!!!
Check it out at www.doddrell.com/mp3, in the Debbie Gibson folder.
Various linx;
Nine Must Die - www.myspace.com/ninemustdie ??? Google it, their site comes up first, but won't let me know what it is...
Raped By Wolves - www.myspace.com/hollywoodgraves
Atolah - http://www.myspace.com/atolah
Battletruk - google 'Battletruk'
Negative Reply - www.angelfire.com/punk2/australianpunk/negreply.html
Whalehammer - http://www.myspace.com/whalehammer
Burning Sensation - www.myspace.com/burningsensationburningsensation
Leppard Messiah - www.whalehammer.blogspot.com/2008/02/leopard-messiah-emerald-fyre-lp.html
Rat Columns - www.myspace.com/ratcolumns
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