Dirt Merchants

In March 1992 the Malone brothers—Mike on guitar and John on drums—launched the Boston rock band Dirt Merchants. They soon added vocalist Maria Christopher and bassist Alex Kisch, a college acquaintance of Mike’s. The quartet’s first single, “Mindfuck” b/w “Beware of Dog,” appeared in 1993 on the group’s own V-Hold label. A follow-up single, “Purple Barrel” b/w “Love Apnea,” arrived in 1994 and quickly established the band among Boston’s most promising rock acts, highlighted by their win in radio station WBCN’s Rock ’n’ Roll Rumble that year. Zero Hour, an independent New York label, signed Dirt Merchants in 1995, and the band issued its debut album, Scarified, that April. Epic subsequently took interest in the record, signed the group, and re-released the album in February 1996.