Old

A US grindcore group assembled in 1986 around vocalist Alan Dubin, guitarist James Plotkin and drummer Ralph Pimentel. First operating as Regurgitation and later as Old Lady Drivers, the trio issued their initial recording, a self-titled set, on Earache Records in 1988. That traditionally oriented grind effort drew attention chiefly for Plotkin’s guitar playing juxtaposed with Dubin’s unhinged vocals.

Rebranded as Old or O.L.D., Dubin and Plotkin removed the drummer and began appearing live as a duo propelled by a drum machine. Former Nirvana guitarist Jason Everman (b. 16 October 1967, Kodiak, Alaska, USA) supplied bass for the 1991 album Lo Flux Tube, a markedly experimental work that largely shed the band’s grindcore identity and incorporated a guest spot by jazz saxophonist John Zorn. Bassist Herschel Gaer joined for the follow-up, The Musical Dimensions Of Sleastak, which moved deeper into alternative metal. The remix collection Hold On To Your Face appeared next, an undertaking rare in rock at the time that enlisted several hardcore techno producers to rework the group’s earlier material.

Dubin and Plotkin recorded the final Old release, 1995’s Formula, strictly as a duo. The album met with broad indifference from the rock audience upon release, yet later gained recognition as a pioneering entry in the techno industrial field. The same pair subsequently joined Stephen O’Malley of Burning Witch in the doom metal band Khanate.