The Dirtbombs

Emerging from one of Mick Collins’ numerous endeavors after the Gories, the Dirtbombs at first registered more as an abstract notion than an actual performing unit. Conceived partly as a counterpoint to the Gories’ absence of bass, the Detroit outfit assembled two drummers, two bassists, and Collins handling vocals and guitar. Beyond their signature high volume and sonic density, the group revealed an unexpectedly wide-ranging palette that spanned garage rock, punk, glam, classic soul, and R&B. They operated at first as a singles act, releasing five 7-inch records before Larry Hardy of In the Red persuaded them to complete a full album, Horndog Fest, which appeared in 1998. After several more singles, the band delivered its second long-player, Ultraglide in Black, in May 2001. Entirely given over to vintage R&B covers, that record helped expand their audience across Europe through repeated tours abroad, one of which included dates alongside the White Stripes. Collins and his colleagues shifted back toward a harder, guitar-driven approach on 2003’s Dangerous Magical Noise, then issued the split LP Billiards at Nine Thirty with King Khan & the Shrines in 2005. That same month In the Red put out the double-disc anthology If You Don’t Already Have a Look, which gathered 52 tracks of covers, singles, and six newly recorded songs. By then the Dirtbombs’ fluid roster had settled around Collins together with drummers Ben Blackwell and Pat Pantano and bassists Ko Shih and Troy Gregory. The five-piece kept touring, placed material in multiple commercials, and entered the studio again in fall 2006. What began as a planned four-song EP grew into the band’s fourth studio album, We Have You Surrounded, issued in February 2008. In the years that followed they issued singles on In the Red and Cass, Collins rejoined a reconstituted Gories, and the members considered their subsequent direction. The next project surprised many observers: Party Store, released in 2011, channeled Collins’ affinity for Detroit’s electronic heritage by recasting tracks from techno originators Juan Atkins and Derrick May, innovator Carl Craig, and chart successes Inner City. Their following release realized Collins’ long-standing wish to make an album rooted in bubblegum pop; Ooey Gooey Chewy Ka-Blooey! came out on In the Red in fall 2013.