Dirty District

Dirty District
DD, 1993. photo by Dennis Morris
Background information
Also known as	Great Gangsters From The Dirty District
Origin	Sèvres, France
Genres	Reggae Fusion Punk rock Rap Metal
Years active	1985–1996,
Associated acts	Ethnician Noxious Enjoyment Mano Negra
Website	DD Fansite
Members
K'shoo (vocals, guitar) Yvo Abadi( Drums/Percussion) Philippe Lenzini(guitars) Miguel Saboga (drums/Percussion) Leuji (Gilles) (bass) Igor Nikitinsky (Keyboards) Garbis Baharian (Sampler)
Past members
Geo (Keyboards) Fred (Bass) Gilles (guitar)

Dirty District is a French Fusion band, formed in 1985. They were one of the first French bands to attempt Fusion rock.

Early years

The band originally formed in Sèvres, France under the name of Great Gangsters From The Dirty District (until they changed it to just Dirty District later). A vast majority of their songs were sung in English, except for the first EP and two songs on Pousse au crime et Longueurs de temps. Influenced by the likes of Joe Jackson, The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Reggae, Ska and Rhythm and blues. They released the much delayed Pousse au crime et Longueurs de temps which were a fusion of reggae, ska, punk, dub, and rap with heavily political based lyrics based on street crime, Steve Biko and fighting National Front. But like most groups at the time their music was very much slept on, due to that type of fusion of musical styles been not heard at the time. Pousse Au Crime.. was noticed by fellow French Punk/World Music band Mano Negra, and the band where invited them to play on their album Patchanka.

1993 and onwards

After a whole host of musicians had been and gone, Dirty District finally got a steady line-up when they released their second album Life In The Dirty District in 1993. DD showed their eclectic roots yet again on this album, sounding like France's answer to up and coming rap metal movement, and Mike Patton's original band Mr. Bungle. During this time Kshoo, Philippe, Miguel and Charlu from 'Ludwig Von 88' started a little known side project called Les Dieux (The Gods). After taking 2 years off (most members like Yvo, Philippe, Miguel had been contributing to other French musicians) DD released the final EP Welcome To The Next Level in 1995, which included a very bizarre cover of The Prodigy's Jericho, and the song Speech Over which explored the sound that would later explode in Ethnician. The band disbanded in 1996. Vocalist Cachou went onto do co-vocals for metalcore group Boost and then formed another metalcore/punk-metal band called Noxious Enjoyment in 1998, who are influenced by the likes of The Exploited and Agnostic Front, while Yvo nowadays plays live drums for Amadou & Mariam, Philippe is a London-based musician and producer, and bassist Leuji has now his own musical career, and performs in a band of the same name.

Members

• Kshoo

Kshoo is the vocalist and live guitarist for DD. Originally called Cachou, (which translates as a sweet that hides the odour of tobacco) he has also been called Shook, and Shooka. He also contributed vocals to Death Metal Band Boost and Punk supergroups Les Dieux, and finally his metalcore band Noxious Enjoyment.

• Leuji

Leuji is the bassist that replaced little known DD bass guitarist Mishko on later albums. He later joined P18 after DD, and is currently working on a few other projects.

• Yvo Abadi

Yvo (aka 'The Megasound') is an expert drummer and percussionist of the band, who joined in 1993. Since leaving DD, Yvo has contributed drums and percussions to other artists. Was last seen playing drums at Glastonbury 2009 with Amadou & Mariam.

• Philippe Lenzini

Philippe (also known as Ifif) was the guitarist after Gille's departure. He played on the Life In The Dirty District and Welcome to the Next Level . He now lives in London, has played and collaborated with various musicians including Youth, Dennis Morris, Klima, and has also been writing music for film.

• Miguel Saboga

Miguel is second Drummer/Percussionist of the band. He started drumming in The Brigades, and later does vocals on DD's song No Head, which led to him becoming the frontman of Ethnician.

• Igor Nikitinsky

Igor is Sampler and Keyboards plsyer of the group. He replaced Geo and is also in the group Ethnician.

• Garbis Baharian

Garbis did most of the sample and sound engineering on the first album, and is now in Ethnician.

Former members

• Gilles

Guitarist on first album. His spot was filled by two other guitarists, who were later replaced by Philippe.

• Geo

Geo was the keyboardist on the two first album. is usually recognized for wearing a scarf/ Turban around his head on live shows. Geo was a former member of Marabunta before he joined DD.

• Fred

Fred was the bassist on the first album. he replaced by Xavier, who then later was replaced by another bassist called Mishko, who was later replaced by Leuji.

Discography

• Great Gangsters From The Dirty District EP (1989)
• Pousse au crime et Longueurs de temps (1991)
• Life In The Dirty District (1993)
• Welcome To The Next Level EP (1995)

They also appear on the French punk rock compilations À Bas Toutes Les Armées with Reggae tune Paddy Field, and Cette Machine Sert A Tuer Tous Les Fascistes ('This Machine Is Used To Kill All The Fascists') with anti racism song Blast it and more recently Rap Metal Masters with NY Crap.

External links

• The Great Gangsters webpage
• DD on Myspace
• mp3 of the prodigy cover