The Murder Junkies

The Murder Junkies
Origin	New York City, New York
Genres	Punk rock
Years active	1991–1999, 2003–present
Website	[None]
Members
Harold "PG Duvay" Rogers Benjamin Bunny Merle "Pinky" Allin Dino Sex
Past members
GG Allin William Weber Scotty Wood Chicken John Dee Dee Ramone J.B. Beverley Jeff Clayton

The Murder Junkies are a GG Allin tribute band, most known for being the actual backing band of deceased punk rock performer GG Allin. They are the third GG Allin backing band to bear the name.

The original Murder Junkies was a Texas band - formed independently of Allin - which performed as his backing band for several live dates in the late 1980s. (See Allin's unfinished autobiography for further brief details).

The second Murder Junkies was a studio band (including Allin's friend Mark Sheehan on guitar) which recorded the "Watch Me Kill" 6 track e.p., released on Fuckin' A/Stomach Ache Records in 1991.

Murder Junkies mark III - the subject of this article and a distinct entity from the other two bands of the same name - was formed in 1991 as GG Allin's new backing band, and rehearsed while he concluded his then-current prison sentence. The original line-up consisted of guitarist "Chicken" John Rinaldi (San Francisco mayoral candidate in 2007), GG's elder brother Merle "Pinky" Allin on bass, and drummer Donald "Dino Sex" Sachs.

Rinaldi left the band later in 1991, and voiced negative opinions about the experience in the documentary Hated: GG Allin And The Murder Junkies, directed by Todd Phillips. He was replaced on guitar by William Weber. Dee Dee Ramone was recruited at the same time as Weber, but quit shortly thereafter, having never played any live dates with the band.

GG Allin & the Murder Junkies recorded their sole studio album, "Brutality and Bloodshed for All", for Alive Records in the spring of 1993. Their subsequent tour - shortly succeeded by Allin's death from an apparent drug overdose on June 28 of the same year - was chronicled by roadie Evan Cohen in the slim volume I Was A Murder Junkie: The Last Days Of GG Allin.

Sachs, Pinky, and Weber decided to continue the band, and recruited a new singer, Michael [last name unknown] ("Mike Denied"), singer with New York City band The Denied. They released a mini-album "Feed My Sleaze" in 1995. A 7" single "The Right To Remain Violent" appeared the following year.

Murder Junkies [III] toured as a GG Allin tribute band throughout the 1990s and went through several more vocalists, including Michael ("Mike") Hudson, formerly of Pagans, Jeffrey ("Jeff") Clayton of Antiseen, and J.B. Beverley, a musician from the Washington, D.C. area.

Murder Junkies [III] broke up in 1999. They reformed (with Clayton singing) for a tour in the spring of 2003: the 10th anniversary of GG Allin's death. They performed alongside a version of GG's first band, The Jabbers, for several shows.

In 2005, they completed a tour of continental Europe. In 2006, they appeared at two shows supporting CKY, and toured as the opening act for Hank Williams III. In 2011, they headlined one show that featured such greats as The Pier Six Brawlers, and the Vaginas.

The band currently features Merle "Pinky" Allin, Donald "Dino Sex" Sachs, Benjamin "FC Murder" Bunny (formerly "Sonny" Harlan), and new singer Harold "PG Duvay" Rogers. This line-up released an album "Road Killers" in 2011.

Discography

• Brutality and Bloodshed for All (with GG Allin) (LP/1993)
• Terror in America - Live in the U.S.A. 1993 (with GG Allin) (LP/1993)
• Hated: Soundtrack (LP/1993)
• Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies (Documentary/1994)
• Feed My Sleaze (10" mini-album, later released with bonus tracks as LP/1995)
• The Right to Remain Violent (7" EP/1995)
• The Sons and Daughters of this Savage Land (V/A featuring the Murder Junkies) (LP/1996)
• European Invasion 2005 (DVD/2006)
• Road Killers (LP/2011)

External links

• Official Murder Junkies MySpace page
• Interview with Merlin Allin (2007)