OLD (originally an acronym for Old Lady Drivers) was an American heavy metal band from
Bergenfield
Bergenfield is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 28,321, an increase of 1,557 from the 2010 censuscount of 26,764,New Jersey, formed in 1986 and signed to
Earache Records
Earache Records is a British independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson in 1985, based in Nottingham, England, with offices in London and New York. The label helped to pioneer extreme metal by rel ...
. It featured
Alan Dubin
Alan Dubin is an American vocalist/singer most widely known for his role in the now defunct doom metal band Khanate. He is noted for his tortured and distinctive vocal approach. Other bands he has been featured in include OLD and current band Gn ...
on vocals, and James Plotkin on guitars and programming, both of whom would later form the experimental
doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...
band
Khanate
A khaganate or khanate was a polity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. That political territory was typically found on the Eurasian Steppe and could be equivalent in status to tribal chiefdom, principality, kingdom or empire.
Mong ...
History
OLD formed from the remains of Plotkin's previous band, the short-lived grindcore act "Regurgitation". OLD's first album, entitled "Old Lady Drivers", continued in the humorous,
parodic
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...
style of grindcore which characterized Regurgitation's material.
After releasing a split EP with
Assück
Assück was an American grindcore band from Saint Petersburg, Florida, active from 1987 to 1998.
History
Assück was founded by vocalist Paul Pavlovich and guitarist Steve Heritage. The band went through several line-up changes, in particular ...
guitarist
A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...
Jason Everman for their second album, ''Lo Flux Tube'' (1991). This album featured more avant-garde and
industrial metal
Industrial metal is the fusion of heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Prominent industrial metal acts include Ministry, Nine In ...
influences in addition to their basic tongue-in-cheek grindcore, giving them a sound which was compared by some reviewers to a more uptempo
Godflesh
Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham. The group formed in 1982 under the title Fall of Because but did not release any complete music until 1988 when Justin Broadrick (guitar, vocals and programming) and G. C. Gree ...
. ''Lo Flux Tube'' also featured saxophone work by guest musician
John Zorn
John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...
.
OLD continued their avant-garde direction with their third album, ''The Musical Dimensions Of Sleastak'' (1993). Several tracks from that album, "A Beginning", "Two of Me (Parts One and Two)", "Freak Now", and "Peri Cynthion", appeared in the 1994 film '' Brainscan''.
Also in 1993, the band released ''Hold On To Your Face'', an album of
remix
A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...
es. At the time, the practice of remixing was virtually unheard of in
heavy metal music
Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...
. The band's final album, ''Formula'' (1995), delved into further experimentation with techno and
industrial music
Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initiall ...
. OLD broke up shortly after releasing this album. Plotkin went on to pursue a successful career not just as a musician, but also as a record producer and remix artist, working with many notable musicians across a number of different genres, particularly
drone
Drone most commonly refers to:
* Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg
* Unmanned aerial vehicle
* Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft
* Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone
Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to:
...
sludge metal
Sludge metal (also known as sludge or sludge doom) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that originated through combining elements of doom metal and hardcore punk. It is typically harsh and abrasive, often featuring shouted vocals, heavi ...
Alan Dubin
Alan Dubin is an American vocalist/singer most widely known for his role in the now defunct doom metal band Khanate. He is noted for his tortured and distinctive vocal approach. Other bands he has been featured in include OLD and current band Gn ...
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
)
*Herschel Gaer (bass)
Discography
All releases were on Earache Records, except where otherwise noted.
*''
Old Lady Drivers
OLD (originally an acronym for Old Lady Drivers) was an American heavy metal band from Bergenfield, New Jersey, formed in 1986 and signed to Earache Records. It featured Alan Dubin on vocals, and James Plotkin on guitars and programming, both o ...
'' (Full-length), 1988
*''Colostomy Grab-Bag'' (Single), 1989
*Assuck/Old Lady Drivers (Split), 1990 (No System Records)
*''Demo 1990'' (self-produced)
*''
Lo Flux Tube
Lo Flux Tube is the second album by the band OLD. It marked a change in style for the band, abandoning their previous grindcore parody in favor of a much more industrial and experimental sound.
Track listing
Personnel
;O.L.D.
*Alan Dubin - Vo ...
'' (Full-length), 1991
*''Hold On To Your Face'' (remixes) (Full-length), 1993
*'' The Musical Dimensions Of Sleastak'' (Full-length), 1993
*''
Formula
In science, a formula is a concise way of expressing information symbolically, as in a mathematical formula or a ''chemical formula''. The informal use of the term ''formula'' in science refers to the general construct of a relationship betwee ...