DGeneration first crawled out from the gutters of New York City in 1991. The original lineup consisted of Jesse Malin (lead vocals), Howie Pyro (bass), Richard "The Atomic Elf" Bacchus (guitar), Belvy K (drums) and Georgie Seville (guitar). At the time, Jesse was probably best known for his stint as the frontman for the hardcore unit Heart Attack, while Howie had been involved in a number of NYC-based projects over the years, including The Blessed and Freaks. Belvy had previously drummed for the U.K. Subs in 1988. Rick had also been active in the NYC scene, playing in Viva LaWattage (with Brijitte from NY Loose) and The Fugitives.

The origins of the group can be traced back to an un-named band formed sometime around 1990 consisting of Jesse, Howie, Michael Wildwood, Danny Sage (who had previously played in Heart Attack) and John Carco (who had previously played with Jesse in the band Hope). Around the same time, Jesse and Howie were also backing up Richard Bacchus in another project. Neither band managed to get off the ground. Shortly thereafter, Jesse, Rick and Howie teamed up with George and Belvy to form the first incarnation of DGeneration in 1991. They played their first show at a Greendoor party in NYC on December 7, 1991 – a date which (coincidentally?) happened to be the 50^th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Neither Belvy nor George were not in the band for very long and, by 1992, had been replaced by drummer Michael Wildwood and guitarist Danny Sage, finalizing a line-up that would remain stable until 1997. Word of their explosive live show spread rapidly and they quickly began to build a local following. In 1993, the band released two 7-inch singles, "No Way Out" b/w "Guitar Mafia" (on Gasatanka Records) and "Wasted Years" b/w "Waiting For the Next Big Parade" (Sympathy For the Record Industry) - both of which were produced by Daniel Rey and Andy Shernoff.

In late 1993, the band was signed to Chrysalis Records who released their first, full-length album in 1994, simply titled "DGeneration". The record created a huge buzz in the industry and highly favorable reviews turned up in all sorts of publications, from small-press fanzines to national publications such as Rolling Stone. This debut release was nationally publicized on an episode of the USA television network's popular "Up All Night" show, during which host Gilbert Gottfreid, accompanied by the band, did his between-movie-segment bits from a "release party" for the album. But just as the momentum was really beginning to build, EMI Records (the parent company of Chrysalis) came under new management in 1995; the new regime at EMI, for some strange reason, apparently then refused to do much of anything to promote the album or the band. In an interview published in the February, 1996 issue of The Melodia, Jesse stated that EMI, "wouldn't even give us money to tour".

Before the end of 1995, the band had been able to cancel their contract with Chrysalis and, in the process, they also bought back the rights for the first album (which they really were not that happy with - they claim to have thrown the master tapes into the East River). The band was immediately courted by several labels and finally settled on Columbia Records, who released their second album, "No Lunch" (which was produced by Ric Ocasek), on July 16, 1996. This record included re-recorded versions of four songs from the first album as well as a new version of the song "Scorch", which they had initially recorded for RAFR Records' 1995 “Flipside” compilation album. One of these re-recorded tracks was one of the band's most popular songs, "No Way Out", which then saw its second release as a single and was accompanied by a new video to go along with it. They spent the rest of the year touring heavily across North America, both as headliners, and as the openers on tours with bands such as Social Distortion, L7 and The Ramones. It was in July and August of this year that DGeneration got their first taste of playing live to an arena, having been chosen as one of the opening acts for the Kiss reunion tour (DGen had more dates on the North American leg of the tour than any other opening act) which included a stop in their NYC hometown at Madison Square Garden.

1997 saw the band continuing to tour in support of "No Lunch" for several months, including dates with the Misfits and Green Day. They also recorded the track "I Got Nothing" for the Iggy Pop tribute album "We Will Fall" and a re-produced version of their 1994 recording of The Germs' "No God" showed up on a tribute album for that band (“A Small Circle Of Friends”). On February 25, Rick's side project - a three-piece band called Vasquez - played their first show at the Lakeside Lounge in NYC. Then in the summer, DGen experienced their first lineup change since the early days when Rick decided to leave the band and focus his musical attention on Vasquez (his last show was at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC on July 3, 1997). He was replaced in the band by Todd Youth (formerly of Murphy's Law and Agnostic Front). After yet more touring, DGen was ready to go into the studio to record their next album (by this time, they had been performing live sets which contained a lot of new, as-yet unrecorded material). However, they put those plans on hold to go across the Atlantic for their first (and only) European tour as the opening act for Green Day which took them across most of that continent between January 20 and February 25, 1998. They then returned home to New York where they did two shows at C.B.G.B.'s on February 27 and 28. These would be the last live shows that DGen would do for nearly a year (and the last with Michael and Todd).

The band spent a good bit of 1998 in the studio with producer Tony Visconti recording the follow-up to "No Lunch", which was eventually titled, "Through the Darkness". This album was originally slated for a Fall, 1998 release. However, Columbia continued to push back the release date and the record did not hit store shelves until February 22, 1999. A few months before the record came out, they contributed an original track, "Dying For a Living", to the "Old Skars and Upstarts" compilation and the song "Helpless" (from the new record) was selected for the soundtrack to the movie "The Faculty" and was featured in some of the TV commercials for the flick. In October of 1998, DGen released an independent 7-incher, "Prohibition E.P.", on their own DGI Records label consisting of three tracks that didn't make it onto "Through the Darkness".

During the course of the year in which the band had taken a break from touring, some of the members had gotten involved with various side projects. Howie co-wrote a song for that year's Rancid album and played some bass on the Swingin' Utters album "Five Lessons Learned". Michael and Todd put together a band called Chrome Locust (with bassist Jim Heneghan, who used to be in Vasquez with Rick - Jim's replacement there was Sam Yaffa from the legendary Hanoi Rocks). However, shortly before the release of "Through the Darkness", both Mikey and Todd decided to leave DGen and devote all of their energies to their new project. (Depending on who you ask about what caused the split - you will get a somewhat different story - let's just say that, in the end, everyone seemed to be happy with where they wound up). With an upcoming tour to support the new record, DGen recruited Joe Rizzo as their new drummer and Richard Bacchus returned to the band (temporarily) to take over the guitar spot left vacant by Todd (who, if you have been paying attention, originally joined the band as Rick's replacement).

February 19, 1999 saw DGen perform their first live show in nearly a year at the L and G Club in New Haven, CT. After a month of shows in and around the mid-Atlantic region, (during which Joey Ramone joined them on stage at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC on March 20 to sing "Helpless") Rick bowed out on a high note after the band played to a crowd of about 20,000 people at a radio station festival in Ft. Myers, Florida on March 21. Jim Wallerstein (previously of Das Damen) was then recruited to fill the second guitar slot before the band headed out west to do a few weeks of shows with The Offspring and The Living End in April. Following the end of the Offspring tour, DGen returned to the East Coast with a stop that included a show at the University of Pennsylvania with the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Run-DMC.

On Saturday, April 24, 1999, DGeneration returned home to New York City where they played to a packed house at Coney Island High…it also turned out to be their last stand. With very little fanfare or drama, DGen ended their legend when they walked off the stage that night. The show was recorded with plans to release a live album at some point, but that hasn’t happened....yet.

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Lineups

1991 - 1992
Georgie Seville - Guitar
Howie Pyro - Bass
Jesse Malin - Lead Vocals
Richard Bacchus - Guitar
Belvy K. - Drums



1992 - July, 1997
Danny Sage - Guitar
Richard Bacchus - Guitar
Jesse Malin - Lead Vocals
Howie Pyro - Bass
Michael Wildwood - Drums

Recordings:
"No Way Out" b/w "Guitar Mafia"
"Wasted Years" b/w "Waiting For the Next Big Parade"
"Degenerated" b/w "No God"
DGeneration
R.A.F.R. Flipside compilation ("Scorch")
No Lunch
A Small Circle of Friends: A Tribute to the Germs ("No God")
We Will Fall: A Tribute to Iggy Pop (" I Got Nothing")



Summer, 1997 - February, 1999
Michael Wildwood - Drums
Danny Sage - Guitar
Jesse Malin - Lead Vocals
Todd Youth - Guitar
Howie Pyro - Bass

Recordings
Old Skars and Upstarts compilation ("Dying For a Living")
Prohibition E.P.
Through the Darkness



February, 1999 - March 21, 1999
Howie Pyro - Bass
Danny Sage - Guitar
Jesse Malin - Lead Vocals
Richard Bacchus - Guitar
Joe Rizzo - Drums


March, 1999 - April 24, 1999
Jim Wallerstein - Guitar
Joe Rizzo - Drums
Jesse Malin - Lead Vocals
Howie Pyro - Bass
Danny Sage – Guitar

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So where are they now?

Following the dissolution of DGeneration, Jesse and Howie formed a new band called PCP Highway which also included Joe Rizzo (who spent some time following DGen's breakup as part of Jesse Camp's touring band) and guitarist Esko Poldvere. The band gigged around New York City and the surrounding area between September of 1999 and March of 2000. When Howie left in the Spring of 2000 to join Danzig, Jesse decided to dissolve the band and continue on as a solo act. PCP Highway had planned to release an album, titled "Dreamless", on Omplatten Records in April, 2000, however, that project never came to fruition (whether or not the full album was actually completed is unknown). In early 2000, Jesse put out the independently-released “169 EP”, which contained songs that, for the most part, were originally written and performed during PCP Highway’s tenure.

In the Summer of 2000, Jesse reunited with Joe and Esko to form the band Tsing-Tsing with bassist (and erstwhile King of Emocore), Johnny Pisano. After a handful of gigs, the band changed its moniker to Bellvue and released one album, “To Be Somebody” in the Spring of 2001 (the album was re-released with a slightly different track listing that Fall). The band continued to tour throughout 2001, with Jesse also doing occasional “so-low” shows. By the beginning of 2002, Bellvue had ceased touring and Jesse continued to perform under his own name and has remained a solo artist ever since. Bellvue’s last known gig was at the Greendoor Space on December 7, 2001 (ten years to the day after the first DGen show; Vasquez was also on the bill). Since 2002, Jesse has released three full-length studio albums, one live record, and one live DVD. He will be releasing an album of cover tunes in March of 2008.

Rick’s band Vasquez released their first CD, an EP entitled "Two Songs", in March of 2000; he was also involved with band-mate Sam Yaffa's other project, Mad Juana, in which he played keyboards for a time. Rick then joined Murphy’s Law, touring with the band for a few years (2001-2002) and recording one album with them (2001’s “The Party’s Over”) before leaving the group. Rick continued to work on solo material for the next few years (although Vasquez did perform a gig or two as recently as the Summer of 2004; that same year the Vasquez EP “Sunny Annie Houses” was also released). In 2005, Rick released the independent CD, “The Bicycle Diaries” as a solo artist around the same time he relocated from NYC to Raleigh, NC. Since moving down south, Rick has formed Richard Bacchus and the Luckiest Girls, who released their first album, “Jet Black and Beautiful” in the Fall of 2007.

Chrome Locust released their first and only, self-titled album in May of 1999 and did a few brief tours before Todd left the group to join Danzig's band. In late 1999, Michael and Jim were looking for a new guitarist, but the band never reformed. Michael later drummed for Monster Magnet (in 2003-2004) and The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black for a time; although we here at VN honestly do not know what he’s been up to for the past few years other than playing a one-off gig which involved him and his brother, Danny Sage, backing up Debbie Harry at Irving Plaza in NYC in September of 2005. He does make an appearance in the independent documentary, “Kiss Loves You” directed by his former Chrome Locust bandmate, Jim Heneghan. Michael – drop us a line, eh?

After leaving PCP Highway in 2000, Howie Pyro joined Danzig (which also included Todd Youth at the time) for a couple of tours and recorded one studio record with the band (2002’s “I Luciferi”) and also appears on some of the tracks on 2001’s “Live On The Black Hand Side”. In 2003, Howie and Todd both left Danzig and formed The Disciples, however Howie left the band after a brief series of gigs and the band dissolved shortly thereafter. Since joining Danzig in 2000, Howie has remained in L.A. where he currently hosts the weekly Intoxica Radio show.

Danny Sage relocated to Los Angeles, CA following DGen’s breakup, and began working on solo material and eventually recorded an album which was never released. He moved back to New York in 2004 and continues to play occasional gigs. In early 2007, Danny released a 5-song EP titled, “Don’t Look Down” to promote his acoustic tour of the UK at that time (on a bill supporting Jesse). He is promising an album in the coming year and has also mentioned that he is working on a book as well.

Todd Youth played with Danzig from 1999-2003 before leaving the band and forming The Disciples with Howie. As with Howie, Todd appears on some of the tracks on Danzig’s “Live On The Black Hand Side” and plays guitar on the “I Luciferi” album. In addition, he also played with Danzig, Steve Zing and London May in a Samhain reunion tour. In 2001, Youth, May and Zing, along with AFI singer Davey Havok, released an album titled “Songs Of The Earth” under the band name Son Of Sam (Howie also appears as a guest musician on this album). Although intended to be a one-off project, rumor has it that a second Son Of Sam album will be released in 2008. He is currently based in L.A., where he formed the band The Chelsea Smiles in 2004; to date, the band has released one EP (“Nowhere Ride”) and one full-length album (“Thirty Six Hours Later) in 2005 and 2006 respectively. In 2003, he filled in for guitarist Phil Campbell for a handful of dates on Motorhead’s U.S. tour.

Following the dissolution of Bellvue, Joe Rizzo commenced writing recording and touring as his split personality / alter ego, Curtis Suburban, and has released two albums to date: “Perfect In My Mind” (which features a song Joe co-wrote with Todd Youth, who had once played with Joe in The Homewreckers) and “Breakfast With Curtis” (both released in 2005). Joe also plays with Walter Lure in The Waldos, and has drummed with acts such as Pure 13, Atlantis Black and Suicide King. (In yet one more link, Walter Lure was also a member of The Blessed with Howie Pyro back around 1980)

Belvy K. went on to front the band Libertine, who released an EP (“Rise Above“) in 1998 and two albums: “See You In The Next Life” (2000) and “Slowdown” (2004) as well as a split 12-inch with the band American Heartbreak called “You Can’t Kill Rock N Roll” in 2001.

George Seville is active in the NYC scene, and is most well known today as one of the hosts of the Motherf**ker Party, which has become an institution of the NYC club scene.

Following his stint with DGen, Jim Wallerstein relocated to Portland, ME where he married Babe Buell and formed the band Vacationland, which released one album, “All Around You” (2003). They disbanded in 2005 and Jim went on to found the guitar & drum, two-piece outfit Twin Engines (in which he now goes by the name Jimmy Walls) with drummer Bobbie Rae the following year.

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If anybody has anything that they would like to add (or correct) to what is printed above or has some info, anecdotes, etc., please feel free to drop us an e-mail.

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