“That guy’s a fucking nutcase!” These were the most repeated words out of my mouth the night I went to see D.P.I. play. The guy I was referring to was Mike and after dumping a bag of flour on his face during a song appropriately entitled “Pack Your Beak,” it was clear to me why they call themselves Drunkin Punkin Idiots. Now that I think about it, no other name even comes close to describing what these guys have going on. They definitely drink, they are unquestionably punk, and I don’t know about idiots… but Mike did make bread in his eye. It looked like it hurt too. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted these fuckers in my house, so when I interviewed them I made the booze scarce. We met at happy hour first, so the no booze idea was fucked. Oh well.

By Morgan Huestis

SM: “So how did you guys come up with that name? That has to be my first question.”

Mike: “Because we’re drunks, we’re punks, and we’re fucking idiots.”

James: “Actually this guy named Darren who is a good friend of ours was at our first practice and we were shitfaced trying to play a song and he said ‘You guys are drunkin punkin idiots.’ Once we heard that we knew it was the perfect name.”

Toby: “No what happened was I was in the bathroom and this girl came in while I was puking and she said ‘Oh you drunkin punkin idiot, get out of here! I’m trying to take a shit.’ I ended up licking her.”

SM: “So what are your musical influences?”

James: “Black Sabbath, Adolescents, Circle Jerks. Any loud, hard, fast music from the late 70’s, early 80’s. Around 1982 the best hardcore music dried up.”

Mike: “N’SYNC, the Backstreet Boys, anything that makes me want to dance. I have the fever.”

Stan: “Devo, I’m into the Adolescents right now. Maybe a little Coltrane.”

Toby: “Well, early influences were anything that was on the radio… Madonna, New Kids on The Block. In late grade school I started listening to classic rock and playing music. Then I started listening to drummers and I always had an obsession with playing as fast as I could so bands like the Meatpuppets and the Minutemen and Firehose. Gigi Allen was great and everything but both my hands are full when I’m on stage so I can’t really take a dump and hurl it without breaking the beat.”

SM: “Since there isn’t a lot of punk bands on the radio today, how would you feel aboutyour music making it to the air?”

Toby: “Well the kind of punk rock that we play really voices our opinion and we do it in our own style, because of that we cuss a lot and say things that might not be that radio friendly. This new satellite radio might change all that though.”

Stan: “To get on the radio you have to be able to write a certain way and that way ain’t the way we write. And you can’t do both. Whatever we’re stoked on at the time is what we write about.”

Mike: “Fuck the radio.”

James: “I’m not that fond of music on the radio in the first place so I’m kind of glad we don’t fit in with them. People would shit their pants if they heard what we had to say.”

SM: “I was listening to your first album and track nine is titled ’Eighteen’ but the main chorus is about a kid who’s thirteen. Care to comment?”

Mike: It’s about my sister who passed away when I was thirteen. She got into a crazy ass car wreck when she was eighteen, flew through a windshield and hit a tree. Died instantly. So I decided to write a song about it at practice.”

Parks: “Jesus dude I’m sorry. Way to harsh the interview for everyone else here.”

Everyone: *Laughing*

Mike: “Sorry guys. Actually on the new album the song has a way different vibe because the other way we played it would drive you crazy.”

SM: “Also the album features a song called ‘Pack Your Beak’. Does that even really need an explanation?”

Stan: “If you don’t know you should.”

James: “Packing beaks is a term that kind of came when we were at the Brick Wall in Hawaii, cause that’s what they were doing out there was packing their beaks. Yeah it happens once in a while when you’re drinking and smoking.”

Toby: “It’s the trifecta! Doing stuff like that while playing drums though is not recommended at all. So to all you kids out there… don’t pack your beak.”

SM: “ So what is the overall genesis of D.P.I.?”

James: “The original lineup was Me, Toby and Mike. We had an awesome guitar player who liked speed a little more than playing with us. So we picked up Stan and we’ve been together for about two and a half years. We had a washboard player names Jesse who was on the first album but “went away” for a while and we’re gonna see if things work out with him. I hope they do.”
Stan: “ I was in a band called ‘Your Mom’, bailed from that and hooked up with James in O.B. and sat in for a set or two. There is the raddest chemistry with the four of us, and this is the best band I’ve ever been in.”

Toby: “I skateboarded from Philly to California. I nose-wheeled all the way. Bumped into these fools who took me in and fortunately for me I play the drums. I was playing in this reggae band when Mike said lets start our own.”

SM: “Does the song ‘Belligerentheads’ have anything to do with the clothing line that promotes you and whose hat Mike is wearing right now?”

Stan: “Yeah it does kind of tie in. Mike was good friends with Parks here who owns Belligerent: Intoxicated Products and wanted to have us play some shows. We liked the name ‘Belligerent’… heads. The name fits us and the song which turned out to be a good one.”

SM: “The cover art for your new album is a picture of Uncle Sam who seems to be snorting up Columbia with a $100 bill and the landscape is made up of money. Where did you come up with that idea?”

James: “Donny Wilson at Artofcowboy.com did the artwork for our cd. That is the coolest piece of art I’ve ever seen in my life. He’s a good friend of ours and he said he would be stoked to have us rock his work on our cover. He loves our music and it fits our style.”

SM: “Since all of you are from Ocean Beach, how does your music fit in with the overall San Diego music scene?”

James: “We’re just a part of the San Diego punk scene. We put on shows and have traveling bands like JFA and Battalion of Saints come down. They bring an eighties punk sound back to life which makes the older-school punk guys happy. We are pretty isolated though. We stay pretty local.”

Stan: “We all live within three blocks of each other and hang pretty tightly with some other local bands. The Gizzards, The Greedy Bastards, and The Screaming Yee-Ha’s. We’re making our own scene here.”

Catch D.P.I., most likely in O.B., at their next show, and I promise you won’t leave without being a little bruised and probably drunk. They turn the mosh pit into a dangerous place. See more of D.P.I. at DrunkinPunkinIdiots.com