64) Darby Crash

[00:00:01] The Rambler Network

[00:01:14] I knew my voice was, like I knew I had been coughing a lot I was like, hey, it didn't affect my voice Then I listened to myself while editing I'm like, hmm So that's when I did that intro Like, hey, just so you know And I was gonna wait until my voice was better to record the next episode This one But I've only gotten worse And I'm actually recording this

[00:01:43] A few hours before it's supposed to go live, actually Normally I have these recorded weeks ahead of time Or at least two weeks ahead of time This time Yeah, I basically have to record this Edit it And instead of scheduling it I'm probably just posting it It might not be right at midnight So if this is Of course

[00:02:11] A vast majority of people that are hearing this It'll be like way past the date I doubt there's anybody Waiting at midnight Every other Sunday Going, hey, when is the episode going up? And like It goes up at like 12.30 They're like, hey, what's wrong? No one's paying attention But Yeah, that's why my voice sounds the way it does There's a reason I know why I'm not sick, technically

[00:02:40] I've been coughing It's a whole thing It's a long story Anyway So, Derby Crash I've actually I've been wanting to cover this story for a long time I actually I remember how I said this This podcast was based Partially based on A blog that I used to have It's the same blog that Casabloga started in And I had

[00:03:09] A series that ran way longer than Casabloga Some of the episodes in this season I've been pulling from that In fact, most of the episodes in this season I've been pulling from that I I covered this In that And I didn't put a lot of detail There was like one Aspect of his story That I wanted to cover back then And that's the only thing I covered

[00:03:38] This time I know a little bit more about his life And I've seen a movie about him And They made a movie in 2007 Called What We Do Is Secret And I saw that And it's really good And I don't know how accurate it is It seems accurate based on What I know Which Granted I don't I only know what I've seen online And You know Everything online is true

[00:04:39] So Bobby Penn And then He changed it to Derby Crash Which is what everyone knows him by And That's what I'll be using For the rest of this episode So it doesn't really matter If I can pronounce his Actual last name But He was born September 26th 1958 In Los Angeles And He

[00:05:11] Was The founder Of a band Called Germs All right So It's the late 1970s In LA A city Simmering With creative Unrest The punk scene Is in its Infancy A wild Response To the bloated Excess Of mainstream Rock

[00:05:40] Kids Are rejecting Polished Sound And slick Production In favor Of raw Energy And And right At the center Of this Cultural eruption Were the germs But To understand The germs You have to Understand Derby Crash His Early Life Was marked By instability And trauma His father Died

[00:06:10] When he was Young And His Mother Struggled With addiction And His Derby Was drawn To extremes From an Early age He took Inspiration From Fascist Ideology Not because He necessarily Believed in it But because He was fascinated

[00:06:39] By the concept Of controlling People Through chaos And fear In high school He met George Ruthenberg And the Two bonded Over their Shared love Of music And subversion In 1977 They formed The germs With bassist Lorna Doom And drummer Don Bol Bol Bol Okay I feel

[00:07:08] Like I should Know how to Pronounce this Because he's Actually Still Like First In fact Their first Live show Was so Disastrous It ended Almost immediately When Darby smeared Peanut butter All over himself And the Venue's Equipment But that Reckless Confrontational Energy Became their Signature

[00:07:37] Their debut Single Forming Was recorded In George George's Garage And released In 1977 It was Rough Sloppy And barely Held Together But it Captured The essence Of punk Raw Unfiltered Expression Despite Or Maybe Because of Their chaotic Live shows They began To attract

[00:08:07] A devoted Following In the LA scene So I was Gonna have this Be a plot twist At the end But I I'm just Gonna say it Right now George Ruthenberg Is not The name That he Went by Darby Crash Gave everyone Stage names And The one

[00:08:37] That he Gave George Ruthenberg Is one That I'm Sure A lot Of people Would know At least Fans Of Rock And the Name he Gave him Was Pat Smear And if You don't Recognize That name I will Explain At the end I will Also say That Belinda Carlisle Was there At the Very beginning She

[00:09:06] She was a Drummer For the Germs At the Very beginning But she Quickly left She went On to be The lead Singer Of The Go-Go's So You know She made A name For herself Completely Independent Of Darby Crash And the Germs It's just Kind of Like You know You hear Their story And you're Like Oh What's She doing

[00:09:36] There That's Random Anyway In 1979 The Germs Released Their only Studio Album G.I. Which was Produced By Joan Jett And it Was fast Abrasive Uncompromising Darby's lyrics Were dark And cryptic Hinting at His inner Turmoil And his Obsession With Control And Destruction

[00:10:06] But Darby himself Was spiraling He struggled With heroin Addiction And became Increasingly Erratic His fixation With control Extended To his Own Life He talked Openly About He talked Openly About his Plan To die Young And cement His Legacy And then

[00:10:35] On December 7th 1980 He And his Friend Casey Cola Made a Suicide Pact Darby Injected Himself With a Fatal Dose Of Heroin And Casey Survived Darby Was only

[00:11:04] 22 years Old Now There's a Theory That I've Heard I've Heard People Dispute It I've Heard People Prove It I Don't Know What To Believe The Theory Is That He Did This Because He Felt Like If He Took His Own Life That Would Like Make His Band Legendary Status Or Something Like That That Was His

[00:11:34] Mind Set Supposedly Unfortunately If You Know Anything About Music History And When I Said December 7th 1980 You Immediately Know What That Means He Basically He Did That And Then John Lennon Was Assassinated And That

[00:12:04] Took Over The News That The Drams Were Basically Over As Soon As They Began But Their Influence On Punk Was Profound Pat Smear Actually Went On To Play With Nirvana And Later Became The Guitarist Of The Foo Fighters That's Where You Probably Heard His

[00:12:38] Yeah The Drams Existed From Like 1976 To 1980 And Then In 2005 They Reformed And The Movie I Talked About What We Do Is Secret It Starred Shane West As Darby Crash And Apparently He Was Really Good At Playing The Character Because The Original Members Actually Reformed The Band With Him

[00:13:08] As Their Lead And They You Know They Continued The Band For A Few Years And Then Shane West Had Other Commitments Because He's An Actor And So They Had To Stop In 2009 And They Reformed Briefly In 2013 Unfortunately Lorna Doom Passed Away In 2019 So

[00:13:37] That's Not I don't Think They're Going To Reform Again Pat's Still Around He's Still The Guitarist Of Foo Fighters And Shane Still Doing Acting In In In In In In Warped Tours So Like They

[00:14:07] Actually They Weren't Just Like Playing A Couple Gigs Here And There Like Oh This Is Fun They Actually Like Win On Tour So Like It Was Like A Legit Like Reforming Of The Band Another Thing That Was It Was Touched On Briefly In The Movie And I Actually Watched The Documentary Tonight Well Up Until Their Point There Is A Documentary

[00:14:37] Called The Decline Of Western Civilization They Actually The Director Penelope Spheris I Believe That's How You Pronounce Her Last Name She She She's In Like So They Got Someone To Play Her Part She Walked In The Movie What We Do Is Secret She Walks Up To Him Like Hey I'm Filming A Documentary And I Want You To Be In It It's Called The Continent Of Western Civilization And He's Like Okay And

[00:15:06] So Basically What They Do In This Documentary Is They Film She Film Punk Bands In The LA Scene In The 70s It Was Actually Released A Passed Away So Yeah And Then They Featured Him On The Cover And The Posters And Everything But Funny Story About Her The Name Penelope

[00:15:36] Spheris Looked Familiar When I Was Looking At This I'm Like Why Do I Know That Name And So Like I Look I Look On Her Wikipedia And Her Filmography And The Reason I Recognize Her Name Is Because She Was The Director Of The

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