Dirty District


Dirty District was a French fusion band, formed in 1985. They were one of the first French bands to attempt fusion rock.

Early years

The band originally formed in Sèvres, France under the name of Great Gangsters From The Dirty District. A vast majority of their songs were sung in English, except for the first EP and two songs on Pousse au crime et Longueurs de temps. Influenced by the likes of Joe Jackson, The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Reggae, Ska and Rhythm and blues. They released the much delayed Pousse au crime et Longueurs de temps which were a fusion of reggae, ska, punk, dub, and rap with heavily political based lyrics based on street crime, Steve Biko and fighting the National Front. Pousse Au Crime.. was noticed by fellow French Punk/World Music band Mano Negra, and the band invited them to play on their album Patchanka.

1993 and onwards

After a whole host of musicians had been and gone, Dirty District finally got a steady line-up when they released their second album Life In The Dirty District in 1993. DD showed their eclectic roots yet again on this album, experimenting with elements of Rap Metal. During this time Kshoo, Philippe, Miguel and Charlu from 'Ludwig Von 88' started a little-known side project called Les Dieux. After taking 2 years off DD released the final EP Welcome To The Next Level in 1995, which included a cover of The Prodigy's Jericho, and the song Speech Over which explored the sound that would later explode in Ethnician. The band disbanded in 1996. Vocalist K-Shoo went on to do co-vocals for metalcore group Boost and then formed another metalcore/punk-metal band called Noxious Enjoyment while Yvo nowadays plays live drums for Amadou & Mariam, Philippe is a London-based musician and producer, and bassist Leuji has now his own musical career, and performs in a band of the same name.

Members

They also appear on the French punk rock compilations À Bas Toutes Les Armées with Reggae tune Paddy Field, and Cette Machine Sert A Tuer Tous Les Fascistes with anti racism song Blast it and more recently Rap Metal Masters with NY Crap.