Pure Rubbish - Early Years (1995 - 2000)

2000)

Pure Rubbish began in 1995 when brothers Derek (guitar) and Evan (drums) Dunivan were only 11 and 9 years old. The young Dunivan brothers were self-taught musicians and learned to play their instruments by listening to records. They recruited their dad Willie Dunivan on lead vocals in late 1995. Willie Dunivan, at 34, was already a veteran musician of the local Houston music scene with his own band Personality Crisis as well as stints in short lived bands including Cheetah Chrome Project with the former Dead Boys guitarist and Michael Bruce Band with the former Alice Cooper Band guitarist. Willie Dunivan's earliest bands included the 1980s rock bands Apeshit and Hip Cat's Alley and he also played drums for the Houston 1990s punk band Stinkerbell. A charismatic frontman and great songwriter, Willie Dunivan was responsible for launching Pure Rubbish into reality. Musically, the Dunivan brothers were exposed to a wide range of influences. Their main influences were 1960s & 1970s rock, 1970s glam, and 1970s punk rock, but also absorbed the music of 1950s rock n roll, blues, r & b, and 1950s & 1960s country. These influences were culled from years of sifting through Willie's huge music collection. The band's sound was self labeled "trash rock" and "glam punk" and was a combination of all their musical influences.

The band's first show on 12/9/1995 was a KISS tribute concert with Personality Crisis bassist Robin Geiger completing the lineup. Geiger played a few more shows with the band into 1996 lending his help until the band could find a full-time bassist. After seeing Pure Rubbish at the Westheimer Street Festival Morgan "Donor" Thompson at 14 years old was recruited to fill the bass position in summer 1996. Later that year Derek broke his arm and the band went on a temporarily hiatus.

Following the hiatus, the band made up for the lost time by gigging heavily around Texas in 1997 opening for many national acts. A friendship with the members of Nashville Pussy resulted in Pure Rubbish opening for the band the following year on a summer east coast tour. (Derek and Evan could only tour in the summer due to still being in school) While in New York City, the band met with A&R executive Tom Zutaut (who signed Guns N' Roses) which was the first time the band had any sort of major label interest. The band also released their first independent record Heavy Trash Day 7" EP / Tape in 1998 on Willie's own One Hit Records imprint. Morgan Thompson left the band later in 1998 and was replaced by Mike McWilliams on bass and Allan "Al G." Nelson on guitar. Both Mike and Al G. were from the recently transplanted Houston to Austin punk band Teen Cool. At this point Pure Rubbish had generated a minor buzz around the east coast and did another east coast tour in June and July 1999. The band booked a recording session with producer Daniel Rey (Ramones, Misfits) in New York City while in town. The tour went well but a few months afterwards Al G. parted ways with the band. Later that year, the Daniel Rey recording session was released as the "Tejas Waste" CD EP, the band's second independent record also released on One Hit Records.

In early 2000, Pure Rubbish attended that year's South By Southwest festival and met (current Motörhead and future Pure Rubbish manager) Todd Singerman at one of the festival's shows that included both Motörhead and Nashville Pussy on the bill. March 2000 saw Jarrett "JT Trash" Gardner added to the band on guitar for the departed Al G. The meeting with Todd Singerman resulted in a June midwest tour with Pure Rubbish opening for the bands Motörhead, Nashville Pussy, and the Supersuckers. The tour was the highest profile appearance for the band at that point.

Pure Rubbish headed out on their first west coast tour in July and Augest. On the first date of the tour in Los Angeles, Todd Singerman brought A&R coordinator Scott Givens (of Ozzy Osbourne's fledging Divine Recordings) out to see the band. On the strength of that show Pure Rubbish was courted by Divine. The rest of the tour was a success with Lemmy from Motörhead. Around this time Willie Dunivan passed the lead vocal duties to his son Derek who at 15 assumed the frontman role for the band.

Upon returning to Houston after the tour and on the request of Scott Givens and Lemmy, Sharon Osbourne flew down to see the band play a showcase gig in October. Willie sang for the first half of the set followed by the new lineup of Derek - lead vocals / lead guitar, Evan -drums, Mike - bass / backing vocals, and Jarrett - rhythm guitar / backing vocals making their first live appearance without Willie. This show marked the first time Derek had sung lead vocals live. The showcase gig was well received and after negotiations, Pure Rubbish officially signed to Divine Recordings in November 2000.