2003)
In December 2000, Pure Rubbish entered Digital Recordings in Houston to record their debut album, Glamorous Youth (produced by Mike Clink who also produced Guns N' Roses album Appetite for Destruction). They later went to Los Angeles, California to finish the album at Rumbo Recorders studio from January through March 2001. After the album was completed the band headed back to Houston briefly, only to head back to L.A. to play some promotional showcase gigs. May 2001 saw the band play Ozzfest UK at Milton Keynes, England and three shows in London supporting Motörhead and the Backyard Babies.
Pure Rubbish toured that summer from June through Augest on the Second Stage of Ozzfest 2001 headlined by Black Sabbath. The tour helped expose the band to new fans along with having segments aired on MTV’s You Hear It First program and VH1’s The Rock Show, but was also a challenge as Pure Rubbish’s brand of rock n’ roll was out of step with the other bands. The band did win over many new fans that found their sound refreshing and called back to an era when hard rock was dangerous and real. In the middle of the tour Pure Rubbish flew over to Paris, France to play a high profile gig as opening bill on the AC/DC “Stiff Upper Lip Tour”. The show was a huge success and the band came back to the States reenergized to finish the rest of the Ozzfest 2001 tour. were 4 songs taken from the Glamorous Youth sessions and released as the S/T EP in August 2001 with different mixes of the songs. Shortly after Ozzfest that summer, the band’s debut full-length album Glamorous Youth was slated for release but was delayed because the label thought the production was too dated.
In 2002, the band continued to play shows while working on new material for a planned (at that time untitled) new album to be recorded consisting of some of the songs recorded for Glamorous Youth along with the band’s newly written songs. They were frustrated over the Mike Clink produced Glamorous Youth album being shelved, but were anxious to record their new songs and start touring again. Again, the release date for the new album was pushed back to summer / fall 2002. Roadrunner Records was to fund the recording of the new album and the producer chosen was Ed Stasium (Ramones, Misfits). Roadrunner thought they could give the songs and album a more modern day production job, which they felt would ensure the album better success. In June 2002 the band (on Sharon Osbourne’s behalf) journeyed to L.A. staying for a month and appeared as Kelly Osbourne’s backing band on the 2002 MTV Movie Awards and the yearly Wango Tango concert. After backing Kelly, Pure Rubbish went into EMI Studios to record demos for Roadrunner Records. However, only demos of newer songs the band had been working on from mid-2001 - mid-2002 were recorded. A feature article in "Rolling Stone" magazine surfaced that July, which chronicled Pure Rubbish’s tour escapades through the eyes of the youngest band to ever play on Ozzfest.
Upon returning to Houston in July, the band dropped most of the old Glamorous Youth songs and even the newer demos they had recorded for Roadrunner in favor of music that was quite different from the songs the band had been playing only months before. Pure Rubbish’s sound was changing drastically and the band pitched many of the self - produced demos to Roadrunner. Needless to say, Roadrunner (as well as the band’s managers) were confused over the band’s sudden new change in musical direction. Roadrunner wanted the band to keep their original hard rock style and conflicts arose regarding which songs to record for a debut (to the public) full length Pure Rubbish album. Roadrunner would sign the band only if the band they agreed to continue with their original sound. The band were unwilling to meet Roadrunner’s terms and this disagreement led to the demise of the Roadrunner deal. Pure Rubbish continued from mid-2002 into the early months of 2003 but internal musical differences eventually split the band into two different camps concerning what they wanted to do musically. Derek and Evan wanted to create an original sound drawing from (their now key influences) the Beatles, David Bowie, and Radiohead, while Mike and Jarrett wanted to continue playing no frills rock n’ roll.
Pure Rubbish officially split up in April 2003 with Derek and Evan continuing to pursue their musical aspirations in their band Penny Royal (band), and Mike and Jarrett forming the Urgencies in summer 2003 with Al G. and Shawn.
(Mike McWilliams, Allan Nelson, and Shawn Peters had all previously played together in their teen years in the Houston punk band, The Creeps and Teen Cool between 1994-2002. Before playing in Pure Rubbish, Jarrett Gardner previously played in his Houston punk bands, The Green Goblins and The Baysides between 1998–2000)
After the breakup of Pure Rubbish in April 2003, Derek Dunivan and his dad Willie Dunivan both toured the country with New York Dolls guitarist Sylvain Sylvain in July 2003. Derek was recruited on bass and Willie was recruited on additional vocals.
Derek Dunivan was featured in the book "Uncommon Sound" (2006) written by John Engel specifically about left-handed guitar players.
Read more about this topic: Pure Rubbish, Later Years (2001