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Dirty Looks (Pennsylvania band)

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For the New York band formed in 1980, see Dirty Looks (New York band).
Dirty Looks
Henrik Ostergaard performing in 2009
Henrik Ostergaard performing in 2009
Background information
OriginErie, Pennsylvania, U.S.
GenresHard rock,[1] glam metal[2]
Years active1984–1993, 1994-1996, 2007–2011, 2019-present
LabelsAtlantic, FNA , Sony/Rockworld, Mirror, BH, Shrapnel, Sticky, Perris
Websitewww.dirtylooksmusic.com

Dirty Looks is an American hard rock band of members primarily from Erie, Pennsylvania, United States.[1] Although the principal members had been in an earlier band together in Pennsylvania, they met up to form Dirty Looks in San Francisco, California, in 1984.

History

[edit]

Originally from the Erie, Pennsylvania cover band Crossfire, the Danish born vocalist/guitarist Henrik Ostergaard and fellow Crossfire bandmate and bassist Jimmy Chartley traveled to San Francisco to form Dirty Looks in 1984. Fellow Crossfire bandmate Boyd Baker joined them a year later.

While in California and upon their return home to Philadelphia, the group had a revolving door membership, yet released an EP and three independent albums before Atlantic Records offered them a recording contract. For their major label debut, Dirty Looks consisted of Paul Lidel (guitar), Jack Pyers (bass) and Gene Barnett (drums). The resulting album, Cool From The Wire in 1988,[3] entered the Billboard chart, while getting substantial airplay on MTV for their video for the song "Oh Ruby". Produced by Max Norman (Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, Lynch Mob), it is still regarded by many as one of the best hard rock albums of all time.[citation needed] Twenty five years later, Cool From The Wire continues to sell online and in record stores all across the globe.

For the follow-up album in 1989, there were conflicts with their original record producer Beau Hill, and the original recordings for Turn Of The Screw were scrapped, but the reworked album would be the group's most successful release reaching higher on the Billboard chart. The President of Atlantic Records and the higher-ups of their new management team Hard To Handle thought that it would benefit the band if they hired a producer who had current albums on the Billboard charts. Beau Hill was hired to record the album but the band felt that he was not capturing the street sound that they were looking for. The Hill sessions were scrapped and John Jansen was brought in to produce Turn Of The Screw, which was released in 1989.[3] After the album was released, the band toured in promotion.

Their album of outtakes, Bootlegs was released in 1991,[3] then the group broke up in 1993 following the release of Five Easy Pieces with Ostergaard forming Rumbledog with Brian Perry of Dirty Looks, Robin Crosby of Ratt and Paul Monroe of XYZ, Lidel hooking up with Dangerous Toys (and later Broken Teeth and Adrenaline Factor) and bassist Brian Perry resurfacing in Flood, Jake E. Lee's "Wicked Alliance" Prong, and Rhino Bucket.

Ostergaard began recording under the Dirty Looks moniker again in 1994, to record the Chewing On The Bit album. Then he worked with Rumbledog again, releasing an album in 1995. Original drummer, Todd Yetter (of American Sugar Bitch) was replaced and not credited. The lineup continued with bassist Jassen Wilber, drummer Ron Sutton, guitarist Mike Ondrusek and guitarist Mike Smith. Ostergaard put out two releases as Dirty Looks in 1996.

With the personnel above, minus Ondrusek and adding singer Gabriel Scott Robison, Ostergaard took a back seat in the vocal department and formed the Burning Orange project who released an album splitting up in 1996. After that, Ostergaard retired from the music industry to focus on family life. In early 2007, Ostergaard nearly died from alcohol poisoning. With the changing climate of the music scene, the release sold moderately, prompting the current band members to branch off into different directions and pursue other projects.

According to their Myspace page,[4] Dirty Looks reformed in 2007, and released a new album, Gasoline. Two more studio albums were released in 2008; Superdeluxe and California Free Ride.

At the end of 2009, Dirty Looks signed with the Nashville, Tennessee based label, FNA Records. In 2010, they rereleased three albums.

On February 5, 2010, bassist Greg Pianka was stabbed to death in a bar brawl at Hi & Dri Pub along West Lake Road in Erie.

Sadly, Henrik Ostergaard passed away at the age of 47, on January 27, 2011.[5] The Erie County, Pennsylvania coroner stated that he had died of liver failure while under hospice care.

In December 2019, it was announced that members from the band's Cool from the Wire album, Paul Lidel, Jack Pyers, and Gene Barnett, along with former Broken Teeth vocalist, Jason McMaster, whom Lidel plays with in Dangerous Toys, and Broken Teeth guitarist, David Beeson,[6] would be performing two shows in 2020[7] with the tagline Dirty Looks - As Close As It Gets.[8][9][10] The group was scheduled to perform Cool From The Wire in its entirety at Ballroom Blitz Music Festival in Glen Burnie, Maryland and at a fundraiser held in the DH&L Fire Station in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.[11] These shows were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Pennsylvania show later rescheduled to Saturday, September, 18th, 2021 at the Selinsgrove Racetrack. More than 1,000 fans attended the live celebration, and a 17 song CD/DVD of the live event titled "Cool From The Speedway" was released in 2022.

Fronted by Jason McMaster, Dirty Looks joined the roster of bands on the 2023 Monster of Rock Cruise (MORC) and performed on Tuesday May 2, 2023 and again on Wednesday May 3, 2023.

Members

[edit]
  • includes members of Rumbledog, Burning Orange, and other side projects
Group Members 1984-2011
first name last name instrument start year end year
Paul Anthony Stage bass 1984 1984
Scot T. Garcia guitar 1984 1984
Jimmy Chartley bass 1984 1985
Paul Anthony "Buck" Dulle drums 1984 1985
Henrik Ostergaard guitar 1984 1996
Henrik Ostergaard vocals 1984 1996
John Pelinski bass 1985 1986
Steve McConnell drums 1985 1986
Boyd Baker guitar 1985 1986
A.D. Adams drums 1986 1987
Jack Pyers bass 1986 1990
Chris Bensch guitar 1987 1987
Gene Barnett drums 1987 1990
Paul Lidel guitar 1987 1994
Chris Caffery guitar 1988 1989
Dave Naro bass 1990 1991
Cary Devore drums 1990 1991
Jack Pyers bass 1991 1991
Ed Collins drums 1991 1991
J.Michael Davis drums 1991 1991
Brian Perry bass 1991 1993
James Harris drums 1991 1993
Gene Barnett drums 1993 1993
Paul Monroe drums 1993 1993
Robin Crosby guitar 1993 1993
Steve McConnell drums 1993 1996
Idzi bass 1994 1994
John Allen drums 1994 1994
Ron Sutton drums 1994 1994
Todd Yetter drums 1994 1994
Alex Kane guitar 1994 1994
Nicky Kay guitar 1994 1994
Keith Barrows bass 1994 1995
Charlie George drums 1994 1995
Mike Ondrusek guitar 1994 1995
Jassen Wilber bass 1994 1996
Mike Smith guitar 1994 1996
Gabriel Scott (Robinson) vocals 1996 1996
Henrik Ostergaard guitar 2006 2011
Henrik Ostergaard vocals 2006 2011
Trevor Huster bass 2007 2007
Jason McMaster bass 2007 2007
Jeremy Hummel drums 2007 2007
Steve McConnell drums 2007 2007
Bruce Rivers drums 2007 2007
Ron Sutton drums 2007 2007
Doug Welser drums 2007 2007
Trevor Huster guitar 2007 2007
Mike Ohm guitar 2007 2007
Paul Lidel guitar 2007 2007
Jack Pyers bass 2007 2011
Doug Phillips bass 2008 2008
Ed Collins drums 2008 2008
Ron Sutton drums 2008 2008
Eric Brewer guitar 2008 2008
Christopher Shaner guitar 2008 2009
Jeff Smith drums 2009 2009
Greg Pianka bass 2009 2010
Bill Dailey drums 2009 2011
Scott Parmenter guitar 2009 2011

Discography

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Studio albums

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  • (1985) Dirty Looks
  • (1986) In Your Face
  • (1987) I Want More
  • (1988) Cool from the Wire
  • (1989) Turn of the Screw
  • (1991) Bootlegs
  • (1992) Five Easy Pieces
  • (1993) Rumbledog (as Rumbledog)
  • (1994) Chewing on the Bit
  • (1995) One Bad Leg
  • (1995) The Drowning Pool (as Rumbledog)
  • (1996) Rip It Out!
  • (1996) Slave to the Machine
  • (1996) Taar (as Burning Orange)
  • (1997) Thirteen (as Burning Orange)
  • (2007) Gasoline
  • (2008) Superdeluxe
  • (2008) California Free Ride
  • (2010) I.C.U.

EPs

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  • (1984) Dirty Looks EP

Live albums

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  • (2005) Live In San Diego
  • (2021) Cool From The Speedway

Compilation albums

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  • (2009) The Worst of Dirty Looks

Remasters

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  • (1984) Dirty Looks
  • (1994) One Bad Leg
  • (2009) Slave to the Machine [Perris Records]
  • (2010) Dirty looks [FNA Records]
  • (2010) In Your Face [FNA Records]
  • (2010) I Want More [FNA Records]
  • (2013) Cool From The Wire [Rock Candy Records]
  • (2021) Bootlegs [Divebomb Records]
  • (2022) Turn Of The Screw [Rock Candy Records]

References

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  1. ^ a b Monger, James Christopher. "Dirty Looks – The Worst of Dirty Looks". AllMusic. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  2. ^ Schabe, Patrick (April 5, 2007). "Dirty Looks: Dirty Looks/Turn It Up". PopMatters. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c Colin Larkin, ed. (1995). The Guinness Who’s Who of Heavy Metal (Second ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 109. ISBN 0-85112-656-1.
  4. ^ "Dirty Looks | Listen and Stream Free Music, Albums, New Releases, Photos, Videos". Myspace.com.
  5. ^ "The Dead Rock Stars Club - 2011 January to June". Thedeadrockstarsclub.com.
  6. ^ "Log In or Sign Up to View". Facebook.com.
  7. ^ "DIRTY LOOKS Is Back! First 2020 Shows Announced". Blabbermouth.net.
  8. ^ "Dirty Looks "As Close As It Gets"". Facebook.com.
  9. ^ "Dirty Looks "As Close As It Gets" - 2020-03-21 March 2020". Evensi.
  10. ^ [1] [dead link]
  11. ^ [2] [dead link]
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Media related to Dirty Looks at Wikimedia Commons

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