DIPSOMANIACS
Dipsomaniacs in Philadelphia at Little Steven's Underground Garage Contest circa 2005
The Dipsomaniacs formed in 1992 and rehearsed in a row house basement in Trenton, NJ. Original members included Mick Chorba (guitar), Tom O’Grady (drums), Ron Mitchell (guitar), and Jon Bilinski (bass). The band played at sundry dive bars and parties and recorded a cassette only album called Dumbhead. In 1994, Bilinski left the band to build his house and home studio. Doug Keith joined the band on bass guitar. Superheroes and Fairytales was recorded locally, pressed and independently released by the band. In 1995 the band recorded Smaller Than Life at Bilinski’s studio and released the album on their new label, Face Down Records. Several 7″ singles were also released around this time. The Dipsomaniacs contributed a Christmas song, “More Eggnog”, to Caroling in Left Field, released by NJ label Home Base Records. Doug Keith left the band and Matt Maciolek joined the troupe on bass.
Dipsomaniacs @ City Gardens in Trenton, NJ circa 1998
With their classic line-up in tact the Dipsomaniacs recorded Undertow (featuring opening track “Krackow”) in Baltimore, MD with engineer/producer Drew Mazurek. In 1999 the band played in Los Angeles at the International Pop Overthrow Festival and began playing more out of town shows in Baltimore, NYC, DC, Philadelphia and other spots. The Dipsomaniacs contributed a cover of the Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait” to FDR’s Replacements Tribute CD and played a series of shows promoting the tribute album. Soon, the Dipsomaniacs returned to Mazurek’s studio in Baltimore to record. The subsequent album, The Life You’re Faking (featuring “NJT” and “Tina’s Good at Everything”), was released in 2001 on FDR and Jam Records.
Dipsomaniacs in Asbury Park, NJ circa 2002
In 2002 the band camped out one long weekend in Philadelphia at Indre Studios working with friend and engineer Pete Girgenti on the songs that would eventually become 2003’s Freakin Eureka (featuring “Sun Shine Through” and ”Prince “Harry”). The album was mixed by Mazurek in Baltimore. At this time the guys recorded two songs for the Who tribute CD, Who’s Not Forgotten – “Bargain” on their own and “Long Live Rock” with Philly guitar legend Tommy Conwell. The Dipsomaniacs played with Conwell at the Khyber in Philadelphia at a show promoting the tribute CD.
In 2004 the band began working on Whatever Planet (featuring “Thank You”, “Syd Barrett”, and “I Miss My Car”) in Chorba’s new home studio. With the extra time allowed by home recording the band’s new album topped out at 27 tracks. The bonus disc Down the Drain (featuring “Hello Cleveland”) contained several lost tracks, live songs, and previously unreleased tunes. Around this time the band won the Philadelphia Little Steven Underground Garage contest and performed in NYC at Irving Plaza with Rocket from the Crypt. In the summer of 2005 the Dipsomaniacs played an outdoor concert opening for Pat Benatar to a crowd of over 10,000.
Dipsomaniacs Whatever Planet Press Photo 2005
In 2007 longtime guitarist Ron Mitchell left the band. Mick, Tom, and Matt failed to find a suitable replacement and eventually asked friend Paul Crane (from Bastards of Melody) to join temporarily. The band began working on Social Crutch (featuring “Blame it on the Gin”) and released the album in 2009. The Dipsomaniacs played their last show in February 2009 at The Record Collector in Bordentown, NJ.
Dipsomaniacs’ song “I Miss My Car”:
