The band din can be viewed as the product, to varying degrees, of inspiration, desperation, rage and boredom. The band emphasizes sincerity and raw emotion through carefully crafted songs with moods from somber to furious. Melodic, punchy, rock music flavored with blues, folk, R&B, soul and punk gives the band a sound which is at once classic and timely. Gort It all began when Graham Irwin (the artist periodically known as the champ) met Brett Svatek at a post-gig Christmas party for teenage-girl punk sensations The Grownups in 1996. Brett had a set of drums, wanted to play and seemed like a swell fellow. In addition, his great-grandfather had played Gort, the automaton in "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Graham was determined to shed his solitary ways and start a band - so off they went... With drums, guitar and singing covered, the question of a bass player loomed large. In late February of 1997, after countless auditions and several aborted attempts, the band found itself complete with the addition of Ben Cosloy. Though he professed to not having played bass much and did not own a bass, he soon acquired one and began writing and playing some great bass parts. The other question was the name of the band. After some intense "discussion," the name "din" was agreed upon. Then the band had to play... March 16, 1997 was the band's first gig, at a backyard BBQ in Venice. The band was choppy, but energetic, and after Graham was attacked by the host later in the evening he knew he was on to something... din in drag at the Impala Cafe, 3/28/97 March 28 was the band's inauspicious first public performance, at the now defunct Impala Cafe in downtown Los Angeles. The evening was organized by The Grownup's manager, Christie, as an all-girl event. The band, therefore, began its career in drag. The need for a demo tape and promotion material became pressing and the band began to work on these materials. A May 2nd gig at Mr. T's Bowl, booked by Steve Moramarco of The Abe Lincoln Story and organized by Graham, saw din perform with friends nickel and Bad Apple Pie at a dilapidated bowling alley. din at the Mr. T's Bowl, 5/2/97   Papa Bear, Bad Apple Pie's bass player, had a DAT recorder and taped the performance. Excerpts from this tape became din's first demo: "Product Sample - Job #3". The accompanying promotional material attributed the band's music as the product of a fictional, and dubious, corporation - din Industries Incorporated...

din's first demo din at the Silverlake Lounge, 5/22/97 Cracks in the band's harmonious relations appeared and in late May, Ben was replaced as bass player by Mike Prusik, who also played with local singer/songwriter Eli. The new lineup debuted at the Silver Lake Lounge on May 22 and played the next night at Chorus in Koreatown. Performances continued throughout the spring and summer of 1997:   The Spirit of '76, din style! din in Playa del Rey, 07/04/97 Graham's grandparents enjoying the show The infamous Daryl Gates poster: The White Horse 07/12/97 with 400 Blows, The Blue Saloon 07/31/97 The Blue Saloon 07/31/97, Al's Bar 08/07/97 Mr. T's with nickel and Three Man Engine 06/27/97 While Mike was a reliable and affable bandmate, he had trouble with the band's heavy-handed musical approach. By the fall of 1997, the band was once again without a bass player. Brett and Graham struggled along rehearsing, writing songs and performing occasionally as a duo through the fall and winter of 1997. Graham used this time as an opportunity to get a haircut and a job. In early 1998, Graham was invited by Steve Moramarco (with whom he had performed as bassist for The Abe Lincoln Story) to join the band for a one-time gig at South-by-Southwest in Austin, Texas. Seeing this as a good opportunity to promote din, Graham got Steve to agree to bring Brett along with a plan of extensive street performance. Feeling the need for a more polished musical sample, din undertook recording a seven song demo - in two weeks!!! Steve and Brett at the RockPlex Graham, insulated within din Industries The band began recording on March 4 at Steve Moramarco's studio, the RockPlex, in SilverLake. In 8 hours, they got decent takes of drums and guitar for all seven songs. The next two weeks were a frantic period of bass, guitar overdub and vocal sessions at Graham's new apartment/studio, christened din Industries, assisted by Mark Peterson, drummer for Bad Apple Pie. Brett at the RockPlex Brett and Mark at din Industries Graham in a fleeting moment of bliss Graham thinks bass! Further complicating the situation was the band's effort to construct a rehearsal/recording studio at Graham's new place in cahoots with several of his housemates. As a result of these endeavors, din was uninvited for the trip to South-by-Southwest - at that point, it came as a relief. Graham mixes it up Brett, hard at work The band decided to finish the recording as a full-scale release and it became apparent that it would take a good deal longer to finish the recording than anticipated. A cd release party had been organized and publicized for March 14; it became a live performance in Graham's apartment... Mark getting Graham in tune Graham toils beneath an inspirational painting by artist Caesar Meadows Brett takes a breather Brett and Mark mixing Eventually, three acoustic songs were added to the collection to round it out and lengthen the recording to a whopping 31 minutes! The summer of 1997 saw the departure of Brett from the band, but the welcome assistance of Joe "Leader in the Making" Diaz (an intern from Graham's college) and friends/co-workers Shane Bishop and "Uncle" Steve Burr. The final vocals were recorded at Uncle Steve Records in Marina del Rey, since Steve had a good mic and knew how to use a compressor! The album saw the welcome contributions of Katy Salvidge (who performed on the "Good Will Hunting" soundtrack) on penny whistle and Carl Stephenson (of Beck and Forest for the Trees fame) on fiddle. Joe "Leader in the Making" Diaz views the technology at din Industries with trepidation The gang puts finishing touches on the chorus of "Office Boy" Shane and Joe at work at Uncle Steve Records Shane at the reigns, with Joe and Uncle Steve As it turned out, it took a good deal longer than anticipated (several more times) before the recording was completed on August 15, just in time to see Joe off to college. The next order of business at hand was mixing and mastering... Enter Jim Bailey (Thank God! -ed.), whose seasoned ears were a welcome addition to the project. He helped Graham Graham helped him with mixing at din Industries and mastering on the ProTools system at Prime Digital, Hollywood. This process was interrupted by day-to-day life, a trip to New York for some live performances and another trip to New York for a friend's marriage. By October 26, mastering was complete... Business details, such as cd design and replication, DBA's and Merchant Accounts, websites, domain names and SSL's occupied the band to the end of 1998. Long overdue, Graham began shameless promotion of the new cd - Greatest Hits Volume One. The next phase of din was about to begin!