Purge D.I. spills over

By Randy J. Klodz
Staff Writer

Though they’ve never toured the nation, hit it big on commercial radio or established a clever meaning behind their band name, the members of Purge D.I. from Manchester, N.H. are ready to take their heavy sound on the road with their first national tour, in support of Grade 8.

“I almost want the callouses of really grinding away for a little while,” said Purge D.I. singer Jay Bellaud of his outlook toward grassroots touring. “I don’t want to do it for like 10 years, grinding away trying to gain a fan base, but [to] definitely try to get a bunch of people into it and then have the radio play come into effect.”

Though Bellaud and his bandmates—Keith Cuscia (guitar), Randy Ladd (bass) and Bob Austin (drums)—won’t be touring with mainstream artists like Staind or Godsmack, with whom they’ve played two local shows, this time around Bellaud said he is grateful for the opportunity to tour and looks forward to bigger tours in the future. “Any little opportunity we’re picking away at. If Godsmack or anything like that comes to us I think we’d all give up a finger or two just to get on that,” he said. “That would be ideal, I would love that tour.”

The members of Purge D.I. simply went by the name of Purge during their first two years of existence but ran into some potential legal problems along the way. “We went to get everything situated and we were definitely talking about trademarking and copyrighting and everything and, believe it or not, two weeks prior another band—a cover band out of Boston—had the name and filled out the paper work,” Bellaud said. “So we had a trademark battle just to try to get the name. In the end they had all the paper work to prove it and they wanted like $14,000 and we were like ‘All right, woah.’ We weren’t raking in the dough then.”

The band’s resulting name originated when they were looking around a room at equipment and spotted a DI box, a part used on a bass rig that goes directly into the PA system. “I wish I had this beautiful story for the name but basically the D.I. pretty much just means ‘no lawsuit,’” Bellaud said with a laugh.

When Purge D.I. released their national debut album Grounded on Nov. 26, they had some stiff competition to deal with, mostly because they don’t sound like what’s become popular in the New England area. “We’re actually on the lighter side of [heavy rock], believe it or not,” Bellaud said.

When compared to some of Purge D.I.’s successors, their heavy sound is reminiscent of a lighter form of Godsmack mixed with the spacious hard-rock harmonies of Cold. “I hope that we don’t sound like anyone, but I guess we all have our influences—Rock. It’s going to sound like something or another,” Bellaud said. “We don’t want to sound like anyone. We’re all different. All of our influences are off-the-wall different.”

The single “I Am,” with the lyrics “I am / I’m stuck in this / I am / I’m looking through / I am / I’m lost in these words that you’ve made as your own,” isn’t on regular rotation in the New England area, but according to Bellaud, several radio stations currently carry the single which may have helped with the surge in record sales. “We just got [Grounded] in the stores, and we’ve actually had to reorder already in Manchester,” he said. “We’re pretty psyched that they’re moving that quickly already.”

Purge D.I. has played with artists like Judas Priest, Monster Magnet and Slayer, to name a few. Whether Purge D.I. is touring with well-known acts or up-and-coming talent such as Grade 8, Bellaud said he is optimistic. “To be heard is the best thing.”