The original members were Brumby Boylston, Patrick Godbey, Charlie Hardwick, and Oscar Gray. Brumby's influence on the band was substantial and lasting: First of all, Brumby probably had the clearest vision of the band Dresden 45 would become at the beginning. Also, the guy had a great record collection and introduced the rest of band to a slew of very cool bands that existed a little beneath the radar: Agnostic Front, Black Flag, the Crumsuckers, GWAR, Minor Threat, the Minutemen, the Offenders, Rich Kids on LSD, Suicidal Tendencies, and TSOL.
Brumby also named the band, suggesting the name after reading Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut's autobiographical novel in which he describes being a prisoner of war during World War II. If you've read the book, you know that Vonnegut was held prisoner in Dresden, Germany and witnessed the devastating firebombing of the city in 1945. "Dresden 45" was suggested and it stuck. If Brumby had been reading something else that week they might've named themselves Animal Farm or Fahrenheit 451. Vonnegut's novel is well worth reading, but Dresden 45 is yet another band that insists, "it's just a name, dude."
Not long after its founding, Dresden 45 was blowing the roofs off some legendary Houston area clubs: Cabaret Voltaire, the Apocalypse Monster Club, Rockefellers, Fitzgerald's, Power Tools, and the Axiom. During the band's most active years (1985-1990) a very young Dresden 45 shared the stage with touring bands like All, the Descendents, DRI, the Exploited, Firehose, MDC, NOFX, and the Goo Goo Dolls, as well as great Texas bands like Dead Horse, the Hickoids, the Party Owls, Sugar Shack, and the Pain Teens.
Dresden 45 played its last show of the 20th century on January 6, 1990 at the Axiom and went into a kind of hibernation. They reformed in 2003 to promote the release of "Paradise Lost (Expanded)". The boys played five reunion shows then called it a day. Dresden 45 has left the building, and they ain't coming back. Seriously.
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