About Me
Hello my friends!
My name is Dobromir, for most of you just Dobro a.k.a. Don Dobrio or just Don D. This is my music profile.
I started as a bass player, but I've been playing guitar for long time with the Bulgarian Hardcore band LAST HOPE. While I am in the US I play guitar and bass for the New York Hardcore band 25TA LIFE.
I started playing bass when my uncle Grozdan (bass player of the old Bulgarian hard/heavy metal band SLAVYANI) gave me his old bass. In 1988-1991 I was influenced by the San Francisco Bay Area and LA Trash metal scenes (EXODUS, METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER, TESTAMENT) and the NY trash metal scene(ANTHRAX, OVERKILL, NUCLEAR ASSAULT), as well as the German speed killers KREATOR, SODOM, DESTRUCTION. Back then I was also influenced by S.O.D., Suicidal Tendencies, M.O.D. and D.R.I.
In 1992 my friends from SOFIA and VARNA introduced me to American Hardcore, mostly NYHC bands. My strongest influences are BIOHAZARD, AGNOSTIC FRONT, MADBALL, SICK OF IT ALL, CRO-MAGS, INTEGRITY, EARTH CRISIS and MERAUDER. When I create songs for my bands I mostly combine those two styles - NYHC and trash metal.My first band was HISHTNIK (r.i.p.) (Predator), a trash metal band (1989-1990). The songs "Backseat Driver" and "Taken For Granted" from the 2007 LAST HOPE CD "Test of Time" were originally created for HISHTNIK. In 1994 I formed a Hardcore band, called INCRIMINAL (1994-1998 r.i.p.), heavily influenced by BIOHAZARD and MADBALL. I was singer and bass player for INCRIMINAL.In 1996 I joined LAST HOPE as a bass player. In 1997 I joined the first bulgarian metalcore band TURNDOWN (r.i.p.) on vocals. We released one killer album in 1997. In 1997 I also played guitar for HUMANMASK(r.i.p.) In 1998 after 3 years playing bass for LAST HOPE I switched to guitar. In 1998 after the break up of INCRIMINAL and after I left all other bands I devoted all my energy to LAST HOPE. The last song of INCRIMINAL became the first song of the new LAST HOPE record in 2002. This song is called "In your face" and we have Jimmy G from Murphy's Law as a guest singer on it. Through all these years in LAST HOPE we have had many ups and downs as a band, but we've always found a way to survive and move on. Coming from a poor background and a poor country nothing was given to us except the moral support of our friends. We had to fight for everything, sometimes to fight dirty, as Rick Ta Life says.
In 2006, after we recorded the new LAST HOPE album "Test Of Time", I left Bulgaria and came to Washington, DC to study and work. As you all know, Hardcore is real but the Real Life is real too: sometimes it kicks and bites more than Hardcore. So we need to do other things in our life - work, study, live and survive. The test of time shows that only the strong survive. MADBALL talk about this in their new CD Infiltrate the System. Remember, once we used to say Injustice System like SICK OF IT ALL or Fuck the System like THE EXPLOITED, but now at almost 30 we are INFILTRATING THE SYSTEM. This is what MADBALL say about that:"Soldiers, doctors, lawyers, TV producers, CEOs, suit-and-tie guys and working folk of all stripes: these people comprise an ever-expanding segment of the Madball community. They are a group of fans weaned on the legendary band's brutal New York City Hardcore, who take the fire, passion and spirit that drives Madball, and the subculture they have long represented, into their positions of power and influence all over the world.
People with this unique background and upbringing when they are put in a position of influence or power, it can change a lot of things, in a good way. When people who are open-minded and free-thinking get put in positions of influence, they can really do a lot of things to make a change. It can extend anywhere from music to politics."I am one of these guys and I've been feeling this every day. The energy that keeps me strong everyday comes from Hardcore. I believe that Hardcore contributed to my evolution as a person. Check out John Joseph's book The Evlution of a Cromagnon and you will know what I mean. We gotta know!After 2 years in Washington, DC and New York I got the chance to meet many of the NYHC people that've inspired me so much throughout the years. In the summer of 2007 Rick Ta Life invited me to play with 25 TA LIFE. So I started playing HC on American soil. Now I am workin' and chillin' in DC, and playing with 25TA LIFE. In the meantime I finished new songs for LAST HOPE, we recorded them in Italy 2008 and they are SICK! SEE YOU IN THE PIT!
