Dirt Merchants [Maria Christopher [now with 27], Alex Kisch, John Malone and Mike Malone] were born during those halcyon days of the early 1990s when Boston was synonymous with the post-grunge "alterna" scene. The DMs released a handful of acclaimed singles (its called "Vinyl", kids) on their own V-Hold label. The full length "Scarified" was released on fledgling indie label Zero Hour in 1994, and was re-released by Epic Records in 95 after the group sold out to The Man.
After more than a year of A&R high jinx, long-distance van travel and some excellent bowling, the Merchants put the finishing touches on their true major label debut, "The Speed At Which You Speak," but Epic, deciding that there is indeed such a thing as too much of a good thing, shelved the album and showed the band the door. Luckily, the always industrious foursome had found the time to record the self-produced "Swiss Bank EP" between recording basics and mixing "Speed."
Enjoy.
