Dr. Know

One of the crucial bands in the "Nardcore" scene that arose in the 1980s, Dr. Know are a Southern California punk band who were among the first to add metal influences to their high speed skate-punk attack. Noisy, thrashy, and not afraid to be rude, the band's raw early recordings earned them a potent cult following. They pushed their metal undertow closer to the surface when they signed to the maverick metal label Death Records for 1986's This Island Earth and 1988's Wreckage in Flesh, though their fury and irreverence was essentially the same. 2001's Habily: What Was Old Is New (aka Fuck Off and Die) saw a latter-day version of the band re-recording some of their best-known material. Founded in Oxnard, California (hence the name "Nardcore"), the group was formed in 1981 by bassist Ismael Hernandez and drummer Robin Cartwright, who became friends when they were the only punk rock fans at their high school. (Ismael Hernandez's brother Jaime, co-creator of the influential independent comic Love & Rockets, designed the group's distinctive logo.) Cartwright brought in his neighbor Kyle Toucher to play guitar, and after briefly calling themselves the Accused, they adopted the name Dr. Know, a reference to the 1962 James Bond movie Dr. No. After playing a few gigs with Joey Pena on lead vocals, Brandon Cruz signed on to sing with the band; he was a skater and punk fan who had been a child star, appearing on the TV series The Courtship of Eddie's Father from 1969 to 1972. The band made their recording debut on a handful of compilation albums from the wildly prolific Hollywood punk label Mystic Records. By the time they cut their first stand-alone release, 1984's Plug-In Jesus for Ghetto-Way Records, Cartwright had left the group after a fight with his bandmates, and Rik Heller had taken over on drums, while Cruz had dropped out and Toucher was handling guitar and lead vocals. The LP also featured second guitarist Fred Matatquin. By the time they released the 1985 EP Burn, Matatquin was out and the band continued as a trio. As Dr. Know's reputation grew, they struck a deal with Death Records, an offshoot of the successful indie metal label Metal Blade, and they made their debut for their new imprint with 1986's This Island Earth, which saw them doubling down on their metal influences. After touring behind the album, Ismael Hernandez quit, and Rik Heller soon followed. Toucher assembled a new version of Dr. Know with bassist Tony Black, guitarist Tim Harkins, and drummer Larry White. By the time Dr. Know released their second full-length on Death, 1988's Wreckage in Flesh, Black was out and Mike Purdy was in on bass. Meanwhile, in 1987, Mystic issued the collection The Original Group, drawn from unreleased early recordings with Brandon Cruz on vocals. (Mystic offshoot SuperSeven also pulled four songs from the LP for a 7" single.) After the touring cycle following Wreckage in Flesh, Dr. Know played only a handful of shows before they broke up in 1991. In 1996, Slayer paid tribute to Dr. Know by covering their song "Mr. Freeze" on the album Undisputed Attitude, and another of their songs, "Piece of Meat," gained a new audience when it was featured on a 1998 episode of the TV series South Park. In 1998, Brandon Cruz and Ismael Hernandez were eager to reunite Dr. Know; Toucher declined to participate but they recruited guitarist Liberty Allen and drummer Eric Vasquez and in 2001 issued Habily: What Was Old Is New, a set of new recordings of favorites from their back catalog. (The album was reissued in 2008 as Fuck Off and Die and was released again under that title in 2023.) Dr. Know also contributed four songs to 2001's Fish and Vegetables, a collection which also featured songs from Fang and the Hellions. A new album of original material arrived in 2003, Father, Son, and Holy Shit!!!, and 2009's Killing for God saw Cruz and Ismael Hernandez team up with guitarist Steve Contreras (aka Stevil) and drummer Rick Contreras (aka Destroyer Rick). In 2010, Cruz and Hernandez announced that Dr. Know had broken up, but soon Kyle Toucher put the Wreckage in Flesh edition of the group back together, and they performed under the banner "the Real Dr. Know." A few years later, Cruz and Hernandez also revived Dr. Know, joined by Plug-In Jesus-era guitarist Fred Matatquin and drummer Larry White, previously with Stalag 13. In the 2020s, both editions of the band were still performing occasionally on the West Coast.
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