DR/UNK Instagram.com/dr_unkhc.

Local band DR/UNK — whose name combines “drag” and “punk” — does exactly what their name describes. Granted, their music has leaned more into heavier genres over time, but the concept is still the same.

Going to a DR/UNK concert is like going to a loud, energetic and heavy grindcore concert with the band dressed in drag. Grindcore is a genre that combines heavy metal and hardcore punk. 

Drummer and vocalist Patricia Violence says this is the exact contrast the band likes. 

“We really like the juxtaposition of dressing up like pretty girls and then playing super violent, crazy music,” Violence says. They say this aspect is a big part of what makes them unique. 

The band is also unique for the way the band’s sound combines genres, Violence says. 

Originally, DR/UNK formed with the idea of having a more Dead Kennedys sound, emulating 1980s hardcore punk, guitarist and vocalist Daisy Chained says. Violence, bassist Miss Treats, and Chained have been playing music together since high school jazz choir, and around three months after DR/UNK was started guitarist and vocalist Suzie Slaughter came on. 

The group quickly became inspired by “heavier and heavier stuff,” Violence says, coming to a point where the band wasn’t writing the kind of music they used to. They say recently the band’s sound has been leaning toward grindcore and power violence, with a dash of metal. But that doesn’t mean that punk has left their repertoire — it still has an influence on their music.

“I feel like those subgenres in particular did stem more from punk than they did metal, even though they’re super heavy,” Chained says. “the lineage and the natural progression of how all those styled developed definitely came more from hardcore punk.”

With their heavy punk sound and their wigs, DR/UNK puts on a memorable show wherever they go. 

“I think we’ve gotten to a point where it’s a pretty distinct sound,” Chained says. “Whatever we do, it sounds like us.”  

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