Verbal Abuse is a hardcore punk band started in Houston, Texas (USA) in 1981 after singer and song writer Nicki Sicki quit the band Sick Pleasure and moved to Virginia, then back to Texas when he decided he wanted to start another band.
At the time, not many bands were playing fast anarcho-hardcore in Texas and, like D.R.I. and M.D.C. before them, Verbal Abuse relocated to San Francisco in the end of 1981. In San Francisco, Verbal Abuse lived at the infamous Vats along with members of The Dicks and M.D.C. as well as Harley Flanagan from the Cro-Mags. By the end of the year, they had signed with Fowl Records and recorded their first LP, Just an American Band which was released in the beginning of 1983.
The band then embarked on a tour to promote their first album but Brett soon left Verbal Abuse to join the army so Nicki asked former Sick Pleasure bandmate Dave "Koko" Chavez to take his place. However, hardcore was starting to fade away and crossover thrash was the big thing in the mid '80's so Nicki quit the band in 1984. Since Joie, Dave and Gregg wanted to continue making music, They asked Condemned to Death singer Scotty Wilkins to sing.
1986 they recorded their second album, V.A. Rocks Your Liver, which was released on Boner Records. The band continued to tour but Joie eventually left to join another band in 1987, being replaced by Andy Schuman. Gregg also left for family reasons a bit later, being replaced by former Condemned to Death drummer Mike Chubka who left in 1987 .
In 1989 Chris Kontos joined up after Gregg James was unable to make the European tour. Verbal Abuse was asked to take M.D.C. place because they were unable to make the trip. Off they went for 38 shows in 42 days with Destiny booking. At the end of that tour Destiny asked if they would record a "Live Recording". Out of that came "Passport- Verbal Abuse of America" released on Destiny records.
1990 saw Destiny bringing VA back to Europe to tour off the Live recording.
They recorded another album entitled Red, White and Violent and released in 1995 on Century Media Records. They toured for this record and split about a year later as Scotty joined Electric Frankenstein.
Joie Mastrokalos resurfaced playing guitar for his good friend Duff McKagan's band in 1993 and 1994. He contributed on Duff's solo album Believe in Me and the following solo tours that ensued.
In 1996, the band got a lot of recognition and newfound interest when thrash metal legends Slayer covered five of their songs on their Undisputed Attitude record. The songs covered are Disintegration, Free Money, Verbal Abuse, Leeches and I Hate You.
Nicki having been released from prison and money from the Slayer album royalties brought the band back together in the 21st century, now with Nicki back on Vocals, Andy on guitar, Dave on bass as well as new members Jess Aaron on second guitar and Geza Szent-Galy on drums. The band's first LP was re-released on CD with many extra tracks in 2002.
Current members:
Nicki Sicki - Vocals (1981-1984, 2005-present)
Dave "Koko" Chavez- Bass(1984-1995, 2005-present)
Jess Aaron - Guitar (2005-present)
Geza Szent-Galy- Drums (2005-present)
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