KILLING US SOFTLY Crime Is the Muse for Lawyer

KILLING US SOFTLY
Crime Is the Muse for Lawyer-Rockers in Band Death by Injection

BY WENDELL LaGRAND

Several Houston attorneys play in a rock band to relax from the rigors of law practice, but not even music allows them to escape the work entirely.

For one, consider the band’s name: Death by Injection. Even in the rock music world, where pushing the envelope is considered the norm, this name catches the eye.

That all six band members–five lawyers and a police detective–have at least a passing involvement in Houston’s criminal justice system is just a coincidence, insists guitarist Douglas O’Brien. The band’s name is a commentary on its musical skills–at least in its earlier days–rather than any criminal justice issues, he says.

"We weren’t thinking of commercial success when we got the name," O’Brien says. "We kind of got stuck with it."

The band was playing in 1983 at a holiday party sponsored by the district attorney, he recalls. "We were so bad some people said, ‘You ought to be called Death by Injection.’ Hopefully, we have improved since that time."

The band has improved enough over the past two decades of rehearsing and playing gigs at charity events and legal functions in the Houston area to produce its own 11-cut CD. Titled simply Death by Injection, the CD is available through the band’s Web site at www.deathbyinjection.com. The site provides a link to cdbaby.com, where the group’s music can be heard.

"The way our CD is, it has a number of different styles: classic rock, surf, blues," O’Brien says. "A little of everything you see in a classic rock ‘n’ roll band." Like many groups that were born as garage bands, he says, "We’re basically playing ’60s and ’70s cover songs."

But some of the songs on the band’s CD represent a unique musical hybrid that the band members call Texas Crime Music. With titles like "Don’t Say Nothin’ Til the Lawyer Come" and "Witness Stand," the songs are based on the musicians’ experiences in the criminal justice system.

"We started working on original songs based on situations and people we came in contact with at the courthouse," O’Brien says. "We sat down and talked about distinguishing our music. We are from Texas, and a lot of our music has to do with crime. It’s like reality music. The songs are about what we see going on down there. They’re just about things that go through our minds. It’s kind of like urban folk music."

Like most part-time musicians, O’Brien and his band mates sometimes daydream about being able to trade in their day jobs to perform full time. "It would be like winning the lottery," O’Brien says. "That would be a dream come true, but we are realistic. We don’t expect that to happen. I decided to be an attorney when I was 10 years old; I have no one to blame for it but myself."

Between gigs, O’Brien stays busy with a criminal defense practice, as does guitarist and vocalist David Mitcham. Bassist Bill Delmore is the chief of the legal services bureau at the office of the Harris County district attorney, where keyboardist Scott Durfee is general counsel of the general litigation division. Guitarist and vocalist Glenn Gotschall is teaching the Texas Penal Code at the Houston Police Department Academy while he writes a crime novel and a screenplay. Drummer Hal Kennedy is a homicide detective in the Houston Police Department.

So unless that CD and Texas Crime Music really take off, Death by Injection will continue to perform primarily at events patronized by the Houston legal community. And that has its own rewards, O’Brien says.

"It’s fun for us to play at functions where judges, defense attorneys and everyone gets up and dances," he says. "That’s the most fun we have playing in the band."