the new bassist of Verbal Abuse. Although he had limited skill at playing the instrument, and none of the other members had been informed about the personnel change, Dodwell did become the band's bass player upon arrival in San Francisco. After a few weeks in California, Bitchy Bill began to annoy the other band members with his selfish behavior. The rest of the group was living on the streets in the van, while Bill rented a comfortable apartment and refused to allow his bandmates access to his facilities. While driving down Market Street in San Francisco, the band pulled over to the curb and unloaded Bill's drum set onto the sidewalk. He got out of the van, and they drove away. During this time period, the members of Verbal Abuse all kept their heads shaved. When they met drummer Gregg James, his head was already shaved, so the band immediately accepted him as the new drummer without any further auditions. Just An American Band and departure of Nicki Sicki With the lineup of Nicki Sicki, Joie Mastrokalos, Brett Dodwell and Gregg James, Verbal Abuse was signed by Fowl Records and in 1983 they recorded their first LP, Just An American Band, which was released early in 1984. Next, Brett Dodwell left the band to join the army, and Nicki Sicki's former Sick Pleasure bandmate Dave "Koko" Chavez took his place on bass. Verbal Abuse then embarked on a four month tour of the U.S. and Canada to promote their album and performed with numerous influential bands including Slayer, The Ramones, Agnostic Front, Murphy's Law, Reagan Youth, The Cro-Mags, Die Kreuzen, The Dead Kennedys, Poison Idea and Decry. After finishing their tour, Nicki Sicki decided to leave Verbal Abuse early in 1985 due to stylistic and creative differences, citing Joie's penchant for flamboyant wardrobe choices including a bolero, a cape and various scarves and bandanas tied around his legs and microphone stands, as well as his leanings toward a more glam metal musical style. Nicki returned to Houston and formed the band Afterbirth with original Verbal Abuse bassist Radi Kilowatt, guitarists Andy Schumman and Bill Barton and a drummer by the name of Kelp. Afterbirth played new original songs, written mostly by Nicki, which were stylistically similar to the hardcore direction of the Just An American Band LP, and also performed a few old favorites from that record. Scotty Wilkins years