Dave Riley replaces Pezzati

In late 1984, following the recording of the Racer-X EP, Pezzati amicably left the band due to his increasingly demanding job, the need to devote time to his fiancée, and the increasing popularity and busy schedule of Naked Raygun, of which he was still a member. Durango, meanwhile, opted to leave Naked Raygun to commit full-time to Big Black. Pezzati was replaced by Dave Riley , who joined Big Black the week of Racer-X ‘s release in April 1985. Riley had moved to Chicago in 1982 from Detroit, where he had worked at a studio where funk artists George Clinton and Sly Stone had recorded (he is credited as a recording engineer on Parliament ‘s Trombipulation and Funkadelic ‘s The Electric Spanking of War Babies ). In Chicago he joined a band called Savage Beliefs, and his playing style impressed Albini and Durango, who invited him to join Big Black as they were recording the songs that would make up the band’s first full-length album.