Nice writeup of our upcoming Dot Dash gig with ex-Stranglers frontman - with Blondie’s Clem Burke on drums, no less! Friday October 21st at Montgomery College (where I took Photography 101 so many years ago).
A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed: D.C.’s Dot Dash To Open For Stranglers’ Hugh Cornwell
Hugh Cornwell
Washington City Paper has a nice bit in their One Track Mind column about my band Dot Dash. Our CD, Spark>Flame>Ember>Ash, is available in hard-copy from Canadian indie label The Beautiful Music or you can download on iTunes. Cover photo by yours truly.
![Well, Dot Dash’s opener gig with The Godfathers came and went Friday night and was a lot of fun. Thanks to my former Modest Proposal bandmate Neal Augenstein for the nice iPhone photo. Left to right, it’s bassist Hunter Bennett, drummer Danny Ingram, singer/guitarist Terry Banks, and me. I thought we played well, though I felt a little bad about the low turnout. Not so much for us, we don’t have much of a draw yet beyond our friends, that’s ok. More for the re-formed Godfathers, who in their prime 20+ years ago were a formidable live act with a couple of searing semi-hits you might catch on college radio or on a good night at the local new wave nightclub (in DC, that would be the long-gone Poseurs, Cagney’s, Back Alley, etc). I guess the kids today just don’t know them.
The singer and bassist, the brothers Coyne, are the only original members (and the bassist couldn’t make the tour at the last minute due to visa issues). One guy in the crowd the other night was walking around in his old Godfathers t-shirt, I commented to a friend that out of the five members on the shirt, only one would be onstage in a few moments. They are great guys and still a very strong band in that kick-in-the-nuts kind of way, but I have such incredible memories of their intensely bracing show at the old 930 Club in 1988. So to be fair, probably nothing they could do today (even the full original lineup) could match that thrill of a band I knew nothing about coming out and completely knocking my socks off. [Click here for a video of them from that period]
In a surprising twist that I just discovered tonight - if you go to The Godfathers’ website, at the top of the news section you’ll find a shot of the Coynes that I took at that 1988 show! (Credit-less, but whatever.) And there’s also one of my shots of recently fired guitarist Kris Dollimore in their ‘Then’ photo gallery, it’s image number 31. I had snuck in my trusty Canon AE1, first camera I ever owned. Now that I’m thinking about it I do remember sending them some prints way back when…](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lgybfw73dD1qz5g5zo1_r1_500.jpg)
Well, Dot Dash’s opener gig with The Godfathers came and went Friday night and was a lot of fun. Thanks to my former Modest Proposal bandmate Neal Augenstein for the nice iPhone photo. Left to right, it’s bassist Hunter Bennett, drummer Danny Ingram, singer/guitarist Terry Banks, and me. I thought we played well, though I felt a little bad about the low turnout. Not so much for us, we don’t have much of a draw yet beyond our friends, that’s ok. More for the re-formed Godfathers, who in their prime 20+ years ago were a formidable live act with a couple of searing semi-hits you might catch on college radio or on a good night at the local new wave nightclub (in DC, that would be the long-gone Poseurs, Cagney’s, Back Alley, etc). I guess the kids today just don’t know them.
The singer and bassist, the brothers Coyne, are the only original members (and the bassist couldn’t make the tour at the last minute due to visa issues). One guy in the crowd the other night was walking around in his old Godfathers t-shirt, I commented to a friend that out of the five members on the shirt, only one would be onstage in a few moments. They are great guys and still a very strong band in that kick-in-the-nuts kind of way, but I have such incredible memories of their intensely bracing show at the old 930 Club in 1988. So to be fair, probably nothing they could do today (even the full original lineup) could match that thrill of a band I knew nothing about coming out and completely knocking my socks off. [Click here for a video of them from that period]
In a surprising twist that I just discovered tonight - if you go to The Godfathers’ website, at the top of the news section you’ll find a shot of the Coynes that I took at that 1988 show! (Credit-less, but whatever.) And there’s also one of my shots of recently fired guitarist Kris Dollimore in their ‘Then’ photo gallery, it’s image number 31. I had snuck in my trusty Canon AE1, first camera I ever owned. Now that I’m thinking about it I do remember sending them some prints way back when…
Oh my goodness. Just off the wire - Dot Dash will be opening for The Godfathers at the Black Cat on Friday 2/18! Just earlier this evening I was driving along and suddenly knew we’d get the gig. And sure enough…
I took the photo posted above at their show at the old 930 club in 1988. A little history here, to help explain my schoolgirl-ish excitement.
By the way, follow me on Twitter please!
Nice little online review from Ear Candy Mag:
Dot Dash,”Dot Dash” (Edition 59 Records)
Promising debut from this band of seasoned DC players. There’s jangle pop here, but also a darker edge to the songwriting that will take the listener in different directions.
Lead singer Terry Banks (ex-Tree Fort Angst) has a subtle touch with lyrics that support the music interplay well. The rhythm section propels each tune along with precision, not surprising since bassist Hunter Bennett did time in post punkers Weatherhead, and drummer Danny Ingram was a road warrior with Swervedriver in the mid-90’s. This four piece is rounded out by Bill Crandall’s restrained leads, which recall Paul Weller at his peak.
You will be singing along to “That Was Now, This Is Then” by the end of this EP, and be left wanting more.
You can find the mini-CD on Edition 59’s MySpace page. You’ll have to scroll around a bit, look for number 063 in the list.
Here’s a year-end sampler of basement demos from my band Dot Dash. We recorded these over a few different quick sessions with our friend Eric Tischler, so some are from many months ago, Color and the Sound and Alright Alright are pretty new. These are not meant as finished products, more like a working-out and/or chronicling of our material as we go. Though a few tracks were released as a limited-run CD on a small German label (dig around their MySpace page, you’ll find us). An apt description of our sound eludes us, but here’s a little blurb with some reasonable adjectives.
Anyway, hope you enjoy, minor flubs and all. On decent speakers I think our sparkling musical personality shines through ;).
This innocuous little listing is momentous for me. It marks my return to music after a 15-year hiatus (no, I’m not in the pic, that’s the Trashcan Sinatras).
Dot Dash is my first new band since I left Adam West in 1995, essentially ‘quitting’ music. Besides me it’s singer/songwriter/guitarist Terry Banks and bassist Hunter Bennett (of Julie Ocean fame) and drummer Danny Ingram (who needs no introduction, at least in DC circles). I’m not sure how to describe the music, but it’s generally brisk punk-pop with an interesting ratio of bright melodies to dark undercurrents.
Of course nothing could match the feeling of hitting the stage at the Modest Proposal reunion recently, with my mod-mates from the 1980s, but that was different. Looking back more than forward.
(Gulp) So here we go… I don’t where we’re heading, or how we’ll get there, but it starts Monday, June 14th at Rock and Roll Hotel.
