Dos (band)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dos
Dos (Mike Watt, left, and Kira Roessler), San Pedro, CA, 1996
Background information
Origin	San Pedro, California, USA
Genre(s)	Punk/Alternative
Years active	1985–present
Label(s)	New Alliance Records Kill Rock Stars
Associated acts	The Reactionaries, Minutemen, fIREHOSE, Black Flag
Website	Dos' homepage at Mike Watt's Hoot Page
Members
Mike Watt Kira Roessler

Dos is a two-bass indie/punk band featuring the former husband-and-wife team of Mike Watt (The Reactionaries, Minutemen, fIREHOSE, The Stooges, Banyan) and Kira Roessler (Black Flag). Watt and Roessler (who does not use her surname professionally) met not long after Roessler replaced Chuck Dukowski as the bassist of Black Flag in 1983.

[edit] Biography

The actual origin of Dos came about in the fall of 1985 when Watt and Kira, who were already dating, began improvising two-bass jams in their free time, sometimes recording these results into Watt's four-track recording machine.

The sudden death of Minutemen guitarist and lead singer D. Boon in a van accident on December 22, 1985, led to the end of the Minutemen and left Watt devastated. Kira had parted company with Black Flag not long beforehand and moved to New Haven, Connneticut to attend Yale University; intending to keep Watt playing after Boon's death, she and Watt began sending four-track cassettes back and forth to each other. The activity led to Kira flying back to California for the formal forming of Dos in September 1986.

They recorded their first album, an all-instrumental affair save for the closing track, "Taking Away The Fire", almost immediately, and made their performing debut as Dos opening for ex-Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn's instrumental group Gone that same week. Watt released Dos' eponymous first album, Dos on New Alliance Records, the label he had formed with D. Boon in 1981. Around the same time, Watt formed fIREHOSE; many of the songs on fIREHOSE's first album Ragin', Full-On, are actually Dos songs with lyrics added (by either Watt or Kira) and rearranged for a power trio format.

In 1987, Watt and Roessler married, but they divorced seven years later around the time that fIREHOSE broke up.

In 1989 Dos recorded a six-song EP, Numero Dos. This release, which featured three vocals by Kira and one by Watt, would be combined with the 1986 LP to become the Uno Con Dos CD almost immediately afterward. Around this same time, Kira moved back to California and married Watt.

Dos, onstage in Long Beach, CA, 2002. Kira (left front) and Mike Watt (right).

Dos rarely tour extensively, owing to both Watt's touring schedule with fIREHOSE and later, as a solo artist and member of The Stooges and Banyan, and to Kira's decision to work full-time, first as a computer programmer and then, currently as a movie sound designer and foley artist. Most Dos "tours" have been short, three-to-five-day affairs that would either see Kira flying to meet Watt on the road where they would sometimes open for fIREHOSE, or, less frequently, on their own.

Dos' recorded and live repitoire consists of both original instrumentals (some of which would later have lyrics added to them to become fIREHOSE or Watt solo songs), some original vocal pieces, and cover versions sung primarily by Kira and rearranged for their two basses. Songs by Billie Holiday ("Don't Explain", "Down In The Dumps"), Patsy Cline ("Imagine That", "I Fall To Pieces"), Sonic Youth ("Pacific Coast Highway"), Selena ("No Me Quedo Mas"), and even The Minutemen (a rearranged "Do You Want New Wave Or Do You Want The Truth?" from their classic Double Nickels On The Dime album) have found their way into Dos' back catalog and live set list.

Watt and Kira's marriage ended amicably in 1994, around the same time fIREHOSE disbanded. The two remained friends and subsequently, chose to continue with Dos. They began writing and recording their third album, Justamente Tres, not long afterward; it would be released in 1996 in between Watt's first two solo albums.

In 2003, Watt set up a Pro Tools recording setup in his apartment that he nicknamed Studio Thunderpants, primarily for the purpose of recording his own song demos. Watt and Kira began recording the fourth Dos album there at this time, in between Watt's professional commitments as a solo artist and member of Iggy Pop & The Stooges and Banyan, and Kira's day job.

In June 2004 Dos did their first mini-tour in several years, doing three gigs at jazz festivals in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Canada, right before Watt had to fly to Europe for a tour as one-fourth of the reunited Stooges.

As of June 2005, according to Watt's self-maintained official website, Dos are two songs away from completing the follow up to Justamente Tres.

Every December, Dos play a benefit show at the Sacred Grounds Coffee House in Watt's hometown of San Pedro, California for Toberman House.