| The Dandy Warhols | |
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The Dandy Warhols at the Summercase festival in 2006. |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Portland, Oregon, United States |
| Genres | Alternative rock, neo-psychedelia, power pop |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Labels | Tim/Kerr, Capitol, Beat the World |
| Associated acts | The Brian Jonestown Massacre |
| Members | |
| Courtney Taylor-Taylor Peter Holmström Zia McCabe Brent DeBoer |
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| Past members | |
| Eric Hedford | |
The Dandy Warhols are an American alternative rock band formed in Portland, Oregon in 1994. The band was founded by singer-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and guitarist Peter Holmström, with keyboardist Zia McCabe and drummer Eric Hedford later joining. Hedford left in 1998 and was replaced by Taylor-Taylor's cousin Brent DeBoer. The band's name is a pun on the name of American pop artist Andy Warhol.
The band gained popularity after they were signed to Capitol Records and released their major label album debut ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down in 1997, featuring the popular single "Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth". In 2001, the band rose to international attention after their song "Bohemian Like You" was featured in a Vodafone advertisement.[1] The band have released eight studio albums to date and are currently in the process of recording their ninth album, This Machine, which is due to be released in February 2012.[2]
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The band was formed in Portland, Oregon in 1994 by Courtney Taylor-Taylor and Peter Holmström. Soon after, drummer Eric Hedford was hired, and following an unsuccessful experiment with Taylor-Taylor's girlfriend on bass guitar, keyboardist Zia McCabe joined the band after Taylor-Taylor saw her working in a coffee house.[3] Taylor-Taylor described the band's beginning as a group of friends who "needed music to drink to".[4] The Dandy Warhols performed in bars throughout Portland and became well-known for their nudity-filled live shows. At their first gig in 1994, they were approached by Tim/Kerr Records, who offered to pay for the recording of an album.[5] The result was 1995's Dandys Rule OK, which combined elements of 1960s garage rock and 1990s shoegaze music.
The album impressed Capitol Records, who decided to sign the band, and in 1997 they released their second album and major label debut, ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down, which produced the popular single "Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth". The extravagent music video was directed by celebrity fashion photographer David LaChapelle and earned them fame outside the United States.[6]
In 1998, drummer Eric Hedford left the band after a dispute over royalties and was replaced by Taylor-Taylor's cousin, Brent DeBoer.[7]
In 2000, the band released their third album, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, to critical and commercial success, after the re-release of their single "Bohemian Like You" was featured in a popular Vodafone advertisement.[1] It has since become the band's most well-known song[8] and has been featured in a number of films and television shows.[9]
Around this time, Taylor took out a loan to acquire an industrial warehouse space in downtown Portland (the band's hometown), dubbed "The Odditorium", occupying a quarter city block. The Odditorium is the band's eclectic rehearsal space and recording and mixing studio. It also serves as an art space and clubhouse for parties and other events.[10]
In 2002, the band was selected by David Bowie to play at the Meltdown festival that year. The two acts played a rendition of "White Light/White Heat" together as an encore to the July 29 gig, which was billed as The New Heathens Night.[11] The band also supported David Bowie on his 2003 A Reality Tour.[12]
The band's fourth album, Welcome to the Monkey House, was produced by Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran and released in 2003. This album constituted a change of style for the band, featuring synthesizers and a strong eighties influence. One of the album's singles, "We Used to Be Friends", went on to become one of the band's most popular tracks, gaining exposure through use as the theme song for the American cult drama Veronica Mars, and later, the Australian reality series My Restaurant Rules.
In 2009, the band released an earlier mix of this same album as The Dandy Warhols Are Sound on their own Beat the World label. This version of the album had been mixed by Grammy Award-winning soul producer Russell Elevado, rejected by Capitol Records, and shelved for six years.
Along with The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Dandy Warhols were the subjects of the 2004 documentary film Dig!. The film captured a love-hate relationship between both bands, highlighting the interaction of BJM frontman Anton Newcombe and Courtney Taylor-Taylor. It was recorded over the course of seven years by Ondi Timoner, and won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.[13]
In the same year, the band released a double-album comprising Come On Feel the Dandy Warhols, a collection of B-sides, covers, and unreleased songs, and The Black Album, an album recorded before ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down that was rejected by Capitol Records and dismissed by the band themselves.[5]
The band released their seventh album, Odditorium or Warlords of Mars, on 13 September 2005 to a mixed critical response. It was partially named after and recorded in the band's own Odditorium studio. The album was a return to the psychedelic guitar-oriented rock of ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down, moving away from the synth-heavy sound of Welcome to the Monkey House. "Smoke It" was the first track released for radio play.
Around about this time, the band contributed to the Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse video game soundtrack with a cover of "All I Have to Do Is Dream" by The Everly Brothers.[14]
On 17 July 2006, the band released the stand-alone single "Have a Kick Ass Summer (Me and My Friends)", which was later re-recorded as "Mis Amigos" for their 2008 album ...Earth to the Dandy Warhols....[15] The song was later featured in the downloadable song-pack for the Xbox video game Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 4.
The band released their eighth record, ...Earth to the Dandy Warhols..., digitally through a subscription service on May 19, 2008. It was the first album of theirs to be released on their self-founded Beat the World Records label, after splitting with Capitol Records in 2007. The album featured a collaboration with Mark Knopfler and the Heartbreakers' Mike Campbell on the track "Love Song".[16]
In the same year, the band released an EP titled Earth to the Remix E.P. Volume One, consisting of electronic remixed versions of "The Legend of the Last of the Outlaw Truckers", "Welcome to the Third World", "The World the People Together (Come On)", and "Wasp in the Lotus". They followed up this EP in 2009 with Earth to the Remix E.P. Volume Two, this time containing remixes of "And Then I Dreamt of Yes", "Talk Radio", "Love Song", and "Now You Love Me".
In 2008, the band covered the Cure song "Primary" for the charity album Perfect as Cats: A Tribute to the Cure, which released on October 28, 2008 on Manimal Vinyl Records, with profits going to Invisible Children Inc.[17] The band also contributed to the Love and Rockets tribute album, No New Tales to Tell: A Tribute to Love and Rockets, in the same year, covering the song "Inside the Outside".[18]
In 2008, The Dandy Warhols announced they were releasing a collaborative album called Breathe Easy to benefit conservation projects.[19] The recordings, which started on October 21, 2008, took place at the band's The Odditorium studio in Portland, Oregon. They collaborated with bands such as The Bravery, The Kooks, Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis, and Spoon.[20] Not much is known about the current status of the project and recordings are not readily available.
In 2009, the band covered The Beatles' "Blackbird" upon the passing of Michael Jackson, as a reference to the lyrics of their 2003 song "Welcome to the Monkey House" from the album of the same name: "When Michael Jackson dies/We're covering Blackbird".[21]
On 19 July 2010, The Dandy Warhols released The Capitol Years 1995–2007, a greatest hits album chronicling the band's years with Capitol Records. The album consists of singles and popular songs from the albums ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, Welcome to the Monkey House, and Odditorium or Warlords of Mars, as well as the original Russel Elevado mixes of "I Am a Scientist" and "Plan A" from The Dandy Warhols Are Sound, an alternate mix of "Every Day Should Be a Holiday", an extended version of "Godless", and a new track, "This Is the Tide", written by Brent DeBoer and Zia McCabe, with DeBoer on lead vocals. "This Is the Tide" debuted on Triple J on 18 June 2010[22] and three different music videos have since been released for the song.
The band are currently in the process of recording a new album. While playing in Sydney's Enmore Theatre in May 2011 as part of their 2011 Australian tour, lead singer Courtney Taylor-Taylor announced the new album would be titled This Machine and is to be released in February 2012 (although Taylor-Taylor has previously jokingly announced the album title would be called either The Pastor of Muppets,[23] Shitty Shitty Band Band,[24] or Whirled Piece[25] in blog posts on the band's official website). On the same tour, the band debuted two new songs, "Wow Signal", and "Rest Your Head", which are believed to be tracks from the new album.[26]
In 2011, The Dandy Warhols "rearranged and performed" the theme music to the popular science-based television show MythBusters, with the updated theme music first appearing in episode 171, "Bikes and Bazookas".[27]
In 2009, frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor released a graphic novel titled One Model Nation.[28] Taylor-Taylor also regularly writes "one sentence movie reviews" on the band's official website.[29]
In 2010, drummer Brent DeBoer released a solo folk album called The Player. A music video for the song "You Win" was produced.[30] DeBoer currently fronts the country band Immigrant Union.[31] The band appeared on an episode of Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight, playing a cover of Rose Tattoo's "Bad Boy for Love".[32]
Guitarist Peter Holmström currently fronts the neo-psychedelia band Pete International Airport,[33] which was named after the Dandy Warhols song of the same name and also features members from bands such as The Lovetones, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and The Upsidedown. The band released their debut self-titled album in 2010. He also appeared as a guest musician on The Dead Stars on Hollywood's EP, Anthems for the Friendly-Fire Generation.[34]
Keyboardist Zia McCabe currently plays in the country band Brush Prairie.[35]
The Dandy Warhols' sound has included a variety of different genres ever since their conception. Dandys Rule OK (1995) featured garage rock- and shoegaze influences, while their next album, The Dandy Warhols Come Down (1997), displayed a more commercial and polished sound (being their first record on a major label), abandoning the garage rock of the previous album and delving further into psychedelic soundscapes. Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia (2000) featured a matured, less overdriven sound, with less overt psychedelia and more power pop leanings.
Welcome to the Monkey House (2003), produced by Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran, represented a significant leap in style, from guitar-driven alternative rock into eighties-influenced synth pop. Odditorium or Warlords of Mars (2005) featured a return to the overdriven psychedelic soundscapes of Come Down, whilst also incorporating the genre experimentation seen on Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia. ...Earth to the Dandy Warhols... (2008) continued in the electronic style of Monkey House.
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