Dain Bramage

Dain Bramage was a short-lived punk rock band from Washington, D.C. The group was one of former Nirvana drummer and current Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl's pre-Nirvana bands - before he made himself known in the band Scream.

History

Dain Bramage was formed in December 1985 out of the remains of the band Mission Impossible. In 1984 David Smith was playing drums in a band called Freak Baby when the band decided to add a second guitarist - Dave Grohl, who had recently met Freak Baby bassist Brian Samuels at a local gig. Freak Baby had rehearsed with Grohl prior to this. They went into the original Laundry Room Studio and recorded a demo with David Smith on drums, Dave Grohl on guitar, Bryant Mason on guitar, Brian Samuels on bass and Chris Page as vocals.^[1]

This lineup lasted 6 months. One time during rehearsal Grohl began to play the drums.^[2] With his head down he did not hear or see his bandmates telling him to get off the stool. Samuels then proceeded to force Grohl off the stool by pulling his hair and throwing him on the ground. This caused the other members to kick Samuels out of the band, he had also previously been trying to prove his dominance in the band. They shuffled the lineup to Smith on the bass, and Grohl playing the drums. The four guys were happy with the way things went and reformed as the four piece known as Mission Impossible. The new lineup was a vast improvement, and they began playing more shows. Mission Impossible went into Laundry Room studios and re-recorded some of the Freak Baby songs and recorded some new tracks. Soon after they recorded this demo, they duetted with the fellow D.C.-located band, Lunch Meat. They ended up playing some shows together and remained in Washington D.C. Eventually they would go on to release a Lunch Meat/Mission Impossible 7" on Dischord Records.

Mission Impossible continued up until Bryant and Chris graduated from high school and continued education at college. At this point Reuben Radding entered the scene in the infamous first jam in Grohl's living room in Springfield, Virginia. After that first jam they had 6 or 7 songs together (Reuben had improvised vocals).^[3]

Dain Bramage ended in March 1987 when Grohl quit without any warning to join Scream.^[4] Reuben and Smith tried to form a new band but Reuben later commented, "After you've spent a couple years with Dave Grohl as your drummer it's easy to feel like no other drummer exists."

Discography

Cassette Demo 1

1. In The Dark
2. Watching It Bake
3. Cheyenne
4. Space Cat
5. Bend

Cassette Demo 2

1. Flannery
2. Give It Up
3. The Log
4. Eyes Open
5. Home Sweet Nowhere
6. We're An American Band
7. ...And There's A...
8. Success
9. Baltimore Sucks (But Booje Needs the Bucks)

I Scream Not Coming Down LP

1. The Log
2. I Scream Not Coming Down
3. Eyes Open
4. Swear
5. Drag Queen
6. Flannery
7. Stubble
8. Flicker
9. Give It Up
10. Home Sweet Nowhere

References