The Dandy Warhols

All Music Guide:

Often compared to the druggy psychedelic pop of the Velvet Underground, the Dandy Warhols do possess more than just a passing resemblance to Lou Reed and company at times, but elements of such modern rockers as Love and Rockets and Ride can be detected in their sound as well. Formed in Portland, OR, during 1994, the Dandy Warhols consist of members Courtney Taylor (vocals, guitar), Zia McCabe (keyboards), Peter Holmstrom (guitar), and Eric Hedford (drums), who signed on with the independent label Tim/Kerr shortly after their formation. In 1995 came the release of the quartet's debut release, Dandy's Rule OK?, and while other rock bands may be a bit hesitant to spell out their influences, the Dandy Warhols decided to openly advertise it, as the album contained such song titles as "Lou Weed" and "Ride."

Capitol Records signed the group the same year, but the Dandys' new label rejected a second album they submitted (claiming it didn't have any "hits"). Disappointed but undeterred, the group reunited once more with the producer of their debut album, Tony Lash, and came up with Dandy Warhols Come Down, issued in 1997. While the album didn't exactly establish the group as a household name, it did prove to be an underground fave (especially in Europe, where the group became the toast of the critics and enjoyed more substantial commercial success), while the single "Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth" received some attention, for which a promo video was filmed by renowned celebrity photographer David LaChapelle. At the height of the band's popularity, Hedford left the band to take up DJing in Portland, and Taylor's cousin Brent DeBoer stepped in to play drums. In 2000, the band issued its third full-length overall, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia. "Bohemian Like You" was a hit at college radio. Two summers later, founding member Peter Holmstrom married his longtime girlfriend and took her maiden name of Loew. Taylor also got a name change when he opted to go by Courtney Taylor-Taylor after an interviewer misinterpreted the pronunciation.

Within months, Taylor-Taylor, Loew, McCabe, and DeBoer were back in the studio for a fourth album. Welcome to the Monkey House (2003), a tribute to Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s book of short stories, featured collaborations with Nile Rodgers, Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes, and Evan Dando. The Dandy Warhols were also personally asked by David Bowie to be the opening act for his fall 2003 A Reality tour. Though the band was relatively quiet during 2004, it remained prominent thanks to the fascinating documentary Dig!, which chronicled the love-hate relationship between the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. The group returned with new music in 2005, when Odditorium or Warlords of Mars arrived that fall. In 2008, the Dandy Warhols released their sixth album, ...Earth to the Dandy Warhols..., in both digital and physical formats on their own Beat the World label; the album also featured collaborations with Mark Knopfler and the Heartbreakers' Mike Campbell.

Wikipedia:

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. Hedford left in 1998 and was replaced by Taylor-Taylor's cousin Brent DeBoer. The band's name is a play 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. The band have released nine studio albums to date.

Biography

Early years

The band was formed in Portland, Oregon in 1994 by Courtney Taylor-Taylor and Peter Holmström. Soon after, drummer Eric Hedford joined, 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. Taylor-Taylor described the band's beginning as a group of friends who "needed music to drink to". 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. 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 studio 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 extravagant music video was directed by celebrity fashion photographer David LaChapelle and earned them fame outside the United States.

In 1998, drummer Eric Hedford left the band after a dispute over royalties and was replaced by Taylor-Taylor's cousin, Brent DeBoer. The single "Every Day Should Be a Holiday" featured in the 1998 comedy film There's Something About Mary.

Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia

In 2000, the band released their third studio 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. It has since become the band's most well-known song and has been featured in a number of films and television shows.

Around this time, Taylor took out a loan to acquire an industrial warehouse space in downtown Portland, 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.

After becoming a fan of the band after seeing them play at the Glastonbury Festival in 2000, David Bowie personally selected them to play at the 2002 Meltdown festival. Bowie and The Dandy Warhols 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. The band also supported David Bowie on his 2003 A Reality Tour.

Welcome to the Monkey House

The band's fourth studio 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 television 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 was the initial mix by Grammy Award-winning soul producer Russell Elevado that was rejected by Capitol Records and shelved for six years.

Dig!

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 Taylor-Taylor and BJM frontman Anton Newcombe. 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.

In the same year, the band released a double album, The Black Album/Come On Feel the Dandy Warhols, comprising The Black Album, an album recorded before ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down that was rejected by Capitol Records and dismissed by the band themselves, and Come On Feel The Dandy Warhols, a collection of B-sides, covers, and unreleased songs.

Odditorium or Warlords of Mars

The band released their seventh studio 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. Two singles were released from the album, "Smoke It" and "All the Money or the Simple Life Honey".

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.

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.... The song was later featured in the downloadable song-pack for the Xbox video game Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 4.

...Earth to the Dandy Warhols...

The band released their eighth studio album, ...Earth to the Dandy Warhols..., on 19 March 2008. It was their first album to be released on their self-founded Beat the World Records label, after splitting with Capitol Records in 2007. The album featured collaborations with Mark Knopfler and the Heartbreakers' Mike Campbell on the track "Love Song".

In the same year, the band released an EP titled Earth to the Remix E.P. Volume One, consisting of electronic remixed versions tracks from the album, namely "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 it 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's song "Primary" for the charity album Perfect as Cats: A Tribute to the Cure, which released on 28 October 2008 on Manimal Vinyl Records, with profits going to Invisible Children Inc. 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".

In 2008, The Dandy Warhols announced they were releasing a collaborative album called Breathe Easy to benefit conservation projects. The recordings, which started on 21 October 2008, took place at the band's Odditorium studio in Portland, Oregon. They collaborated with bands such as The Bravery, The Kooks, Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis, and Spoon. 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" in tribute to the death 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".

The Capitol Years and This Machine

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, 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 and featuring DeBoer on lead vocals. "This Is the Tide" debuted on Triple J on 18 June 2010 and three different music videos were 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 (after previously jokingly that it would be called either The Pastor of Muppets, Shitty Shitty Band Band, or Whirled Piece in blog posts on the band's official website). On the same tour, the band debuted two new tracks from the album, "Wow Signal" and "Rest Your Head". It is due for release in April 2012.

In 2011, The Dandy Warhols "rearranged and performed" the theme music to the popular science-based television show MythBusters. The updated theme music first appeared in episode 171, "Bikes and Bazookas". On 1 March 2012 the band announced the release of the album's first single, "Well They're Gone", on their website, allowing visitors to download the track for free after entering their email address. A video for the track "Sad Vacation" was released on 20 April on YouTube.

This Machine was released on 24 April 2012. The album featured a collaboration with David J on the track "Autumn Carnival".

Other developments

In 2009, frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor released the graphic novel One Model Nation, co-written by Jim Rugg. Taylor-Taylor also regularly writes "one sentence movie reviews" on the band's official website.

In 2010, drummer Brent DeBoer released a solo folk album called The Farmer. A music video for the song "You Win" was produced. DeBoer currently fronts the country band Immigrant Union. The band appeared on an episode of the Australian television show Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight, playing a cover of Rose Tattoo's "Bad Boy for Love".

Guitarist Peter Holmström currently fronts the neo-psychedelia band Pete International Airport, which was named after the Dandy Warhols song of the same name and 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. Holmström also appeared as a guest musician on The Dead Stars on Hollywood's EP Anthems for the Friendly-Fire Generation.

Keyboardist Zia McCabe currently plays in the country band Brush Prairie.

Musical style

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) incorporated more electronic elements into the mix. 2012's This Machine features a more stripped-down, laid-back style.

Personnel