Biography All Music GuideWikipedia
Group Members: J.R. Richards
All Music Guide:
The Santa Barbara, CA, band Dishwalla made a big splash in 1996 with their catchy pop single "Counting Blue Cars." With the gritty heart and soul of those who came before them, Dishwalla's hard rock sound was enough for fans to make "Counting Blue Cars" one of the most-requested songs of that year. The song also garnered the band a Billboard award for Rock Song of the Year and allowed their debut album, Pet Your Friends, to sell more than a million copies.
Dishwalla, which emerged out of the early stages of post-grunge, is composed of J.R. Richards (vocals), Scot Alexander (bass), Rodney Browning (guitar), Jim Wood (keyboards), and George Pendergast (drums). They spent the mid-'90s touring with the likes of Sheryl Crow, Blind Melon, and the Goo Goo Dolls in support of Pet Your Friends. Prior to making a second album, the band was caught in the middle of the Polygram/Universal merger and such a move left Dishwalla pondering what to do next. Their second album And You Think You Know What Life's About was released in 1998; promotion and sales were lackluster due to label downsizing. Dishwalla's time with A&M was shortlived and exhausting because of such corporate behavior, but they stuck it out to contribute their cover version of "Policy of Truth" for the Depeche Mode tribute album For the Masses. By the new millennium, Dishwalla left behind major-market America for a third album. They signed with Immergent while Pendergrast left the band. Pete Maloney, a drummer picked up on the 1998 tour, resumed percussion duties. In 2002, Dishwalla appeared sound and sane, issuing the experimental third album Opaline. A self-titled album followed in 2005.
Wikipedia:
Dishwalla is an American alternative rock band based out of Santa Barbara, CA. The band's name comes from a Hindi term for a person providing cable television to a neighborhood. In a Vox interview, lead guitarist Rodney Browning Cravens claimed the band took the name out of a Wired magazine article. The band is best known for their 1996 hit song "Counting Blue Cars."
History [edit]
In 1994, the band recorded "Take Some Time" on the tribute album If I Were a Carpenter featuring cover versions of songs by The Carpenters.
In 1996, the single "Counting Blue Cars" from the album Pet Your Friends climbed the charts and was frequently played on the airwaves, bringing the band mainstream success. The track earned them a Billboard Award for "Best Rock Song" for 1996 as well as two ASCAP Awards for "Rock Track Of The Year" in both 1996 and 1997. Their 1998 follow-up album, And You Think You Know What Life's About, failed to sustain the level of popularity achieved by "Counting Blue Cars".
Dishwalla have since made a handful of other ventures into the limelight. In 1995 the song "Counting Blue Cars" was featured in the movie Empire Records. "Pretty Babies" is on the Blast from the Past soundtrack. In 1998 landed the song "Truth Serum" in The Avengers; in 1999, the song "Stay Awake" was featured in the movie Stir of Echoes' and the song "Find Your Way Back Home" was featured in the movie American Pie. In 2002 the song "Home" was in the movie The Banger Sisters and the The WB series Charmed spotlighted Dishwalla as musical guests in one episode. Other TV shows that have used their songs include Smallville, The OC, and NCIS. They have also been mentioned several times in the show How I Met Your Mother. The band has gone on to release two more studio albums, Opaline and the self-titled Dishwalla, as well as a live album, Live... Greetings From The Flow State.
Five singles charted on Billboard. In 1996, "Counting Blue Cars" peaked at No. 15 on the Hot 100 but climbed to No. 5 on both the Adult Top 40 and Hot 100 Airplay charts, No. 4 on the Top 40 Mainstream charts, No. 2 on the Mainstream Rock charts, and No. 1 on the Modern Rock charts. "Charlie Brown's Parents" hit No. 24 on the Mainstream Rock charts. The following year, "Give" was a No. 26 Adult Top 40 single. In 1998, "Once in a While" reached No. 17 on the Mainstream Rock charts and No. 20 on the Modern Rock charts. Finally, "Somewhere in the Middle" hit No. 25 on the Adult Top 40 charts in 2002.
In 2006, the band decided to take a break only to return to touring in 2008 with a modified lineup of Scot Alexander, Rodney Cravens, Jim Wood and original drummer George Pendergast. The lineup featured long-time friend, Justin Fox, singer of the Santa Barbara band Tripdavon, as a "Special Guest Vocalist". Lead Singer J.R. Richards recorded a debut solo album titled A Beautiful End that was released on May 12, 2009.
On March 15, 2009, Dishwalla was asked to play a benefit concert for "Tea Fire" victims, Lance and Carla Hoffman, who were badly burned in fires which hit Santa Barbara in November 2008. The hugely successful event was put on by coordinated efforts with Santa Barbara City Fire, Santa Barbara County Fire, Montecito Fire, Carpenteria/Summerland Fire departments.
In September 2012, the band announced via their official Facebook page a benefit concert on October 13 to raise money for George Pendergast's "Rockshop Academy", his non-profit youth music program started in 2008. Along with this announcement, Dishwalla quietly let it be known from personal Facebook posts by the members what fans had long speculated: the permanent replacement of original front man J.R. Richards with long-time friend and "Special Guest Vocalist", Justin Fox, from the band Tripdavon.
