Biography

Washington, D.C.-based power trio Dot Dash is a melodic band with a punk worth ethic, making compact and to-the-point songs full of smart vocal harmonies and distorted hooks. The band steadily grew from the fast and punky roots they exhibited on their earliest material to include touches of synthesizer and Kinks-esque psychedelia on their 2022 album Madman in the Rain. After their power pop band Julie Ocean split up in 2008, guitarist/singer Terry Banks and bassist Hunter Bennett gathered together a cast of highly pedigreed area players to form Dot Dash. Enlisting Danny Ingram on drums (formerly of projects as varied as teenage hardcore upstarts Youth Brigade and guitar manipulators Swervedriver) and Bill Crandall (formerly with the mod-pop band Modest Proposal) on guitar, the band began working on songs and playing sporadically around the D.C. area in the summer of 2010. The band took its name from a Wire song, but rather than leaning toward Wire's jagged, art-damaged punk, Dot Dash bore more similarities to the jangly, mod-inflected sounds of unofficial ringleader Terry Banks' former groups Glo-Worm and the Saturday People. The group continued to play out regularly around D.C., opening shows for Urge Overkill, the Trash Can Sinatras, and Chameleons Vox. The summer of 2011 saw the release of the band's first full-length endeavor, Spark>Flame>Ember>Ash, a 14-song collection recorded in three afternoons. They followed in 2012 with second album Winter Garden Light, and in 2013 with Half-Remembered Dream, their sound edging more and more toward polished indie pop with each release. Crandall departed the band sometime after the album surfaced, to be replaced soon after by former Government Issue and onetime Minor Threat member Steve Hansgen. The new lineup traveled to North Carolina for the recording of fourth album Earthquakes & Tidal Waves, working with former R.E.M. producer Mitch Easter. Their next album introduced a heavier, almost metallic sound as the band stripped away some studio sheen in favor of a more insistent approach. Produced by Missy Thangs, who also worked with Ex Hex, Searchlights was released in mid-2016. For 2018's Proto Retro, the band worked as a trio sans Hansgen, creating a set of streamlined and jangly tunes that still made plenty of space for overdubbed lead guitar parts. Their seventh album Madman in the Rain didn't materialize for another five years, arriving in November of 2022. Dot Dash's winning combination of punk energy and pop hooks were still going strong on Madman in the Rain, working in touches of synthesizer and organ into their arrangements while expanding the songwriting to include more angular takes on melodic pop. ~ Fred Thomas, Rovi