Dance Hall Crashers
Encyclopedia
Dance Hall Crashers is an American ska punk
band formed in 1989 in Berkeley, California
.
and Tim Armstrong
, formerly of the seminal Bay Area ska-punk band Operation Ivy
, after both musicians expressed an interest in starting a band rooted in more traditional ska and rocksteady
than what they had been playing with Operation Ivy. The first line-up featured Armstrong on vocals and Freeman on bass guitar, as well as drummer Erik Larsen (whom they specifically lured away from a rocksteady band called "The Liquidators"). The band also featured keyboardist Joey Schaaf, vocalist Andrew Champion and guitarist Grant McIntire.
The band experimented with various songs and styles until they played their first show at 924 Gilman Street
in Berkeley in 1989. Shortly after their debut, however, Freeman and Armstrong left to pursue other interests, mainly another punk-based ska project called Downfall
.
After numerous membership changes which eventually left only the original drummer Larsen, DHC solidified a line-up with dual vocalists Karina Deniké Schwarz and Elyse Rogers, guitarists Jason Hammon and Jaime McCormick and bassist Joel Wing. Following a period of steady gigging, DHC finally caught a break after being booked at an all-ska Earth Day
festival at Berkeley's Greek Theatre
in 1990, opening for Bad Manners
. That year, the band recorded their debut album for Moon Ska Records, though trouble within the band led to a break-up soon after.
As the band began touring nationally by the mid-1990s, the line-up changed once again, now featuring Rogers, Denike, Hammon, his brother Gavin Hammon on drums, guitarist Scott goodell and bassist Mikey Weiss. In 1995, DHC were the very first group signed to MCA Records
subsidiary 510 records, and issued their second LP Lockjaw the same year. Lockjaw was the first DHC release without a horn section
, and had a harder, guitar-driven pop punk
sound than the band's prior recordings. The album's single, "Enough", was featured on the soundtrack to the film Angus, and the accompanying music video received moderate airplay on MTV's 120 Minutes
.
A re-issue of 1989-1992 was released as The Old Record in late 1996 on Fat Wreck Chords
' Honest Don's label. DHC's second MCA record, Honey I’m Homely!, was released in 1997. This proved to be the band's breakthrough album, peaking at #22 on Billboard's
Top Heatseekers
. The leading singles "Lost Again" and "Mr. Blue" enjoyed steady rotation on local and college radio stations across the United States, and music videos were filmed for both tracks.
The band toured extensively throughout the mid to late 90's, both as a headliner and opening for bands such as The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
and Bad Religion
. In addition, the band played festivals such as the Warped Tour
and Lilith Fair
. Due to the heavy touring schedule, Scott Goodell bowed out from his guitar duties in 1996; the band asked Phil Ensor from Limp
and later, Billy Bouchard to stand in for live shows until the need for a second guitarist was nixed and Hammon handled all guitar parts himself.
, releasing their fourth LP Purr in 1999 and the live album
The Live Record: Witless Banter and 25 Mildly Antagonistic Songs About Love in 2000.
DHC started playing less frequently in the early 2000s, limiting their performances to West Coast shows and occasional appearances at events such as the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. In November 2004, the band recorded a show at the Hollywood House of Blues
which was later released on DVD by Kung Fu Records
as part of their The Show Must Go Off! series. Although the performance included an unreleased song and made mention of the band working on a new studio album, the show proved to be DHC's last performance to date as the band has since gone on hiatus. Although they have not explicitly stated having broken up, there has been no announcement of any future plans to resume touring or recording.
Ska punk
Ska punk is a fusion music genre that combines ska and punk rock. It achieved its highest level of commercial success in the United States in the late 1990s. Ska-core is a subgenre of ska punk, blending ska with hardcore punk.The characteristics of ska punk vary, due to the fusion of contrasting...
band formed in 1989 in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
.
Early years
The original incarnation of the Dance Hall Crashers (named after the Alton Ellis song "Dance Crasher") was formed in 1989 by Matt FreemanMatt Freeman
Matthew "McCall" Freeman is an American musician. He is best known for his bass guitar work with the punk rock bands Operation Ivy, Rancid and as the frontman of Devil's Brigade.-Playing style:...
and Tim Armstrong
Tim Armstrong
Timothy Lockwood Armstrong is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known for his work with punk rock bands Rancid, Operation Ivy, Downfall, and the Transplants. He is also the owner and operator of Hellcat Records.-Personal life:Armstrong was born November 25, 1965 and was...
, formerly of the seminal Bay Area ska-punk band Operation Ivy
Operation Ivy (band)
Operation Ivy was an American ska punk band that formed in Berkeley, California, and was often credited with spurring the 1990s punk revival in California. It is well-known as one of the first bands to "mix" hardcore punk with elements of ska, known as ska-core...
, after both musicians expressed an interest in starting a band rooted in more traditional ska and rocksteady
Rocksteady
Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor to ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was performed by Jamaican vocal harmony groups such as The Gaylads, The Maytals and The Paragons. The term rocksteady comes from a dance style that was mentioned in the Alton...
than what they had been playing with Operation Ivy. The first line-up featured Armstrong on vocals and Freeman on bass guitar, as well as drummer Erik Larsen (whom they specifically lured away from a rocksteady band called "The Liquidators"). The band also featured keyboardist Joey Schaaf, vocalist Andrew Champion and guitarist Grant McIntire.
The band experimented with various songs and styles until they played their first show at 924 Gilman Street
924 Gilman Street
924 Gilman Street is an all-ages, not for profit, collectively organized music club usually referred to by its fans simply as "The Gilman." It is located in the West Berkeley area of Berkeley, California about a mile and a half west of the North Berkeley BART station and a quarter-mile west of San...
in Berkeley in 1989. Shortly after their debut, however, Freeman and Armstrong left to pursue other interests, mainly another punk-based ska project called Downfall
Downfall (band)
Downfall was a ska and punk band from the Bay Area formed by Tim Armstrong, Matt Freeman, Dave Mello, Pat Mello, and Jason Hammon following the break-up of Operation Ivy in 1989 and pre-dating Armstrong's and Freeman's wider recognition in Rancid...
.
After numerous membership changes which eventually left only the original drummer Larsen, DHC solidified a line-up with dual vocalists Karina Deniké Schwarz and Elyse Rogers, guitarists Jason Hammon and Jaime McCormick and bassist Joel Wing. Following a period of steady gigging, DHC finally caught a break after being booked at an all-ska Earth Day
Earth Day
Earth Day is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment. The name and concept of Earth Day was allegedly pioneered by John McConnell in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco. The first Proclamation of Earth Day was by San Francisco, the...
festival at Berkeley's Greek Theatre
Hearst Greek Theatre
The William Randolph Hearst Greek Theatre, known locally as simply the Greek Theatre, is an 8,500-seat amphitheater owned and operated by the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, California, USA....
in 1990, opening for Bad Manners
Bad Manners
Bad Manners are an English 2 Tone ska band. They quickly became the novelty favourites of the UK pop scene through their bald outsized frontman's on-stage antics, earning early exposure through their Top of The Pops exploits and an appearance in the live film documentary, Dance Craze.They were at...
. That year, the band recorded their debut album for Moon Ska Records, though trouble within the band led to a break-up soon after.
Breakthrough
In 1992, bowing to fan pressure, DHC reunited for a one-off series of gigs, but after the positive response to their performance, the band chose to reform on a permanent basis. In 1993, to commemorate their reunion, Moon Records released a CD compilation of the band's entire body of work from 1989 to 1992, appropriately titled 1989-1992.As the band began touring nationally by the mid-1990s, the line-up changed once again, now featuring Rogers, Denike, Hammon, his brother Gavin Hammon on drums, guitarist Scott goodell and bassist Mikey Weiss. In 1995, DHC were the very first group signed to MCA Records
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
subsidiary 510 records, and issued their second LP Lockjaw the same year. Lockjaw was the first DHC release without a horn section
Horn section
In music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...
, and had a harder, guitar-driven pop punk
Pop punk
Pop punk is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees. Allmusic describes the genre as a strand of alternative rock, which typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars...
sound than the band's prior recordings. The album's single, "Enough", was featured on the soundtrack to the film Angus, and the accompanying music video received moderate airplay on MTV's 120 Minutes
120 Minutes
120 Minutes is a television show in the United States dedicated to alternative music, originally airing on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then on MTV's sister channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003....
.
A re-issue of 1989-1992 was released as The Old Record in late 1996 on Fat Wreck Chords
Fat Wreck Chords
Fat Wreck Chords is a San Francisco, California based independent record label, focused on punk rock. It was started by Fat Mike and his ex-wife, Erin, in 1990....
' Honest Don's label. DHC's second MCA record, Honey I’m Homely!, was released in 1997. This proved to be the band's breakthrough album, peaking at #22 on Billboard's
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...
. The leading singles "Lost Again" and "Mr. Blue" enjoyed steady rotation on local and college radio stations across the United States, and music videos were filmed for both tracks.
The band toured extensively throughout the mid to late 90's, both as a headliner and opening for bands such as The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are an American ska punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1983. Since the band's inception, lead vocalist Dicky Barrett, bassist Joe Gittleman, tenor saxophonist Tim "Johnny Vegas" Burton and dancer Ben Carr have remained constant members...
and Bad Religion
Bad Religion
Bad Religion is a punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles in 1979. Their current line-up consists of Greg Graffin , Brett Gurewitz , Jay Bentley , Greg Hetson , Brian Baker and Brooks Wackerman . Gurewitz is also the founder of the label Epitaph Records, which has released almost all of the...
. In addition, the band played festivals such as the Warped Tour
Warped Tour
The Warped Tour is a touring music and extreme sports festival. The tour is held in venues such as parking lots or fields upon which the stages and other structures are erected. The BMX/skateboarding shoe manufacturer Vans, among others, has sponsored the tour every year since 1995, and it is...
and Lilith Fair
Lilith Fair
Lilith Fair was a concert tour and travelling music festival, founded by Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan, Nettwerk Music Group's Dan Fraser and Terry McBride, and New York talent agent Marty Diamond. It took place during the summers of 1997 to 1999, and was revived in the summer of 2010. It...
. Due to the heavy touring schedule, Scott Goodell bowed out from his guitar duties in 1996; the band asked Phil Ensor from Limp
Limp (band)
Limp were an American pop punk band formed in 1994, with strong influences in both rock and ska, hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area. Limp released three studio albums on Honest Don's, a subsidiary label of Fat Wreck Chords, as well as an EP released on Fueled by Ramen, before their 2002...
and later, Billy Bouchard to stand in for live shows until the need for a second guitarist was nixed and Hammon handled all guitar parts himself.
Hiatus and reunions
In 1998, DHC released their last release with MCA, the EP Blue Plate Special. The EP contained a short collection of songs recorded for other compilations/soundtracks, unreleased and remixed material, and a CD-ROM of photos and the band's four music videos. In 1999, the band signed with independent label Pink and Black RecordsPink and Black Records
Pink and Black Records is an imprint record label of Fat Wreck Chords created to distribute albums from female-fronted bands. The first record released on this label was the Dance Hall Crashers album Purr in 1999...
, releasing their fourth LP Purr in 1999 and the live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
The Live Record: Witless Banter and 25 Mildly Antagonistic Songs About Love in 2000.
DHC started playing less frequently in the early 2000s, limiting their performances to West Coast shows and occasional appearances at events such as the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. In November 2004, the band recorded a show at the Hollywood House of Blues
House of Blues
House of Blues is a chain of 13 live music concert halls and restaurants in major markets throughout the United States. House of Blues first location was in Cambridge's Harvard Square. It was opened in 1992 by Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, star of The Blues Brothers...
which was later released on DVD by Kung Fu Records
Kung Fu Records
Kung Fu Records is an American independent record label founded in 1996 by Joe Escalante and Warren Fitzgerald of the punk rock band The Vandals. Founded in order to release a record by the Riverside, California band Assorted Jelly Beans, the label soon grew to include a roster of notable artists...
as part of their The Show Must Go Off! series. Although the performance included an unreleased song and made mention of the band working on a new studio album, the show proved to be DHC's last performance to date as the band has since gone on hiatus. Although they have not explicitly stated having broken up, there has been no announcement of any future plans to resume touring or recording.
Studio albums
- Dance Hall Crashers (1990), Moon RecordsMoon RecordsMoon Records may refer to:*Moon Records Ukraine, a Ukrainian record label*Moon Ska Records, a former American record label*Moon Records , a former Canadian record label mainly for Rush...
- Lockjaw (1995), MCA RecordsMCA RecordsMCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
- Honey I'm Homely (1997), MCA
- Purr (1999), Pink and BlackPink and Black RecordsPink and Black Records is an imprint record label of Fat Wreck Chords created to distribute albums from female-fronted bands. The first record released on this label was the Dance Hall Crashers album Purr in 1999...
Live albums
- The Live Record: Witless Banter & 25 Mildly Antagonistic Songs About Love (2000), Pink and Black
- Live at the House of Blues (2005), (The Show Must Go Off! live DVD)
Compilations
- 1989-1992 (1993), Moon RecordsMoon RecordsMoon Records may refer to:*Moon Records Ukraine, a Ukrainian record label*Moon Ska Records, a former American record label*Moon Records , a former Canadian record label mainly for Rush...
(includes most of contents of first two releases, and some single/compilation material) - The Old Record (1996), Honest Don's RecordsHonest Don's RecordsHonest Don's Records was a subsidiary label based in San Francisco, California, set up along with Pink & Black Records by Fat Wreck Chords to release material by bands that didn't fit within the roster at Fat....
(reprint of 1989-1992)
Demos
- Say Cheese (1989), Self-Released DemoDemo (music)A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
(CassetteCompact CassetteThe Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
Only)
Current
- Elyse Rogers – vocals
- Karina Deniké – vocals
- Jason Hammon – guitar
- Mikey Weiss – bass
- Gavin Hammon – drums
Former
- Tim ArmstrongTim ArmstrongTimothy Lockwood Armstrong is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known for his work with punk rock bands Rancid, Operation Ivy, Downfall, and the Transplants. He is also the owner and operator of Hellcat Records.-Personal life:Armstrong was born November 25, 1965 and was...
– vocals - Andrew "Andrew Champion" Ataie – vocals
- J. Grant Mcintire – guitar
- Alex Baker – bass
- Phil Ensor – guitar
- Billy Bouchard – guitar
- Matt FreemanMatt FreemanMatthew "McCall" Freeman is an American musician. He is best known for his bass guitar work with the punk rock bands Operation Ivy, Rancid and as the frontman of Devil's Brigade.-Playing style:...
– vocals,bass - Scott Goodell – guitar
- Jeremy Goody – Trumpet
- Ingrid Jonsson – vocals
- Erik Larsen, aka Erik Kolacek – drums
- Jaime McCormick – guitar
- Joey Schaaf – keyboard
- Joel Wing – bass
External links
- Official Site
- Joey Schaaf, a Musical biography at LoudRockMusic.com