Five Questions with Terry Banks of Dot Dash

Dot Dash is a band from Washington DC that consists of musicians that have found success at one time or another in previous bands. Somehow a conglomeration of pop, classic rock, psychedelia and punk has found it's way into Dot Dash's punch bowl, and the music they create is a reflection of each these influences.

Together, the band sports an impressive resume. At one time or another, these fellas have played with Julie, Ocean, The Saturday People, The Youth Brigade, Velocity Girl, St. Christopher, Tree for Angst, Weatherhead, High Black Chairs and Swervedriver. They have gathered to combine their talents in this latest incarnation and have released an album in each of the past three years.

Their latest release, Half-Remembered Dream (Label: The Beautiful Music, Ottawa) is available now. The album is available as a download via iTunes, Bandcamp, eMusic, and Amazon. (See links below.) It's a psychedelic mixture of  pop music and punk that creates an eerie dreamscape of far-reaching melodies. It's the perfect soundtrack for saying goodbye to Summer. 

Five questions with Terry Banks:

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What exactly is "Post Punk Pop?"

It’s somewhere between Polka Blues and Country Jazz.

Dot Dash refers to the letter A in Morse Code. What does it refer to as the name of your band?

We took it from the Wire song of the same name. It just seemed like a good name: concise, kind of abstract, but also something in the vernacular…




How would you describe the local music scene in Washington DC? What are its highlights, quirks and annoyances? 

It’s really quite good – can’t think of any quirks or annoyances, to be honest.   Just in the - for lack of a better term - “indie rock” world alone, there are 6 or 7 clubs doing live music almost every night of the week, tons of touring bands of varying styles coming through, lots of interesting local bands – it’s pretty good.

You've got a bevy of different influences in your sound, obviously spawned by the fact that Dot Dash is a collaboration of many different bands. What would you name as the driving force behind your sound, and who are your major influences? 

I think the songs are going for this kind of very poppy, melodic, sort of poetic thing but they’re conveyed in a fairly direct, kind of intense way.

As far as individual musical inspirations, some of the major ones include:

Terry (guitar/vocals) – The Byrds, The Jam, Joy Division
Jim (guitar) – Husker Du, The Ramones, The Rolling Stones
Hunter (bass) – Motörhead, The Descendents, Burt Bacharach
Danny (drums) -- The Beatles, The Clash, Jimi Hendrix

Dot Dash: Jim Spellman, Danny Ingram, Hunter Bennett, Terry Banks

Finish this sentence: Dot Dash would make an excellent soundtrack to ___________. 

Doing “jazz hands” all over the place.  24/7 Jazz Hands.  Jazz Hands to the point of alarm/arrest/sedation.

What's the strangest thing you have ever seen on the streets of Washington DC? 

Please see above.

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Links:

Dot Dash on Facebook

Dot Dash on Bandcamp: (Buy the album digitally)

The Beautiful Music website (Buy the CD)