Biography

Early years (1994-1995)

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, the then-popular BritPop genre, and some of the earlier shoegaze music approach.

Signing to Capitol and ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down (1996-1998)

Dandys Rule OK 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. It was their second attempt at a follow-up album, after their first attempt was rejected by Capitol, who claimed it didn't have any "hits". Three singles were released for Come Down, all of which entered the Top 40 in the UK charts. Being their first record on a major label, Come Down featured a more commercial, polished sound, abandoning the garage rock of the previous album in favor of a more psychedelic and Britpop-influenced power pop sound.

In 1998, drummer Eric Hedford left the band after a dispute over royalties, and was replaced by Taylor-Taylor's cousin Brent DeBoer.

Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia and mainstream popularity (1998-2001)

In 2000, the band released their third studio album, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia. It was a critical and commercial success, mainly due to the single "Bohemian Like You" being featured in a popular Vodafone advertisement and on the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The song was also featured in the DreamWorks/Artman Animated movie "Flushed Away" in a chase scene. The album featured a matured, less overdriven sound, with less overt psychedelia and more power pop leanings.

Around this time, Taylor-Taylor took out a loan to acquire an industrial warehouse space in NW 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. It opened on November 15, 2001.

Welcome to the Monkey House (2001-2003)

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.

In September 2001, the band began work on their next studio album. The result was Welcome to the Monkey House, released in 2003. Produced by Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran, the album constituted a change of style for the band, featuring synthesizers and a strong '80s influence.

The album was spearheaded by its first single, "We Used to Be Friends", which went on to become one of the band's most popular tracks, gaining exposure through use as the theme song for the American cult television show Veronica Mars and an appearance in The O.C.. Two further singles were released to promote the album.

Dig! and other developments (2004)

Along with The Brian Jonestown Massacre (BJM), 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 filmmaker 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.

The Dandy Warhols appeared in the 2004 film 9 songs, performing a live rendition of "You Were the Last High" as one of the film's titular "nine songs".

Odditorium or Warlords of Mars (2004-2007)

The Dandy Warhols started work on their next studio album in mid-2004. The result was Odditorium or Warlords of Mars, released the following year. It was partially named after and recorded in the band's own studio, The Odditorium. 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". The album received a mixed response, generally dividing critics.

Around about this time, the band contributed to the soundtrack of the video game Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse with a cover of "All I Have to Do Is Dream" by The Everly Brothers.

On 17 July 2006, the band released a stand-alone single, "Have a Kick Ass Summer (Me and My Friends)". The song 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. In 2007, the band recorded the song "Good Luck Chuck" for the 2007 film of the same name. It was released as a digital single.

Split with Capitol, Beat the World Records launched (2008)

Main article: Beat the World Records

In 2007 the band had the idea of starting their own label and signed Portland shoegaze outfit The Upsidedown, followed by indie electropop artist Logan Lynn. In 2008 they split with long-time record company Capitol Records and officially launched Beat the World Records as a Caroline Records EMI 3rd-Party label. Rockers Monstrous, indie pop boy band The Hugs, Los Angeles western rock group Spindrift and Dandy guitar rock proteges The 1776 were signed in the years which followed.

The band covered The Cure's song "Primary" for the charity album Perfect as Cats: A Tribute to the Cure, released in 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".

...Earth to the Dandy Warhols..., Beat the World Records roster (2009-2010)

In 2008 The Dandy Warhols released ...Earth to the Dandy Warhols..., the first official release on Beat the World. Shortly thereafter they put out an EP, Earth to the Remix E.P. Volume One, consisting of electronic remixed versions of tracks from Earth and Earth to the Remix E.P. Volume Two a few months later. The label released Logan Lynn's Feed Me to the Wolves EP and a full-length album from The Upsidedown on Beat the World in 2008 as well.

Also in 2008, The Dandy Warhols announced they were releasing a collaborative album called Breathe Easy to benefit conservation projects. The recordings, which started on October 21, 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 status of the project and recordings are not readily available.

Logan Lynn released his critically acclaimed, full-length album From Pillar to Post on Beat the World Records in September 2009. In November 2009, Beat the World released a Dandy Warhols cover of The Beatles' "Blackbird" in tribute to the death of Michael Jackson, referencing 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".

In an interview from 2010 with the Australian Daily Telegraph, Courtney Taylor-Taylor is quoted as saying "We're terrible at business, terrible. We don't know what we're doing. It's like trying to have children run a household. We need to hook up with some indie label." In an interview with German magazine Catch Fire from later that same year, Logan Lynn is quoted as saying "I love the Warhols and everybody had really great intentions going in but ... No radio, no real distribution, no licensing, no PR. Without those things in place, artists fail ... and my last record fell victim to that." Monstrous, The Hugs and Spindrift never officially released anything on Beat the World.

The Capitol Years, split with Caroline/EMI, signing with The End Records

In 2010, The Dandy Warhols released The Capitol Years 1995-2007, a greatest hits album chronicling the band's years with Capitol Records. In addition to containing popular singles and songs from their Capitol albums, it also included a few alternative mixes, as well as a new track, "This Is the Tide", written by Brent DeBoer and Zia McCabe and featuring DeBoer on lead vocals, a first for the band. "This Is the Tide" debuted on Australian radio station Triple J on 18 June 2010. Three different music videos were released for the song.

Beat the World Records cut ties with Caroline Records EMI in 2010 and began working with The End Records in 2011. 1776 released their debut album on the Beat the World Records label in 2011.

This Machine (2011-2013)

That same year, the band announced they were 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, "Seti vs. the Wow! Signal" and "Rest Your Head".

In the same year, The Dandy Warhols "rearranged and performed" the theme music to the popular science-based television show MythBusters. The updated theme music first appeared midway through the 2011 season in the episode "Bikes and Bazookas". This subsequent theme was a revamp to the original theme and was used until the show had an overhaul starting the 2015 season (thereby discontinuing the theme at the end of the 2014 season).

The band announced the release of the new album's first single, "Well They're Gone", on March 1, 2012, allowing visitors to download the track for free after entering their email address. A video for the track "Sad Vacation" was released on April 16.

This Machine was released on April 24, 2012. The album featured a collaboration with David J on the track "Autumn Carnival". It was seen as a more stripped-back, earthy album in comparison to their previous records.

Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia Live at the Wonder and Distortland (2014-present)

On January 28, 2014, The Dandy Warhols announced plans to release their first live album, which was recorded at The Wonder Ballroom during the band's thirteenth anniversary tour of Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia. The album, titled Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia Live at the Wonder, was released on March 25, 2014.

The band released the single "Chauncey P vs. All the Girls in London" in March 2015.

On January, 29, 2016, the band announced their ninth studio album Distortland, their first album for Dine Alone Records. It was released on April 8, 2016, in time for their promotional tour starting in the US. The track "You Are Killing Me" was released as a single.

Other developments

Ex-member Eric Hedford went on to front the new wave revival group Telephone.

In 2009, frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor released a graphic novel, titled One Model Nation, co-written by Jim Rugg.

In 2010, drummer Brent DeBoer released his debut solo album, The Farmer. A music video for the song "You Win" was released. DeBoer now also fronts the Australian, folk-music band Immigrant Union. Former member Eric Hedford now replaces drummer Brent DeBoer at some concerts and at some studio sessions and recordings when DeBoer is in Australia.

Guitarist Peter Holmström also 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 has also played in the band Rebel Drones with Matt Hollywood of BJM and has also appeared as a guest musician on The Dead Stars on Hollywood's EP Anthems for the Friendly-Fire Generation.

Keyboardist Zia McCabe founded and plays with the country band Brush Prairie.

Personnel

Current members

• Courtney Taylor-Taylor - vocals, guitars
• Peter Holmström - guitars
• Zia McCabe - keyboards
• Brent DeBoer - drums

Former members

• Eric Hedford - drums

Discography

Main article: The Dandy Warhols discography

Studio albums

• Dandys Rule OK (1995)
• ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down (1997)
• Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia (2000)
• Welcome to the Monkey House (2003)
• The Black Album/Come On Feel the Dandy Warhols (2004)
• Odditorium or Warlords of Mars (2005)
• ...Earth to the Dandy Warhols... (2008)
• The Dandy Warhols Are Sound (2009)
• This Machine (2012)
• Distortland (2016)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]