Dash Rip Rock
Encyclopedia
Dash Rip Rock is a New Orleans based rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band built around the songs of singer-guitarist Bill Davis.
The band is a legendary live powerhouse, often being credited with founding the musical genre known as "Country Punk." The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

said Dash Rip Rock is "the kind of band that provides a lesson in American rock-and-roll history wrapped up in a party package. Skillful musicians with a penchant for getting reliably wild, the group mixes up rockabilly, blues and country stomp for a guaranteed good time." "Undeniably the South's greatest rock band," SPIN magazine raved.

In Louisiana and throughout the South, it is almost impossible to have never heard of Dash Rip Rock. Dash Rip Rock is known for their unique blend of bluesy roots punk and outlaw country punctuated by Bill Davis's blistering guitar work. Long heralded for tight musicianship and live wild shows, over 25 years the band has amassed a loyal and eclectic following whose wide tent somehow holds roots rock aficionados, Norwegians, punk rockers, and country and rockabilly fans of all ages.

Dash Rip Rock was formed as a three-piece rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...

 band in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...

 during the summer of 1984. The band took their name from a minor character on The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....

(Dash Riprock
Larry Pennell
Larry "Bud" Pennell , aka Alessandro Pennelli, is an American television and film actor.Born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, he is mainly a supporting actor, best known for his role as "Dash Riprock," the conceited, image-conscious, and macho Hollywood movie star courting "Elly May Clampett" in the...

 was the most prominent of Elly May's wannabe beaux). Over time, Dash has evolved into a classic Louisiana roots rock/punk band. The band's lineup has undergone several changes, although the current members (Johnson and Melancon) have been with founding member Davis and the band for years.

History

Taking cues from the early 1980s American roots rock
Roots rock
Roots rock is a term now used to describe rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid sub-genres from the later 1960s including country rock and Southern rock, which have been seen as responses to the...

 revival embodied by such acts as Rank and File
Rank and File
Formed by brothers Chip and Tony Kinman after they split up their punk band the Dils, Rank and File were a roots rock post-punk band. The Kinmans' singing was distinctive; they weren't traditional harmony singers à la the Everly Brothers, but rather sang synchronized upper and lower octaves. The...

, The LeRoi Brothers
The LeRoi Brothers
The LeRoi Brothers are an American rock band from Austin, Texas.The group was founded in 1981 by Mike Buck , Don Leady, Steve Doerr, and Alex Napier...

, The Beat Farmers, The Stray Cats and Jason & the Scorchers
Jason & the Scorchers
Jason & the Scorchers, originally Jason & the Nashville Scorchers, are a Cowpunk / Country rock band formed in 1981 and led by singer/songwriter Jason Ringenberg....

, guitarist Bill Davis formed Dash Rip Rock with drummer F. Clarke Martty and bassist Ned "Hoaky" Hickel in 1984. All three were veterans of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...

 post-punk / new wave scene, with Davis having gained some local notoriety in The Human Rayz and Hickel in Scooter and the Mopeds.

Originally, the band was heavily focused on country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 and rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...

, with Martty playing a simple stand-up drum kit and band members sporting cowboy shirts and bola ties. Early shows included lots of George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....

 covers and the band's first single featured the country-leaning "Marsupial" and a fast rockabilly tune called "Shake That Girl".

Less than a year after forming the band, Martty was replaced by manic drummer Fred LeBlanc
Fred LeBlanc
Fred LeBlanc is currently the lead singer/drummer for the New Orleans based rock band Cowboy Mouth, as well as a freelance songwriter, record producer, short story author, and acoustic performer...

 (now the frontman for Cowboy Mouth
Cowboy Mouth
Cowboy Mouth is a rock band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Their name usually means "One with a loud and raucous voice". The nucleus of the band formed in the 1990s, and they have become a powerhouse live act whose performances have been likened to "a religious experience."Some of their most...

) and the band began to build a strong following around their live cowpunk
Cowpunk
Cowpunk or Country punk is a subgenre of punk rock and New Wave that began in the UK and California in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It combines punk rock or New Wave with country music, folk music, and blues in sound, subject matter, attitude, and style...

 shows at clubs near the LSU
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...

 campus. Among the most notable were the band's frequent shows at The Chimes, and a recording of their December 28, 1985 show there was released as "Ned, Fred and Dickhead" for a reunion tour of the Davis/Hickel/LeBlanc lineup in 2001.

Dash Rip Rock released a self-titled debut album in 1986 that showcased the band's new uptempo, rockabilly-influenced style. Following the album's release, the band began touring heavily through the Southeastern United States
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the Southeast, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States. It is one of the most populous regions in the United States of America....

 and developed a strong regional following for their live shows, especially in college towns.

In 1988 the band recorded its second album, Ace of Clubs, but LeBlanc left Dash Rip Rock for a solo career shortly thereafter. LeBlanc later achieved success with Cowboy Mouth
Cowboy Mouth
Cowboy Mouth is a rock band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Their name usually means "One with a loud and raucous voice". The nucleus of the band formed in the 1990s, and they have become a powerhouse live act whose performances have been likened to "a religious experience."Some of their most...

, a name taken by LeBlanc from the title of a Sam Shepherd play. The eponymous line of dialogue was earlier referenced in the song "Johnny Ace" from Ace of Clubs ("working hard on dying / and always trying / to be a rock-n-roll Jesus / with a cowboy mouth.")

Dash Rip Rock's most successful studio release was "Let's Go Smoke Some Pot", a parody of Danny and the Juniors' "At the Hop
At the Hop
"At the Hop" is a hit rock 'n' roll song written by Arthur Singer, John Medora and David White and originally released by Danny & the Juniors. The song was released in the fall of 1957, and reached number one on the US charts on January 6, 1958, thus becoming one of the top-selling singles of 1958...

" that had become a staple of the band's live shows. Although the song has been adopted by some as a pro-marijuana song, it was actually intended to make fun of the resurgent popularity of Grateful Dead-style jam bands, specifically naming Edie Brickell and New Bohemians, Spin Doctors
Spin Doctors
Spin Doctors is an American alternative rock band formed in New York City, best known for their early 1990s hits, "Two Princes," and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong," which peaked the Billboard Hot 100 charts at #7 & #17 respectively....

, Drivin N Cryin
Drivin N Cryin
Drivin' 'N' Cryin is an American Hard rock/Southern rock band from Atlanta, GA.-History:The band was formed in 1985 in Atlanta. Kevn Kinney hooked up with Tim Nielsen, who was in a popular band called the Nightporters with drummer Paul Lenz at the time...

 and Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Todd Nance, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and guitarist Jimmy Herring...

 among others.

In 1999, Hickel left the band after a disastrous West Coast tour and moved to South Florida, where he now owns a marine surveying company. Bill Davis moved from New Orleans to Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 not long after to work on his songwriting but kept the band together and touring with a succession of bass players and drummers. Davis moved back to New Orleans after Katrina and continued touring and recording with DRR. In 2005 they released a retrospective CD (Recyclone) on the Alternative Tentacles
Alternative Tentacles
Alternative Tentacles is an independent record label originally based in San Francisco, California and was established in 1979. It was originally used as the label name by the Dead Kennedys for the self-produced single "California Über Alles", and after realizing the potential for an independent...

 label, followed in 2007 by Dash's first concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

, a punk rock opera based on Dante's Inferno "Hee Haw Hell." August 1, 2008 saw the release of a new studio album, "Country Girlfriend" through Abitian Records.

In 2010, Dash teamed up again with Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label and released "Call of the Wild" - a tribute to 1970s gulf coast party circuit bands. No Depression says "Call of the Wild" proves Dash Rip Rock is "one of the greatest bands working today." In 2011, Bill Davis also teamed up with Jello Biafra to form Jello Biafra and the New Orleans Raunch & Soul All-Stars. This one-time-only band of mostly-Louisiana rockers featured Bill Davis (Dash Rip Rock), Pepper Keenan (DOWN), Fred Leblanc (Cowboy Mouth), Pete Gordon (Mojo Nixon & the Toad Liquors), Brian Broussard (Supagroup), Josh Cohen (Morning 40 Federation), and the Egg Yolk Jubilee horns. In 2010-2011, Dash Rip Rock toured internationally and Houston Press deemed DRR one of the "Top 10 Louisiana Bands of All Time." Bill Davis was also recently featured in the new documentary Outside Industry: The Story of SXSW. And in 2010 Dash Rip Rock's song "Johnny Ace" was also featured in the hit videogame Rock Band.

Dash Rip Rock is currently touring, writing, and recording a new album at Studio in the Country.

Current members

  • Bill Davis - Singer / Guitarist
  • Patrick Johnson - Bass Guitar
  • Kyle Melancon - Drums

Former members

  • Ned "Hoaky" Hickel - Bass (original member)
  • F. Clarke Martty - Drums (original member)
  • Fred LeBlanc
    Fred LeBlanc
    Fred LeBlanc is currently the lead singer/drummer for the New Orleans based rock band Cowboy Mouth, as well as a freelance songwriter, record producer, short story author, and acoustic performer...

     - Drums
  • Chris "Lucky Dog" Luckette - Drums
  • Kyle Melancon - Drums
  • Brian Broussard - Bass
  • Andy Songy - Bass
  • Shannon Bobo - Bass
  • Settly - Bass - Rhythm Guitar
  • Kenny Ames - Bass
  • Jody Smith - Drums
  • Leon Touzet - Drums - Rhythm Guitar
  • Eric Padua- Drums
  • Michael Rouillier - B Bender Guitar

Discography

  • Call Of The Wild (2010)
  • Country Girlfriend (2008)
  • Live at Schubas 8/13/2005 (download only, 2008)
  • Hee Haw Hell (2007)
  • Recyclone (2005)
  • Live from the Bottom of the Hill (limited release, 2003)
  • Sonic Boom (2003)
  • Ned, Fred and Dickhead (limited release, 2001)
  • Hits and Giggles (2000)
  • Paydirt (1998)
  • Dash Rip Rock's Gold Record (1996)
  • Testosterone (1995) Australian-only release
  • Get You Some of Me (1995)
  • Tiger Town (1993)
  • Boiled Alive (1991)
  • Not of This World (1990)
  • Ace of Clubs (1989)
  • Dash Rip Rock (1987)

External links

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