Dandy Warhols Biography

The Dandy Warhols are a psychedelic power pop or dream pop band formed in Portland, Oregon by Courtney Taylor-Taylor (formally simply Courtney Taylor) (vocals, guitar), Zia McCabe (keyboard), Peter Loew (formally known as Peter Holmstrom/Holmström before his marriage to Michelle Loew in 2003), and Eric Hedford (drums). When Hedford left in 1999, Taylor-Taylor's cousin Brent De Boer replaced him as drummer. The band's name is an obvious play on the name of pop artist Andy Warhol.
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The Dandy Warhols. From left to right, Brent De Boer, Courtney Taylor-Taylor, Peter Loew and Zia McCabe.
Strongly influenced by The Velvet Underground, the band first achieved success in Europe after the release of their second record Dandy Warhols Come Down in 1997; the lead single "Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth" proved popular in many countries across the continent.

Following the release of Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia in 2000, the band gained a firm fan base in the college radio scene before garnering critical acclaim and mainstream recognition. The song "Bohemian Like You" became a hit in the UK and was used in a Vodafone advertising campaign in 2001. The advertisement money was used to buy a quarter city block in Portland, Oregon (the band's hometown) for use as film and music studios, as well as being a clubhouse for the band to throw parties.

Welcome to the Monkey House, released in 2003, was co-produced by Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran. The album takes its title from Kurt Vonnegut's collection of short stories of the same name. The recording features an eighties synth-rock sound that alienated some devotees of the band's earlier harder-edged guitar sound. It also won critical plaudits for its polish, panache, and the band's capacity to reinvent itself.

Though stateside success still eludes the band, they have a large following in Europe. This lack of stateside success and unhappiness with the band's label, Capitol Records, was underlined in an interview lead singer Courtney Taylor-Taylor gave to Static Multimedia.com [link].

Odditorium or Warlords of Mars, partially named after and recorded in the band's Portland studio, The Odditorium, was released on September 13, 2005. "Smoke It" was the first track released for radio play. The album although having been described as a return to form for the band, moving away from the synth-heavy sound of Welcome to the Monkey House and back toward the largely guitar-oriented, diverse arrangements of Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia it has received mixed reviews and has, like the single "Smoke It", seen poor positioning in the UK Charts. In the light of this the follow up single version of "All The Money" was radically remixed with more guitars and new drums but still failed to chart highly.

Along with Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Dandy Warhols were the subjects of the 2004 documentary Dig! This film captured the highs and lows of Major labels, tours etc. It was recorded over the course of seven years, by Ondi Timoner.

DANDY WARHOLS PICTURES

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DANDY WARHOLS BIOGRAPHY