Web posted
June 28, 2007
Rest in Peace Dan's a dead man
Soon to be deceased band to play final show
By KORRY KEEKER JUNEAU EMPIRE
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| Brian Wallace / Juneau Empire |
 Ready for the end: From left, bandmates Chris David, Derek Lail, JR Rosales, Brad Johnson and Gabe Wilford prepare for the last days of Dan's A Dead Man with blunt objects, body building and sweet bike stunts. The farewell show will be 7 p.m. Friday. |
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The end has arrived for Dan's A Dead Man - Juneau's lone hardcore band with a message.
The year-old band will play its farewell show at 7 p.m. Friday, June 29, at Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall. Drummer Gabe Wilford will moving to New Jersey with his family a few hours later.
"Drummers are ridiculously scarce in this town," said singer Brad Johnson. "To find a drummer who likes hardcore music in this town, it's almost impossible, I'd say."
DADM - Wilford, Johnson, Chris David (guitar), Derek Lail (bass) - formed about one year ago after a series of late-night brainstorming sessions at Pel'Meni.
Johnson and David played in Never Turning Back, an "alternative rock band with some punky edge." Wilford had been in Broken Paradise, an experimental metal band. A few members also had played in the now-defunct metal-core band Forget the Anguish. Lail also plays in The Ends.
DADM played about a dozen shows, mostly at the VFW Hall. One of their more memorable performances was an outdoor Concert in the Park at Marine Park.
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Concert
Who: Dan's A Dead Man, Juneau hardcore band.
When: 7 p.m. Friday, June 29, doors open at 6:50, no opening act.
Where: Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) Hall.
Cost: $5, all ages.
For more: www.myspace.com/dansadeadman
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"There were two cruise ships in, and it was right next to Doc Water's" Johnson said. "People were eating outside, and this lady gave us a thumbs down as she was walking up."
Hardcore bands such as Throwdown, Bury Your Dead and HateBreed - tough but with a message - inspired their initial direction.
"We didn't want to be a band that has lyrics with weird metaphors," Johnson said. "We wanted to have a message. And toward the beginning, it was to help spread the message about being drug-free.
"The rest of the bands (in Juneau) might have a message, but I hate to say it, it's always about heartbreak and girls and stuff," he said.
DADM derives all its song titles from horror flicks. "I Came To Collect a Head," for instance, was a line Hannibal Lecter said to one of his victims in "Hannibal Rising."
An anti-suicide song, "I Came To Collect A Head" is their only recorded track and appears on their MySpace site, www.myspace.com/dansadeadman. Johnson took some of the lyrics from a grade-school pencil that read, "If you think no one cares, think again."
• Korry Keeker can be reached at 523-2268 or korry.keeker@juneauempire.com
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