The Dodos
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Dodos | |
|---|---|
 The Dodos performing at The Faversham, Leeds, 6th September 2008. Meric Long (top) and Logan Kroeber (bottom)
|
|
| Background information | |
| Origin | San Francisco, California, USA |
| Genre(s) | Indie folk[1] Psych folk[2] Baroque pop[3] |
| Years active | 2006 – present |
| Label(s) | Frenchkiss Records Wichita Recordings |
| Website | Official website |
| Members | |
| Meric Long Logan Kroeber Joe Haener |
|
The Dodos are an American indie rock duo consisting of Meric Long and Logan Kroeber. They create psychedelic folk songs.[2]
Contents |
[edit] History
The Dodos began playing music together in 2005, when Meric Long, who had been gigging steadily in San Francisco as a solo singer-songwriter, was introduced to Logan Kroeber through a mutual friend (a college acquaintance of Long's that happened to be Kroeber's cousin). Long self-released a solo EP titled "Dodo Bird" in February 2005 which featured percussion by Kroeber on some tracks. Long and Kroeber continued to play music together. They worked to blend Long's training in West African Ewe drumming and Kroeber's experience in metal bands to create music in which "drumming could be a center role and help bring out the syncopated rhythms coming out of the acoustic guitar."[4] The duo released the 2006 album Beware of the Maniacs, which was self-released under the "Dodo Bird" moniker. In support of the album, Long and Kroeber toured relentlessly for most of 2007. The band began to receive critical attention and developed a growing fan base. Fans began referring to Dodo Bird simply as "The Dodos", and the band decided to change their name accordingly. In December 2007, the Dodos were signed by Frenchkiss Records and they released their second album Visiter in March 2008, to critical acclaim [5].
Since the release of Visiter, the band has included Joe Haener (formerly of The Gris Gris and Battleship) in its touring line-up, playing xylophone, toy piano and additional percussions.
In an April 2008 interview in the L.A. Record, Long revealed the origin of the name of Visiter. "The reason it’s misspelled is because it’s from a drawing this kid gave us. We played a show for a bunch of kids in South Central L.A.—Dorsey High. A friend’s sister [Barbara Lempel] is a special-ed teacher there, so we went down there to her class and we played for the kids and it was super fun. Then it came to the kids asking us questions and then one of the kids came up to us and he gave us a drawing with that written on it. The drawing is the cover actually of the album, and just—I dunno we liked it. Actually we used all of the drawings that the kids made in the artwork on the album. It was definitely a fun, interesting venture for us. We’d never played for kids before—we didn’t know what to expect but they were clapping and dancing." [6]
A promotional MP3 of the song "Jodi," from the album Visiter, can be found here.
Recently, the song "Fools," also from the Visiter album, was featured in an advertisement for Miller Chill [7]. This is likely the highest amount of public exposure the band has ever received. Even still, many found their appearance in the ad particularly surprising, especially given the fact that the band is largely unknown.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Dodo Bird Meric Long (2005)
- Beware of the Maniacs (2006)
- Visiter (2008)
- Time To Die (2009)
[edit] Singles
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/news/article/0,,4879418,00.html
- ^ a b Houston - Music - Dodos
- ^ http://www.rhapsody.com/the-dodos
- ^ http://frenchkissrecords.com/bands/profile/the_dodos/
- ^ http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/49198-visiter
- ^ L.A. Record Interview April 2008
- ^ http://adage.com/songsforsoap/post?article_id=136501
