Deadeye Dick

Authors of the collegiate novelty hit "New Age Girl," Deadeye Dick found themselves quickly consigned to alternative rock's one-hit wonder bin. Formed in New Orleans in 1991, the band consisted of vocalist/guitarist Caleb Guillotte, bassist Mark Miller, and drummer Billy Landry, and took their name from a Kurt Vonnegut novel. Playing a college-friendly brand of new wave-inspired guitar pop, Deadeye Dick built a following by touring the Southeast, and self-produced an album's worth of material before they'd landed a record deal. One of its songs, the hippie-chick satire "New Age Girl," became regionally popular and earned some radio airplay in New Orleans and Atlanta. That success led to a record deal with the independent Ichiban label, more known for its soul and blues catalog than alternative rock. Ichiban gave a wide release to the group's debut album, A Different Story, in 1994, and "New Age Girl" was selected for inclusion on the soundtrack of the smash comedy Dumb and Dumber. It became a national hit late that year, climbing into the pop Top 30 and becoming nearly ubiquitous on college and alternative radio. Catchy as it was, the song's novelty humor had many pegging Deadeye Dick as flashes in the pan, and the follow-up singles, "Perfect Family" and "Marguerite," were virtually ignored. A second album, the slightly rootsier Whirl, was released in 1995, but met with a similar fate, and Deadeye Dick disbanded. Guillotte and Miller remained active on the local New Orleans scene as producers.