Dot Dash

When Washington, D.C.'s punky power pop act Julie Ocean split up, guitarist/singer Terry Banks and bassist Hunter Bennett gathered together a cast of highly pedigreed area players to form Dot Dash. Enlisting Danny Ingram on drums (formerly of projects as varied as teenage hardcore upstarts Youth Brigade and guitar manipulators Swervedriver) and Bill Crandall (formerly with the mod/pop band Modest Proposal) on guitar, the band began working on songs and playing sporadically around the D.C. area in the summer of 2010. The band took its name from a Wire song, but rather than leaning toward Wire's jagged, art-damaged punk, Dot Dash bore more similarities to the jangly, mod-inflected sounds of unofficial ringleader Terry Banks' former groups Glo-Worm and the Saturday People. The group continued to play out regularly around D.C., opening shows for Urge Overkill, the Trash Can Sinatras, and Chameleons Vox. The summer of 2011 saw the release of the band's first full-length endeavor, Spark>Flame>Ember>Ash, a 14-song collection recorded in three afternoons. They followed in 2012 with second album Winter Garden Light, and in 2013 with Half-Remembered Dream, their sound edging more and more toward polished indie pop with each release.