speed of dark

For me the most fun thing about Time Travel Tuesdays is that I'm now able to find information about the bands I was listening to over a decade ago. As I scrounged through used CD stores or listened to my scratchy tapes of Spin radio broadcasts in the early 90's, I had no idea about the members or histories of the bands or whether anyone else liked them. Now when I take one of these old CDs off the shelf, the Internet is chock-full of information.

So it goes with the Dambuilders, who were brought my way via Spin radio. I was able to figure out that somebody in the band (Dave Derby and Eric Masunaga) must have been from Hawaii because of certain song titles on their album Encendedor, but I didn't know the band had originally formed in the 80's. I didn't know they were widely considered to be one of the most unique and highly innovative bands of the early 90's. I didn't know that drummer Kevin March later became a member of Guided By Voices.

What I knew I liked was that Joan Wasser's violin took the place of lead guitar in most of the Dambuilders' songs, which was highly unusual. Listen to it wail on "Collective" and wind around and through the more traditional rock sound of "Smell." Although violins are hardly a rarity in rock music now, you still don't hear them used much like this.

While "Shrine" (a cross-cultural love story: "If I learn the language, she could tell me all her dreams") may have been the hit of the album, my favorite is still "Slo-Mo Kikaida." The lyrics read like the plot of an animé comic or a Japanese monster-movie. Who cares if there are hardly any words that rhyme?

You might say that I'm a hero
But I am zero without you
Every day I will save you from evil monsters
'Cause that's my job
It's time to switch on to save Kyoto
'Cause I know you live there
I am happy you're around
When things that I can't double chop
Come down on you
I'm a robot made of steel
If I can tell you all the things I feel for you

The Dambuilders from Encendedor (1994) | Buy it

Slo-Mo Kikaida
Shrine
Collective
Smell

Former members of Dambuilders live in the New York/Massachusetts area and are still in touch with each other. Dave Derby co-founded a music production company based in New York. Violinist Joan Wasser has released a solo album. March was with GBV until their breakup. There has been talk of rereleasing material and even of performing together.

Dave Derby has current music to stream on his MySpace page.

Sources: Wikipedia | Boston Phoenix | epitonic