Quite possibly the best boy band Germantown, Wisconsin has ever witnessed.
A band born out of sheer boredom and lack of employment: four scrappy lads, armed with a rented 4-track machine, some Radio Shack microphones and the sure-fire confidence given to them from the guy at the local music shop —"It's so #@$%n' easy, my girlfriend even knows how to use it"— managed to produce 13 nuggets of pure teenage curiosity and technical prowess. DY's first cassette, "Germantown Manifesto," was released in 1988 on their own label, Catlick Records, and soon appeared on local college airwaves.
With their sardonic yet whimsical lyrics, driving drum beats and catchy guitar riffs, they built a loyal following in the Milwaukee and Madison area. They continued to exhaust audiences for the next two years, releasing "After the Revolution" in 1990, which propelled their touring the West Coast.
Then, in 1992, Dairyland Youth transformed. With B-rad leaving to focus on "more important things," they recruited a new vocal talent, changed their name to Rhinelander, and continued to tour for two more years with three more releases.
Meanwhile, two similar-looking members of Dairyland Youth, Dave and Dan, decided to make a run with the record label. Catlick Records went on to record their favorite Milwaukee bands, including Demise, Trademark, Dissonance and many others. In 1993, they moved the operation to Minneapolis, and the empire grew like a weed. Since then, Catlick has seen itself grow out of its geeky, awkward cassette phase and into its sexy "Eye of the Tiger" phase. As Dairyland Dan puts it: "It's time to get our braces removed and start French kissing everybody." And so they did.
In 2001, Dairyland Youth, now gainfully employed, felt something was missing in today's vast wasteland of copycat corporate rock. With that urge, the band has since reformed and have been recording "Re:Volting," their third full-length album, at an amazing glacial pace. Currently, the band finds themselves spread across Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Denver, piecing together this tour de force via Catlick Records' own Studio 9 super-Internet, audio-capturing device. Curious?
Sonically, the new album blends the original influences of Dairyland Youth—Descendents, Lemonheads, Husker Du, Dead Milkmen, Sonic Youth and Vandals, to name a few—and adds a couple newer ones like The Kills, Pavement and Sebadoh. Lyrically, it's reminiscent of clever wordsmiths Ween with a bit of irreverent humor a la Louis XIV thrown in, resulting in a bizarre concoction of catchy, mind-numbing two-and-a-half minute adventures.
Dairyland Youth hasn't been in the same room together in over 13 years. They'll have only 5 hours to compare notes and prepare for this event, proving once again how insanely creative they are. Come see if they can put it all together on Friday August 22nd at Shank Hall, and Saturday August 23rd at Bub's Irish Pub (G-town homecoming).
Friday, August 22nd
w/ Casey Stang and Peter D'Amore
Shank Hall - 9:00 pm
1434 N. Farwell Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Saturday, August 23rd
Backroads and
The Long n Short of It
Bub's Irish Pub - 9:00 pm
N116 W16218 Main Street
Germantown, Wisconsin 53022
Band: info@dairylandyouth.com
Myspace: myspace.com/dairylandyouth
Label: info@catlickrecords.com