DNA (band)
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DNA was a short-lived but influential New York rock band, associated with the no wave movement.
Formed in 1978 by guitarist Arto Lindsay and keyboardist Robin Crutchfield, DNA were inspired by a promoter who wanted a band composed of first-time musicians. Rather than playing their instruments in a traditional manner, they instead focused on making unique and unusual sounds. Their music was described as spare, noisy, and angular and was compared to some of Captain Beefheart's output and even to Anton Webern.
DNA originally consisted of Lindsay, Crutchfield, Gordon Stevenson, and Mirielle Cervenka, and took its name from a song by another no wave band, Mars. Stevenson went on to play bass for Teenage Jesus and the Jerks; Cervenka was the younger sister of Exene Cervenka of X. This incarnation of the band was very brief, not playing even one concert. After the rapid departure of Stevenson and Cervenka, Lindsay and Crutchfield hastily recruited Ikue Mori - a Japanese woman with little command of English and no drum set - to be DNA's drummer.
This lineup of DNA played occasionally at CBGB and Max's Kansas City and recorded one 7" single. Within their first year, they had cemented their reputation as a paradigmatic no wave band when Brian Eno selected them as one of the four groups documented on the No New York LP, the first recording to expose no wave groups to an audience outside of lower Manhattan. The other three bands appearing on this album were The Contortions, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and Mars.
Shortly after the recording of No New York, Crutchfield left DNA to form a new band, Dark Day. He was replaced by Tim Wright, previously of the Cleveland band Pere Ubu. As Wright played bass and not keyboards, and was the only member of the band really to have any conventional instrumental technique, the change in DNA's sound was dramatic. The music became even more spare and angular, with Wright's bass lines creating a sometimes menacing sound. Song structures became tighter, briefer, more abstract, and have been compared to haiku.
The Lindsay-Mori-Wright lineup of DNA developed something of a cult following between 1979 and 1982, but more with art than with rock audiences. Live shows were frequent in this period, but rarely outside of the CBGB - Mudd Club - TR3 circuit in lower Manhattan.
DNA recorded but one (brief, approximately 10 minutes) album - A Taste of DNA - for Kip Hanrahan's American Clavé label (later on Rough Trade) in 1980. Some live DNA tracks appeared on compilation albums while the band was still in existence.
Lindsay, Mori, and Wright decided to dissolve the band in 1982. It's a measure of the cult following the band had developed that its final concerts were three consecutive sold-out nights at CBGB. DNA's final encore was a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love." Sadly, this is not included on the CD Last Live at CBGB, released more than a decade later on John Zorn's Avant label.
DNA on DNA, a comprehensive CD chronicle of the band, was released by No More Records in 2004.
Lindsay and Mori and to a lesser extent Crutchfield have remained active in music.
The contemporary indie rock band Blonde Redhead takes its name from a DNA song.
DNA was also the pseudonym taken by two British dance producers for a remix of Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner". They have since taken the name The DNA Disciples to avoid confusion with the no wave band described above, and also produced a second Suzanne Vega remix, "Rusted Pipe".
Discography
"You & You" b/w "Little Ants" 1978 - Lust/Unlust Music, 11-CAN-234
No New York: various artists (Four DNA tracks) 1978 - Antilles, AN 7067 (LP)
A Taste of DNA 1981 - American Clavé, AMCL 1003EP (12")
The Fruit of Original Sin: various artists (Three DNA tracks) 1981 - Les Disques Du Crepuscule, twi 035 (2xLP)
Last Live at CBGB 1993 - Avant (Japan), Avant 006 (CD)
American Clavé Sampler: various artists (one DNA track) 1993 - American Clave (USA), AMCL 1020/1026 (2xCD)
DNA on DNA 2004 - No More Records, NoCD12