The Dandy Warhols

The Dandy Warhols are a rock band formed in Portland, Oregon by Courtney Taylor-Taylor (vocals, guitar), Zia McCabe (keyboard), Peter Holmström (guitar), and Eric Hedford (drums). When Hedford left in 1998, Taylor-Taylor's cousin Brent De Boer replaced him as drummer. The band's name is a play on the name of pop artist Andy Warhol.

History

The Dandy Warhols are strongly influenced by The Velvet Underground, Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones^{[citation needed]} as well as including implicit musical references to My Bloody Valentine in some songs. Front man Courtney Taylor-Taylor describes the band beginning as a group of friends who "needed music to drink to." The band performed live shows in bars throughout Portland and released their first album, Dandys Rule, OK? on Tim Kerr Records in 1995. This album was influential in Capitol Records' decision to sign the band.

The band first achieved success in Europe after the release of their second record ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down in 1997; the lead single "Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth" proved popular in many countries across the continent. The band, popular both visually and sonically, gained a reputation throughout Europe and Australia for selling out their live shows.

Following the release of Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia in 2000, the band gained a firm fan base in the college radio scene before garnering critical acclaim and mainstream recognition. The album reached platinum status in the UK along with Greece and various other European countries. It also went platinum in Australia where they tour extensivly. The song "Bohemian Like You" was featured in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and was used in a Vodafone advertising campaign through out Europe and Australia in 2001. The advertisement money was used to buy a quarter city block in Portland, Oregon (the band's hometown) for use as film and recording studios, as well as being a clubhouse for the band to throw parties and host catered dinners. The band's music has been frequently used in advertising ever since.

Welcome to the Monkey House, released in 2003, was co-produced by Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran and engineered by Brian Coates of The Great Northwest. The album takes its title from Kurt Vonnegut's collection of short stories of the same name. The recording features an eighties synth-rock sound that alienated some devotees of the band's earlier harder-edged guitar sound. It also won critical plaudits for its polish, panache, and the band's capacity to reinvent itself. One of the album's singles, "We Used to be Friends", is used as the theme song for the American cult drama Veronica Mars, and it was used on the Australian reality series My Restaurant Rules. It also was used on an episode of The O.C. (Season 1 Episode 12)as well as on an episode of Wonderfalls (Season 1, Episode 4).

Odditorium or Warlords of Mars, partially named after and recorded in the band's Portland studio, The Odditorium, was released on September 13, 2005. "Smoke It" was the first track released for radio play. The album has been described as a return to form for the band, moving away from the synth-heavy sound of Welcome to the Monkey House and back toward the largely guitar-oriented, diverse arrangements of Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia.

Along with The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Dandy Warhols were the subjects of the 2004 documentary DiG! This film captured a love/hate relationship between both bands, highlighting the interaction of BJM frontman Anton Newcombe and Courtney Taylor. It was recorded over the course of seven years by Ondi Timoner.

In December of 2006, the song "Me and My Friends" was featured in the downloadable songpack for the Xbox video game Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 4.

The Dandy Warhols' songs were featured prominently in the first and second season of the FOX drama "The O.C." along with numerous major motion pictures. They were also featured in the movie 9 Songs.

The Dandy Warhols are currently working on their sixth record.

Discography

Albums

Dandys Rule, OK? (1995) Tim/Kerr	...The Dandy Warhols Come Down (1997) Capitol #16 UK	Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia (2000) Capitol #182 US, #32 UK	Welcome to the Monkey House (2003) Capitol #118 US, #20 UK
The Black Album (2004) Beat The World Records	Come On Feel The Dandy Warhols (2004) Beat The World Records	Odditorium or Warlords of Mars (2005) Capitol #89 US, #67 UK

• The Black Album and Come On Feel The Dandy Warhols are available only from the band's website.

Singles

Trivia

• Courtney Taylor-Taylor guest-starred as himself in an episode of The Loop, a FOX comedy series. It also guest-starred Adam Brody of The O.C. as a homosexual going to a party attended by Courtney.
• The Dandy Warhols were supposedly featured in the movie Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen but (supposedly) the scene was edited out of the final cut. Courtney Taylor-Taylor can be seen walking by the camera wearing a Dandy Warhols t-shirt. He is billed as Courtney Alan Taylor.
• "We Used To Be Friends" from Welcome to the Monkey House features as the title theme of the series Veronica Mars. The song is referenced in the season one episode Lord of the Bling when Veronica says, "We used to be friends...a long time ago." A sticker on her locker in the first season bears a strong resemblance to the cover of the album which features a banana against a black background. Courtney Taylor-Taylor made a guest star appearance in the season two episode Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang performing the song Love Hurts. In addition, several of the group's songs have featured in the series.
• In the movie Flushed Away, the Dandy Warhols' Bohemian Like You can be heard as a background track during one of the scenes.

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