The DSC Start Recording Album Number 2

This month we finally got started recording the new DSC album tentatively entitled Confessions of the Dan Sheehan Conspiracy. I say finally because we planned to start recording it a full year ago (see the article "Dark Summer" below to learn why we didn't) with the old lineup, but on the other hand for the new guys in the band it probably seems like it's very sudden that they're in the group and recording an album already. Either way, as of the time of this writing we are working on the tracks "Have a Nice Summer," "Something in Return," "Eleventh Hour," "Shown the Light" and "Dark Summer," having recorded most of the instrument tracks for these tunes. It has been a great experience so far working with the band. For the first DSC album, it was pretty much me and two hired gun drummers, who did great jobs but who ultimately were not as vested in learning the songs as my current bandmates who will be playing them for the foreseeable future. The difference in the level of collaboration is exactly what I was looking for having made The DSC with such little input from other vested people, and I am truly excited to be bringing in the band and to be getting closer to bringing this music to people around the globe.

The DSC tear up the Trash Bar at Brooklyn debut!

July 20th was the Brooklyn debut of the DSC as well as Dave and Simon's club debut with the band, and it rocked! We shared the stage with Voice of the Population, a great New York power trio with super catchy tunes, and Boots With Spurs, a concept album band from Chicago. Joining us onstage to play keyboards was longtime DSC friend Michael Lynch (of Michael Lynch, The Split Signals, The Anything People, Shaw 'Nuff, The Briimstones) who filled in as our temporary bass player when the band started in 2007/2008 before Gianluis came into the fold. Many thanks to Mike and to all who came out on a Tuesday night to catch the show!

-Dan

The DSC rocks Make Music New York with new lineup debut!

The new DSC, featuring longtime conspirators Dan and Gian joined by new drummer Dave Mason, guitarist Simon Kono, and keyboardist/slide whistle player John Reicherter debuted with 2 shows at the 4th annual Make Music New York festival. In the afternoon we performed at Athens Triangle, Astoria, and then at Astoria Park in the evening with friends Worst Case Ontario, Cosmo's Moon, and Dustin Ehrlich. These shows saw the debut performances of the new DSC tunes "Something In Return" and "Shown the Light" as well as the addition of organ to "Dark Summer" and "Tu Mochila Esta Abierta" and piano on "Have a Nice Summer." Dig more groovy photos of the Astoria Park show here.

New band members for the DSC + free outdoor shows on the way!

Those of you who've seen The DSC live in the past year or so have witnessed the trio of me, Gian, and the "King Baby" exerting ourselves in a madcap effort to capture the multitude of parts from our recordings. Since the departure of our beloved KB forced a lineup change, we figured why not go nuts and not only get a new drummer, but also get a couple of other guys to cover all the parts live and add to our new album's sound? That said we are excited to introduce to you the latest additions to the DSC lineup. Drummer Dave Mason has taken over the drum throne since late May, having impressed us at his audition at Astoria Soundworks with his keen sense of timing, his taste, his diversity and his rock-ability (not too mention his willingness to bring refreshing beverages for all to rehearsals). Within a week Dave procured for us his longetime friend Simon Kono to add the second guitar that we've been longing for for some time. Simon has been adding tasteful textures and thrilling solos to the mix at recent rehearsals. With these two Vermont-bred gents on board, you can expect the DSC to sound tighter and more rocking than ever before (even though you thought that was not possible)! As if that wasn't enough, Long Island-bred multi-instrumentalist John Reicherter has graciously been offering us his keyboarding skills and is threatening to break out the slide whistle for "Collateral Damage!" The new lineup will make its live debut at the Make Music New York festival on June 21st, so come check it out! We'll be doing an afternoon set at the Athens Triangle block party sponsored by Astoria Music and Arts and an evening set at Astoria Park. Check the schedule for details.

The classic Banter lineup in 2002.

BANTER reunion plans solidified!

We have a confirmed date for the return of Boston rock legends Banter! Dan, Joe, Jeff and Doug will grace the stage of the world reknowned TT the Bear's Place in Cambridge, MA on August 6th with music from Urban Pastures, Side One and beyond. This is perhaps the band's first 21st century show at TT's, and the first with the classic lineup since 2004. Joining Banter for the evening will be another reunited Boston act from the 1900s, Wide Iris. One of Banter's earliest gigs, back when the band was called Rogues Gallery, was with Wide Iris so this will be an awesome journey back in time! The show is being hosted by Team Shred, led by former WBCN-FM local music director Shred, who used to book us shows at Sky Bar in Somerville MA as well as playing us on his show at BCN.

Ars Electronica 2010, Ciccone Theatre, Paramus, NJ

Dan @ Ars Electronica

Dan performed for the second year ago at the Ars Electronic concert at Bergen Community College's Ciccone Theatre on March 11, improvising guitar ambience to composer Szymon Adamczyk's piece, "Lost Memories." Adamczyk is a young student of Dan's and an up and coming electronic composer. Dan was proud to feature his playing along with Szymon's work. Headlining the show was Todd Reynold's with Eric Singer's LEMUR instruments as featured on Pat Metheny's current tour.

Dan with Mike Lynch at at Patti & Johnny's

Dan played yet another acoustic show, on St. Patrick's Day at Patti & Johnny's in Garden City South, about a mile from where Dan grew up on a bill including past billmates and fellow PDT clients The Vinyl Plane (fka The Headie Berrie) and Midnight Mob. Dan ripped through solo versions of rockers like "See Kay" and the Banter classic "Forty Days" as well as playing more ballady numbers like "Before You Wake" and U2's "Van Diemen's Land" (with the extra verse not sung by the Edge on Rattle and Hum) and was joined by ex-Banter and ex-DSC mate Michael Lynch for acoustic versions of Banter's "Take a Walk," The Kinks' "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" and Neil Young's "Rockin' In the Free World."

Dan returns to Mr. Beery's to Battle Cystic Fibrosis
Dan spent part of Valentine's Day ripping through a solo set at the 15th annual Band Battle To End Cystic Fibrosis at Mr. Beery's in Bethpage, Long Island. This was Dan's 3rd year in a row participating in the battle, having done so in 2008 with The DSC and in 2009 on bass with Johnny Race.

Speaking of Johnny Race, rumors abound that Sheehan and Race have a secret musical plot in the works, so stay tuned!

Banter activity
Also in the rumors department are that Dan has been in communication with Joe, Jeff, and Doug of Banter and it looks like the classic Banter lineup will be reuniting at some point this summer in Boston. Although Banter had a mini-reunion at last year's Red Gorilla Festival in Austin, TX, with Dan and Joe performing with bassist Elizabeth Walsh as The Banter All-Stars, this show will be the first time since 2004 that the classic 4-man lineup of Banter will be performing and we plan to have some very special guests!

A "Happy New Year" message from Dab
I want to thank everyone for supporting the DSC since 2007 (and me since way before) and for being patient while we were on hiatus for family and health reasons during the latter part of 2009. 2010 promises to be an exciting year for The DSC as we have scheduled our first recording sessions for the new album for the end of this month and will be making our stage return on February 14th for a return appearance at Mr. Beery's Band Battle Against Cystic Fibrosis. This show will also be my debut performance as the new guitarist for Johnny Race's Acoustic Odyssey which will be another exciting venture for 2010. The DSC will play select dates while recording our album and will certainly tour at some point this year so keep checking for dates near you and expect our album to be released in the fall. Before we release it we'll post mixes of the songs for you to preview as they're ready.

The DSC on Rew and Who? Television with Radio Crystal Blue jock Dan Herman
Be sure to check out the January 27th edition of the popular web show Rew and Who as the Conspiracy will be appearing with a brief performance and intervew segment. The "who" for this episode will be none other than Radio Crystal Blue host Dan Herman. We'd like to thank Dan not only for booking us on R&W but also for having us be amongst 13 artists receiving airplay consecutively durng ever quarter of 2008 and 2009. You can now view the show on our video page.

Possible Banter activity in 2010?
Rumor has it that there might be another Banter reunion in 2010. Founding Banter members Dan Sheehan (aka me) and Joe Smith reunited at the 2009 Red Gorilla Festival in Austin, TX for the first time since 2004 with Elizabeth Walsh, a "touring" bassist with Banter in 2003 as "Dan Sheehan and the Banter All-Stars." The rumors are that Sheehan and Smith will be reuniting again somewhere near Banter's orignal home of Boston, MA although little is being said about who else will be in the lineup so keep your eyes and ears open for more details, but remember - it's all just a rumor for now. If any of you are in touch with Doogie or Jeff, be sure to start planting the notion in their minds for an all-out reunion!

Yours truly,
-Dan

Dan Re-Emerges With a Solo Show
On Saturday, November 14 Dan performed his solo show for the first time in many months at an intimate venue called The End Zone (where the DSC has twice opened for Randy Jackson) in Whitestone, NY, performing such DSC classics as "Comatose," "See Kay," and Patterns of the Rain" alongside Banter songs of yore including "Springtime in February," "Metaphysics" and "Forty Days (and Forty Nights)" and covers by Pearl Jam ("Elderly Woman Behind the Counter In a Small Town") and Led Zeppelin ("Tangerine" and "Hey, Hey,What Can I Do?"), joined by Race Odyssey's Johnny Race and Jenn Bialy on vocals for the latter.

The new DSC album is in pre-production!
The DSC will be releasing an album of new material in 2010 featuring the current lineup of the band plus special guests. The album will have a more personal feel compared to the more ethereal 2008 debut and will feature songs the band has already been performing live such as "Dark Summer," "Tu Mochila Esta Abierta" and "Have a Nice Summer" as well as several songs that have yet to be performed. The album is currently in pre-production with principle tracking to commence in December.

The DSC in stores across Europe!
The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy song "Tired Eyes" was recently picked up by Syllabus Music/PurePlay.com in the U.K. as part of their in-store music program showcasing the music of independent artists across stores in Europe. Click here to find out more about this program. http://www.pureplaymusic.com/why-ppm/how-works-artists

DSC Podcast Action
Thanks to Radio Crystal Blue DJ extraordinaire for playing "Another Morning" on his live broadcast/podcast on November 8 and for announcing our forthcoming album. Check out the podcast section of the website to listen to the show.

Dark Summer
Earlier this year, we wrote a new song called "Dark Summer" which we debuted at the Make Music New York festival on the first day of summer 2009. We could never have predicted how dark the summer would be when in July, Dan's father passed away unexpectedly, delaying the recording of the new DSC album and causing us to have to cancel concert dates.

Dan sends his thanks to all those who have been helping him through this difficult time.

Radio Crystal Blue Feature
Thanks to fan voting, we received a "second stage" feature on the August 2nd edition of Dan Herman's acclaimed Live 365 show Radio Crystal Blue . Thanks to Dan for his ongoing support. Dan spun the medley "Another Morning" and "Tired Eyes," the 2 mellow songs that kick off what would be side two of The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy.

Fourth of July kickoff party
We were honored to share the stage once again with Cosmo's Moon, and for the first time with Midnight Mob and The Heist, at PDT Entertainment's Fourth of July Eve party at Bartini in Babylon July 3rd-4th. Midnight Mob started the night off with their aggressive brand of rock n' roll, paving the way for a DSC set that featured "Collateral Damage" and "Dark Summer" amongst the longstanding set material, followed by the dark sounds of Cosmo's Moon before a fireworks show ushered in Independence Day at midnight with The Heist rocking in another year of independence from the British empire. Thanks to all who came out and celebrated wtih us. The show was videotaped so there should be stuff on YouTube as soon as we get a chance to go through it!

The DSC rocks Make Music New York
Thanks to all who checked out one or both of our MMNY shows on June 21st. We lucked out big time with our outdoor slot in Jackson Heights, finishing our set just before the rain came and barely fitting in an interesting rendition of Neil Young's "Rockin' In the Free World" with members of Urban Street Gypsies joining us.

Maguire's Public House in Woodside provided us a nice, rain-free stage for our evening set in Woodside. Many thanks to Peter Maguire for letting the kids in the pub and to Sherry for all the photos, the rest of which you can see here.

DSC article in The Campus
In the May 11 issue of the City College student newspaper The Campus you will fin a nice 2/3 page article on The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy with an interview with Gianluis on page 8. Or, you can just rea the article here.

Dan's Nashville show cancelled
Sorry for any of you who showed up at Windows Off the Cumberland on May 20 to find the club closed down! Apparently, the guy who runs the club had a heart problem an decided to leave the club business. I THINK his wife or someone started to leave me a message about it but all there was in the voicemail was a female Southern accent saying, "Dan, are you there? If you're there pick up!" and apparently for not picking up I was not to be told of the occurrence. Fortunately, I had business in Nashville anyway!

Back in rehearsal

The DSC is back to rehearsing to prep for our upcoming summer shows! Come see us!

DSC wins feature slot on Radio Crystal Blue thanks to your votes!
That's right, the voting campaign was a success! Thanks to your support, The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy will be featured in the "Second Stage" segment of Dan Herman's reknowned Live365.com radio show, Radio Crystal Blue on August 2nd, 2009, so mark your calendars!

We also very much appreciate all the votes for favorite artist on Alive With Clive and your rankings on WRXP's top New York bands page.

Review in More Sugar magazine.
The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy album got an awesome review from Roger Z - whom Dan first met last fall when appearing on Roger's TV show Working Musicians (see 9/08 news) - in Roger's column in More Sugar magazine. More Sugar is a magazine about life and entertainment in the Hudson River Valley and is widely circulated in New York City as well as Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, and Rockland counties, among other places. Check out some quotes from Roger in our press section, or see the whole review on Roger's website.

Feature in Bergen Health and Life
Dan was asked to submit his list of "ten or so" songs he's been listening to lately for this regular feature in BH&L. It will appear in the June issue so you'll have to wait until then to see the list (and the handsome photo of Dan taken by the magzine staff in the recording studio where the new EP will be recorded)!

The Banter All-Stars showcase in Austin!
3 Banter alumni - veteran members Dan Sheehan and Joe Smith, along with one-time "touring" bassist Elizabeth Walsh performed as Dan Sheehan & the Banter All-Stars at the ever-growing Red Gorilla music festival in Austin, TX on March 19th. The festival also included the likes of Dilana from the CBS Rock Star: Supernova show and great bands like The Nods and Luna Halo. It was an incredible experience being in Austin during South by Soutwest week, not to mention it was the first time since 2004 that original Banter drummer Joe Smith and Dan played together (it was Elizabeth's first time since 2003). The trio played 3 songs from The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy and revisited Banter songs that had not been performed in several years.

New review posted
Roger Z, host of the Working Musicians TV show that Dan was a guest on in the fall of '08, has posted a review of The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy which will also appear in More Sugar magazine in April.

March Radio Shows

Gian and Dan dropped in on City College New York's radio station WCCR on March 30 to hang with DJ Tumbles and chat with her between spins of The DSC, Coldplay, and the like. They gave us a nice CD of the show and invited us to play their April festival so check back here for the audio from the show and details on the fest!

February was a month of some very different shows involving Dan and company. February 7th the Conspiracy played at Shenanigan's in North Babylon, Long Island to a great crowd on a great bill with Long Island hard rockers Cosmo's Moon, and we actually shot the show on video, so check here for footage as soon as we get 2 seconds to digitize it!

February 15th, Bobby and Dan joined Race Odyssey's Johnny Race, Chris Wider, Jen Bialy and saxophonist Don as part of Mr. Beery's annual Band Battle against the childhood disease Cystic Fibrosis, playing Race Odyssey originals and covers by the Stones, Dylan, and Kenny Wayne Shepard. We had a blast, both perforing with RO and seeing some other great acts from the area. Here's some pics for ya that I swiped from Jen...

And then, just to change it up again, Dan played a solo show opening for Elizabeth Walsh of Una Pong, C is for Coyote, Philip's Head and Jerry Tuttle Band notoriety, on Feb. 21st. at Beret's in Jersey City, NJ, performing renditions of DSC and Banter tunes along with covers by The Byrds and Neil Young.

See?

Back in action!
Those of you in New York who saw us play at Desmond's in December may have gotten your first glimpse of our new bassist Gianluis. Our first show in 2009 was headlining the Radio Crystal Blue showcase at The National Underground on January 30th with Imaginary Johnny and various other acts that get played on the RCB web radio show. This show was also featured the live debut of "Collateral Damage" and the first time the DSC played "Eleventh Hour" and "Have a Nice Summer" from our forthcoming release as well as "I'll Come Along" from The DSC album (these tunes had been played at some point by Dan's previous band, Banter).

Podcasts and web play
We have not done any FM/AM tracking of our airplay in recent months, but fortunately the computer continues to tell us about a number of podcasts and online radio stations our songs are featured on, and in January we had our debut in the Jersey Jamcast podcast hosted by Rob Usdin as well as another inclusion in WLSO.fm's Longtown Sound podcast hosted by Uncle Shag. Additionally, we were played in Dan Herman's Radio Crystal Blue show at the end of January and surprisingly "Collateral Damage" is still going strong on All Irish Radio Dublin.

Arizona and New York shows
Dan kicked off November with a trip to Arizona, where he played 2 solo acoustic shows in Phoenix and Tucson and met a lot of very cool people including some street teamers which he was very happy to finally meet, and hopes to meet again in a few months.

Gian made his NYC debut as a Conspirator at our show at Desmond's on the 21st.

The DSC makes the Kweevak Top 20!
On Election Day, in addition to Barack Obama being voted the nation's first African American president, The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy was voted from amongst dozens of nominees to place in indie music magazine Kweevak's annual "Top 20 albums of the year" poll getting spot 13 below a slew of major label acts. Dan and the band thank the fans for all their votes.

More TV and radio features this month...
Radio Crystal Blue host Dan Herman will be featuring DSC tunes in a special segment on the November 9th edition of the Live 365 show.

Dan's appearance on the television programme Alive With Clive debuts this month on Monday, November 24 and will be rebroadcast on Wednesday, November 26. The show features Dan being interviewed by the amazing host Cllive Swersky and includes live performances of "Rock Song," "Comatose," and "Patterns of the Rain."

Introducing our newest member, Gian.
October 4th saw the live debut of our new bass player, Gianluis "Johnny" Rosado at our first fall show in Islip, NY. Gian, a transplant to New York from the Dominican Republic was a student of Dan's a few years ago and is adding a great new element to the DSC sound. Much thanks too our friend Mike Lynch who helped us out tremendoulsy during our long search for a permanent bassist.

While Dan has enjoyed being a solo performer of late, doing the acoustic thing on TV shows and some club dates, he looks forward to rocking out with the full band over the next few months so check back for more and more dates which are being booked left and right!

Speaking of Dan on TV, Dan's 2 episodes on Working Musicians (see Sept. news) debut this month. See the shows section for the schedule.

Dan's Halloween appearances on KWSS-FM
Halloween morning saw Dan as a guest on 2 radio shows at Scottsdale, AZ station KWSS-FM, where he is currently in the station's Top 25 for the song "See Kay." Dan was interviewed via phone on the shows "Morning Infidels" and "Driving With Gass" between spins of songs from The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy in order to promote Dan's early November shows in Arizona.

Back at White Plains TV
Dan returned to the White Plains TV Studio on September 23 where he had taped an episode of Alive With Clive in August , this time to be a musical guest on the show Working Musicians. Dan and host Roger Z taped 2 episodes which will air on Westchester Cable on October 3rd and 10th which feature solo performances of the DSC tracks "See Kay," "Rock Song," "Patterns of the Rain," and "Before You Wake" as well as the yet-to-be-released "Eleventh Hour." Prior to the shows airing, you can hear the audio of the shows here.

Speaking of Alive With Clive, Dan has moved up to 7th place as of the time of this writing on the AWC Top 25, and asks that you continue to vote him further up the list for the prestige, the free promotion that comes with being in the Top 5, and for inclusion on Clive's AIDS benefit CD.

Back to Rehearsing
The Conspiracy meanwhile is back to rehearsing at their Long Island studio and will start performing live again in October, starting with a show at the Double R in Islip Park.

Alive With Clive show
Dan was a guest on the White Plains cable show Alive With Clive on August 8th. The show will air on channel 76 on White Plains cable in the near future and also on YouTube, so please check back for air dates. It's a 30 minute show with me being interviewed about all sorts of heavy things and performing the DSC tunes "Rock Song" and "Comatose." You can VOTE FOR DAN to be in the Alive With Clive Top 25 artists which will help me be included in a forthcoming compilation CD to help combat AIDS in Clive's homeland of South Africa. (You need to scroll down a bit).

Online Kudos for the DSC
The DSC is featured in the August 12 edition of the Kweevak music magazine podcast, which also features a cool interview with Mick Box of Uriah Heep and another with Candice Night of Richie Blackmore's Blackmore Night. Right after that interview you'll hear "The Valley." Check it out here (show # 105).

"Before You Wake" is included in the August 30th edition of the podcast, Ed's Mixed Bag.

This month, "Go Outside" has been added to Alan Hare's Live365 station and it seems that "If I Had the Time" and "Patterns of the Rain" are now in rotation on KRFC (Radio Free Colorado).

Dan was interviewed by Alex from the popular We Heart Music blog. Read the article here.

For the week of August 12th, "See Kay" was awarded "Best Beat in Alternative Rock" on GarageBand.com (see July news for more DSC GarageBand awards for "Comatose.")

Also, we missed this last month but "Comatose" is featured in the July 27th edition of Queens Artsits Music Podcast.

"See Kay" a hit in Phoenix
"See Kay" has been in the KWSS-FM (Phoenix, AZ) Top-25 for several weeks now, along with Coldplay, The Foo Fighters, The Offspring, Buckcherry, Candlebox and a few others that you may have heard of. Dan will be capitalizing on this success by doing a short tour of Arizona in early November.

While the band has been taking the month off from gigging, yours truly has been busy planning the next phase of world domination (well, as least cyberworld domination). On the 15th I attended Ariel Publicity's Digital Press Conference, a great party and event sponsored by Ariel Hyatt and friends at the fab Central Park West apartment that you can get a glimpse of in the photo to your left, taken as I was chatting live on the air with Jerry Bumpskey of Live 365's Bumpskey Radio. I also got to hob-knob and be interviewed by Friggin' Fabulous Radio, Hit Records Nightlife Video as well as John and Rick from On the Road With John and Rick (NOT Nick!), and ran into some folks who have played us on their shows before such as Dan Herman from Live 365's Radio Crystal Blue and Tara from Queens Artist Podcast, and people who've solicited the DSC CD but have yet to review it like Lee Sobel. Plus I met the very cool folks like Lou from Reverb Nation and Clive from the Alive with Clive cable TV show.

Podcasts groovin' to the DSC this month include the TLP 6-Pack and Indie Radio Chattanooga from WAAK in Georgia (the U.S.state, not the former Soviet Republic) and the Next Big Thing show from Germany. Meanwhile, we continue to have strong showings on FM radio and web radio, so keep your ears perked!

On the radio front, "See Kay" hit the Top 25 chart at KWSS-FM, Phoenix AZ, along with Coldplay, Buckcherry, Foo Fighters, Nine Inch Nails and more.

On July 26th, "Comatose" was deemed to be "Track of the Day" in progressive rock on GarageBand.com, and Dan received the distinction of "best male vocals" in progressive rock for the week of July 28th.

Phat Press

June has been an especially rewarding month to all of us in DSC land. A full-page article about the DSC appears in this month's issue of Long Island Pulse, in the annual "summer fun guide" and we also got 2 awesome online reviews from British DJ Alan Hare and from American DJ Radio Free David. Check our press section to read them all, and for now here's just a few quotes for ya:

"This is a future classic... Absolutely brilliant album of modern sounding rock, prog, and little quirky bits."- Alan Hare

"We love the way this disc flows and think that Dan has simply outdone himself. Conspiracy? We don’t know about that, but we do know that it is darn good tunes–and that’s what matters the most"! - Radio Free David

Podcast Mania and more airplay

The DSC has been added to more radio stations this month, many of them in Europe, and is prominently featured in the popular podcast Dressed Up and Stripped Down from NextBigHit.com. This a unique podcast featuring live, "stripped down" performances alongside studio cuts and interviews from Dan and the other artists. The interviews and live cuts were recorded in May at Next Big Hits' studio in Manhattan.

We're in at least 4 editions of the WLSO.fm podcast Longtown Sound this month, and also have been featured on KKUP-FM's No Pigeonholes podcast and WMIR-FM's Indie Revolution.

The DSC returns to Molly Bloom's II

June 7th we played our second show at Amityville Long Island hot spot Molly Bloom's II, where we played back in February (in fact, I just recently added 2 new photos from the Feb. show to our live photo gallery). Some folks say it was our best performance ever! The evening was co-hosted by Patty Dodge Torres aka PDT Productions (with whom we hope to start doing a lot more shows) and featured resounding sets by The Headie Berrie and Gee Davie surrounding the DSC.

The Knitting Factory
It was cool to play with a four-person lineup for the first time at our Knitting Factory NYC show on May 9th. Also playing at "the Factory" that night was head Violent Femme Gordon Gado, and we had a great time catching his set after we played, which featured Gordon backed by members of the seminal '90s band The Bog Men, which featured a percussionist named PJ who went to my high school and was there in attendance and whom I chatted with briefly thanks to his friend who was guiding me through the history of Gordon and the Bog Men!

Long Island Battle of the Bands
Long Island Podcast Network is sponsoring a "Battle of the Bands," and we're solociting votes. You can vote for us simply by commenting on their MySpace page.

Next Big Hit's Dressed Up and Stripped Down
Speaking of podcasts, good old Dan did a solo acoustic performance on May 22nd for Next Big's Hit's reknowned podcast, Dressed Up and Stripped Down. This is a cool podcast where acts perform stripped down versions of their songs and give interviews. Check back and we'll let you know when this podcast becomes available.

Podcast and Internet Radio Action
On the heels of our massive radio campaign in February and March, April became a month of getting the music more into cybercasting. On April 3rd we not only got a welcome spin of "See Kay" on the highly revered podcast The Jersey Toddshow. We also got TOTALLY RAVED ABOUT by Todd (to the point that I transcribed his rave in our "press" section. Check out show #114 and hear it yourself! On April 5th we were once again featured in Dan Herman's streaming Live365 show Radio Crystal Blue. Dan went for "Go Outside" this time around. The archive can be found here and here. We also got played in the April 7th and April 14th editions of WLSO.fm's Longtown Sound hosted by Uncle Shag, who went for "Patterns of the Rain" and "The Valley" respectively. This is worth checking out if only to hear my ultra-awesome station ID! "The Valley" also seems to be the new featured single on Live365's Waiting For The Blackouts along with their perennial favorite, "See Kay."

Speaking of podcasts, I performed live, just me and my trusty Seagull acoustic guitar, at PodCamp NY on April 25th at the Brooklyn Polythechnic Institute as a special guest of iProng music magazine. Although my set was short, it was pretty cool being webcasted on Justin.TV and I got to meet some cool peeps like publicists Ariel and Christina of Ariel Publicity, Dan Herman of Radio Crystal Blue, Tara from Queens Artist Podcasting, not to mention Bill Palmer, the publisher of iProng.

And speaking of performing solo/acoustic in front of video cameras, I had a great time performing at WCVF-FM's annual "Rockin' the Commons" cancer benefit in Fredonia, NY (waaaaaaaaay out in the Western part of the state) on April 19th which aired live and will be rebroadcast many times on WNYF-TV. Hopefully Max will come through with quicktimes for the video section! I had a nice drive out West w/ my road manager, Chrees, who did a fine job hawking CDs.

Introducing our new drummer, Randy Jackson!
We had a great time opening once again for Zebra man Randy Jackson at our April 5th show at The End Zone in Whitestone, NY, and we gave the audience a big surprise when Randy joined us on the drums for 2 Led Zeppelin covers ("Tangerine" & "Hey Hey What Can I Do?") We were also joined for the first time by Race Odyssey guitarist Chris Wider. See the photos here.

March has been a month for us to focus on our radio presence, which we started by playing live on WUSB (90.1 FM, Stony Brook NY) on March 6 on Bill Frey's Long Island Sound. The night started off a bit hectic as I got slammed by the worst traffic I've seen in years travelling across Long Island, but Bill kicked off the show with several tracks from The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy album until I arrived at which point we jammed on acoustic versions of "Melting Snowman" and "Patterns of the Rain." After some more interviews we went back in the studio and played live renditions of "Rock Song," "Before You Wake," and a surprise rendition of the old Banter classic "Forty Days (and Forty Nights)."

Meanwhile, our national presence on radio rose from about 75 stations playing the album to over 180, as we prep for some live April appearances.

February shows

So far this month's we've played 2 cool shows on Long Island. On Groundhogs's Day we headlined a show at Molly Bloom's II in Amityville, Suffolk County, NY, which is a really cool club for any bands looking to play in Sufflok, especially when it's produced by PDT Productions, a promotions company that's more in it for the music than just about any other promoters our there these days. Also on this bill were Finespun, who were hardselling their merch to raise money for a tour of Pennsylvania, and possibly my new favorite live band from the area, The Headie Berrie (see them play at The New Porthole March 7th, where we'll be in April).

On Febrary 17th we had the honor of participating in the annual Band Battle to End Cystic Fibrosis at Mr. Beery's in Bethpage, Nassau County, NY, a place known for it's great benefit shows. We followed our friends Race Odyssey and got to check out a lot of the other bands and it was a great time with great bands, a great crowd, and all for a great cause no less.

For photos from these shows, please visit our MySpace page.

More airplay!
The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy has gotten a lot more radio play this month, having been officially added for rotation at over 70 stations nationwide, with verified airplay at over 50 stations, hitting the top 30 at WUTS in Tennesse, KSLU in Louisiana, and getting heavy rotation at WKKL in Cape Code, WPHS in Michigan, and WCYT in Indiana to name a few. Stations choosing to add the disc are the vast majority of those which have so far reviewed it at this early stage of our radio campaign. We'll be posting the stations that are playing the disc in a few days, so check back to see who you can request some DSC from in your area.

We also have continued to be featured on Dan Herman's Radio Crystal Blue show at Live365.com, Dan opting for "If I Had the Time" on his February 10th show, and apparently "Epic Fantasy Adventure Song" is the fave on M3 Radio. Listen up for us on March 6th when we make an in-studio appearance at WUSB 90.1-FM in Stony Brook, NY (don't worry, you can stream it online if you don't live in NY/CT!)

The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy is intellectually stimulating
Speaking of Stony Brook, The DSC's "Collateral Damage," a fave tune of WBAB and Radio Crystal Blue was recently used along with the Marvin Gaye classic "What's Going On?" in a graduate social work class at Stony Brook University as an example of music calling people to organize a movement.

Album Release Party
To celebrate the release of our album in CD form as well as on iTunes and a plethora of online music stores, we played our album release show at New York City's Parkside Lounge on Houston St. along with our good friends The Anything People. It was a great night performing and hanging out with our closest friends and fans from the area and we appreciate everyone who came! Check out the pics!

Lots of airplay!
The radio debut of The DSC occurred on January 15th on WBAB-FM, Long Island's #1 rock station. For three consecutive nights BAB mainstay Fingers featured different DSC tunes on his "Homegrown" show and we got to hear our songs played amidst legends such as Black Sabbath, the Black Crowes, Aerosmith and the like. If you missed it, click here to hear Fingers introduce and spin "See Kay," "Collateral Damage" and "I'll Come Along."

Our web radio debut occurred on Jan. 27th on Dan Herman's syndicated weekly new music show, Radio Crystal Blue, (which is now rebroadcast twice a week on Moozikoo Radio) with Dan opting for "Collateral Damage."

Jan. 29th the album was released nationwide to non-commercial stations and instantly became a College Music Journal "Top 5 add" at stations from Boise to New Hampshire to Louisiana. Among the local stations spinning the disk is WUSB 90.1 FM in Stony Brook, where we expect to be playing live on the air in March.

Good Times Feature
If you pick up the Jan. 22 - Feb. 4 issue of Good Times magazine, turn to page 26 for our featurette, which is mentioned on the cover of the magazine. Alternatively, click here to read all about it.

NEW BANTER CD GETS UNDERWAY

Well, folks, we just finished up a week of recording backing tracks for our upcoming album. Below is a list of tracks recorded. Notice a smattering of revamps of previously recorded material alongside a lot of tracks never before committed to tape!

TITLE OUR CD CONTEST!

We are currently considering names for the upcoming CD and it occurred to us that perhaps our fans might have some grand ideas. So we decided to make a contest out of it. Whoever suggests a title that we end up using will win our entire CD catalog. That's our Side One e.p., the Digital Bear compilation and our new disc bearing your title when it comes out!

E-mail your entries to banter@bostonbands.com

Dan in the studio tweaking the knobs for the new BANTER recordings. Note his stylish new Les Paul Classic in case on left.

BANTER DRUMMER JOE SMITH ASSAULTED!!!

Those of you who stuck around after our show at O'Brien's in Allston, MA last month may have been witness to Joe geting punched in the face by the lead singer of Double Barrell Sunrise, the other band on the bill that night. Apparently the young singer felt there was a bit of sarcasm in Joe's congratulating the band on a good set. Talk about paranoia! Oh, well--the youth these days.

It was very exciting to have this show broadcast on the internet by our good frends at RadioBoston.com. Our first webcast ever! Thanks to those of you who took part in this historical moment in our career, either at the show or at home with your computer.

Here's a gratuitous shot of us playing at the Sky Bar Lounge in Somerville recently:

Just another happenin' springtime show (even through we usually celebrate springtime in February).

BANTER bassist Vince Fontana's metamorphosis

Some of you who saw us live at the Sky Bar in Somerville, MA this past week have written us asking who our new bassist is and what happened to Vince. Don't you people ever watch Dr. Who? If you did, you'd know that some people are able to change into another person, taking on a new form while retaining the same mind, soul and ego. That is precisely what has happened to Vince. In fact, this is at least the second time since Vince has been in the band that this has happened. How come nobody made a big deal last time? As for your claims that Vince now looks like Andrew Warden, bassist from the great Vassar College band the Magic Beans, or like Ian Gloom from E Conspectu, I don't even know who these clowns are.

Dan's Big Night with the Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Hey, did anyone see me, Dan, BANTER guitarist and webmaster appear on Earl Chamblers Live performing "Walk With Me" and "The Fort" and being interviewed by Tim and Roman of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones? What? You didn't? Man, you just don't subscribe to enough satellite TV channels! Don't worry, we'll try to get some footage from the show on this site ASAP.

Until next time,
Dan

Here's hoping to all BANTER fans that you had a lovely, safe holiday season and a happy new year!

A new, full-fledged newsletter is on its way. In the meantime, please enjoy these short notes from guitarist Dan.

Our existence in cyberspace is going quite well. We have been asked to join two very EXCLUSIVE websites, one called the "Top 50 Boston bands club" and another called coolrockbands.com to be launched in February. Not that you'll actually find us on the Top 50 Boston bands site, because the folks running this site are impossible to get a hold of to find out exactly what the whole thing is all about and they sent us a most ambiguous contract to sign. So, we have not sent them anything about us to post on their site. But we were invited, based on a popularity poll taken in Boston, to participate. Really we were. I'll show you the letter if you come by my house.

As for coolrockbands.com, this will be a site featuring only the very best rock bands around. Not one of these monster sites featuring 2000 polka bands, but a selective, all-rock site meant to topple the mainstream music biz, which is always a good thing.

We have recorded "Open Wide" as our single from our forthcoming CD and will continue to record others until we're done!

Check the January issue of Boston fanzine THE NOISE to see if we make the "Top 20 songs of the year" for 1999 for "Farewell" in the Audiodoodah column. "Farewell" was chosen as "song of the month" in the August '99 issue of THE NOISE, much as was "Springtime in February" in 1997 before it made the top-twenty list (#12) that year.

Speaking of these two songs, they have both been popular downloads on our mp3.com page, ranking very high as popular downloads in thier categories and for the Boston area. Thanks to all those who visited our page!

See you on our winter tour, dates TBA!

Banter headlining the DBE cd release pary at the Midway Cafe 6/6/99

MONDRIAN CD RELEASE PARTY...
Thanks to everyone who came out to see us these past few months! We had some killer shows in Boston this summer, starting with the Digital Bear Entertainment CD release party for Mondrian, an eclectic compilation disc of five Boston-area acts including BANTER, Bean, Evil People, James O'Brien and the Zaklees. Our songs "Lowered" and "Farewell" appear on the disc and were performed at the event along with a score of other Banter faves and sets by James O'Brien and Bean. We were psyched to see some of you folks there at the Midway Cafe in Jamaica Plain and we hope you all enjoyed the barbecue!

MORE COOL SUMMER SHOWS...

Didn't make it to our show at the Linwood Grille in Boston in July? No worries. We burned a CD of the show and will be posting mp3's of some of the highlights on the mp3.com site! This is an excellent time to be hooked up to the net as these recordings will be available online only! Check back here and we'll let you know when these tunes are on the web (should be soon)!

Another summer highlight was our Good Times show in August with E Conspectu, featuring Dan's college buddy Andrew Warden on bass. Between the band members and some Vassar grad fans attending, the show was a veritable Vassar College reunion. Having our mates the Clock Watchers on the bill made it that much nicer. Always good to have a bandfest with your mates.

Banter "unplugged" at the Kendall Cafe 9/22/99

BANTER unplugged...

We played our first ever "unplugged" acoustic show to an intimate crowd at the Kendall Cafe in Cambridge September 22nd, playing with a stripped down drumkit and only acoustic guitar, reaching back into our catalog with early BANTER classic such as "Forty Days and Forty Nights" (which one fan purports to have been more rocking than the album version despite the missing distorted electric guitar!), I'll Come Along, newer songs like "Have a Nice Summer" and some choice covers including our perennial favorite, "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" by the Kinks and a new choice, "Give Back the Key to My Heart" by Uncle Tupelo as sung by BANTER drummer Joe Smith. It was a real hoot, I tell ya.

LOOKING FORWARD...

Currently the band is gearing up to record our debut full-length album! If you've enjoyed previous BANTER releases such as our Side One ep., the "Springtime in February" single or our tracks on the Mondrian cd (see above), you'll surely be eagerly anticipating the opportunity to listen to ten or so BANTER tracks all on one disk! We know we are! As we're investing our time and energy greatly into this project, we will only be performing sporadically for the upcoming months, but will be sure to keep you posted on any shows we schedule RIGHT HERE ON OUR BRAND NEW WEBSITE! WHOO-HOOO!

-Dan Sheehan
editor/guitarist