Gianluis Stars on Telemundo's Caso Cerrado

DSC bassist Gian Rosado plays Miguel, a predatary music videographer taking advantage of dancing girls who are not quite as naive as he thinks on the super popular Telemundo court show Caso Cerrado. If you missed it on Telemundo you can check it out at this link. Hopefully you habla espanol, but if not check it out anyway! Part 3 shows the video in question and shows Gian chillin' like a villain in the swimming pool with the ladies. You'll want to get out your 3D glasses for this part so have Gian waving his hands right in your face (something he tends to do at band practices).

Dan Gets Second ASCAPlus Award!

Dan recently was notified that for the second year in a row during his 2-year stint as an ASCAP writer that he will again be receiving an ASCAPlus writer's award for works written and performed during the past year. Dan is pleased to have moved his catalog from Broadcast Music, Inc. to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in 2010!

Album Mixing and Drummer Auditions Underway

Dan is nearing the final stages of mixing the second DSC album Confessions of the Dan Sheehan Conspiracy while he and Gian audition potential drummers to replace the dearly departed Dave (don't worry, he's still alive - he just got married and moved back to Boulder). The final song lineup includes nine songs familiar to fans from the DSC live sets plus an instrumental written and performed by Dan in tribute to his father who passed away in 2009. The full band songs to be included are, in no particular order: Shown the Light, Have a Nice Summer, Dark Summer, Something In Return, Eleventh Hour, Tu Mochila Esta Abierta, The Ever Pleasant Notion, Forevermore and I'll See You There. The band lineup is Dan on guitars, vocals and synths, Gian on bass and vocals, Dave Mason on drums and vocals, and Simon Kono on guitar and vocals with guest performances by Andy Krikun and Patrick Moraz.

Check out live videos of tracks from the upcoming album here and lyrics here.

Rocking Jackson Heights at the Summer Sundays At the Park concert series

The DSC Sizzle With Summer Single

In July the Conspiracy released their first single from Confessions of the Dan Sheehan Conspiracy (due early 2012), the appropriately titled "Have a Nice Summer." Check out the video here!

Dave and Simon Farewell Show at Summer Sundays in the Heights

On August 7th, the Conspiracy rocked the Play Street at Travers Park in Jackson Heights, NY, performing an hour and a half set as the band's final show with "the Brattleboro boys," Dave and Simon, two friends from Brattleboro, VT who joined the band in May 2010. The concert was part of the Summer Sundays At the Park series and featured 5 songs from the debut DSC album, most of the new album, and covers by the Beatles and Neil Young, the latter featuring guest guitarist Vinny Mongoluzo of the Urban Street Gypsys.

Gian and Dan wish Simon and Dave the best of luck in future endeavors and will be auditioning new bandmates to prepare for live dates in the fall.

Dan, Andy Troy, Patrick Moraz

Conspiraing With Moraz

The first half of June ended up on a great note (literally) as keyboardist Patrick Moraz (Mainhorse, Refugee, Yes, Moody Blues, Moraz/Bruford etc.) came to North Jersey to lay down some organ parts on the forthcoming Conspiracy tracks "Dark Summer" and the instrumental "Tu Mochila Esta Abierta" with Dan helming the mixing board before the two musicians headed to The Big Apple to be guests on The Andy Troy show, an excellent radio show broadcasting via the web from Giovanna's Restaurant in uptown Manhattan. Videotaping the event was indie arts website Sparklefox. You can hear the show in audio form right now on the Centanni Broadcasting website (scroll down to the June 13 show) and video will be on Sparklefox any day now.

Radio Crystal Blue features

The debut DSC album lives long at Radio Crystal Blue, Philadelphian Dan Herman's heralded new music podcast. Still feeling love for the "old" Conspiracy disc, Dan spun iTunes favorite and geology anthem "Rock Song" on the June 26 edition of RCB just weeks after featuring "Go Outside" in the May 31st episode. Thanks to Dan for his ongoing support!

Apart from the DSC/Banter hybrid show in Austin in March, the Conspiracy have been laying low from the live stage since January while Dan works on mixing the new DSC disc (or should we say DiSC). On Saturday, April 23 however the Conspiracy burst onto the stage of reknowned North Jersey venue Mexicali Live in Teaneck, opening for local faves Joe D'Urso and the band that first shook up Los Angeles back in the 1980s, Andy and the Rattlesnakes. The show was put on by Teaneck radio station WFDU-FM and hosted by Lynn Crystal, host of the show Carnival of Song and was shot for Teaneck Patch by video journalist Marshall Katzman and you can view the piece to the RIGHT.

The DSC with Banter drummer Joe Smith @ The Texas Rockfest, Austin TX 3/18/2011

Tour of Sixth Street (Austin)

Dan, Gian, and Banter drummer Joe Smith just returned from a tour of Austin's famous Sixth Street where Dan played a solo show on March 16 at The Chuggin Monkey, accompanied by Austin guitarist Rick Shell as part of the Red Gorilla Music Festival, followed by a full band show with Dan, Gian and Joe at Blue Moon on the 18th as part of the 12th annual Texas Rockfest. While the Red Gorilla show went fairly smoothly and acoustically, the Texas Rockfest show was a challenging experience as the promised soundman was nowhere to be found, forcing the band to mix their own sound, and as all the promised equipment was not there or was not working well. Nonetheless, the band forged on to the delight of some conventioneers that wandered in from all the South By Southwest mayhem. Check back soon for video from these shows.

Gian and Dan w/Meat Puppet Curt Kirkwood in Austin

The fellas also had a fine time taking in a ton of music going on at SXSW, and particularly enjoyed seeing and meeting the Meat Puppets at the Dog and Duck on Friday afternoon.

Dan hosts Patrick Moraz

While Dan usually is on the stage to sing and play guitar, this month he had the pleasure of directing the 2011 Ars Electronica concert at Bergen Community College, taking the stage on March 10 to introduce legendary keyboardist Patrick Moraz. Check out this awesome article on Kweevak which gives kudos to Dan and the Conspiracy at the end.

Check out Dan's blog...

Dan is now an official Avid Audio blogger! See his blog entitled "Investing the Time to Break Old Habits: Quit Mousing Around!" here on the Avid website, and be encouraged to devote yourself to learning new skills

Band Battle Against Cystic Fibrosis

The DSC's plan to play at the annual Mr. Beery's Band Battle Against Cystic Fibrosis were derailed at the last minute, but Dan appeared joined by guests Johnny Race, Jenn Bialy, and Michael Lynch on various DSC and Banter tunes as well as covers, marking Dan's 4th year in a row participating in this awesome charity event. Mike Lynch joined Dan on vocals for "See Kay" whereas Johnny and Jennifer joined for a medley of covers including "Rocking In the Free World," "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and "Hey Hey What Can I Do?"

Studio Update

The quartet of Dave, Gian, Simon and Dan returned to the studio on Jan. 30th to start work on 4 new recordings for the forthcoming Conspiracy CD. "The Ever Pleasant Notion," "Forevermore," "I'll See You There" and the instrumental "Tu Mochila Esta Abierta" are now officially added to the album in progress, along with previous entries "Have a Nice Summer," "Dark Summer," "Shown the Light," "Eleventh Hour" and "Something In Return."

2010 in review

Happy 2011! 2010 was a fine year for the Conspiracy, and we've made a special 2010 in review page to take you through all the fond memories, so check it out! (note - it kind of looks like the news page but really it's not, so don't be fooled!)

Simon and Dan duke it out at NYC's National Underground

Radio Crystal Blue and The National Underground

Thanks to Radio Crystal Blue podcaster and booking agent Dan Herman for featuring "See Kay" in the January 9th edition of RCB and for booking our show at National Underground on January 14th. Ironically, I think the NU show was the first DSC show ever at which "See Kay" was not performed, and this was only due to Dan S making a mistake with the set list! So if you were at the show go back and listen to the podcast and it will complete for you what should have been our full setlest at the NU.

The National Underground show was a pleasure for us, even though the house drumset was not sufficiently grounded for Dave's hard pounding, but he did a good job preventing the bass drum from flying off the riser and the crash cymbal from falling on Dan's head while keeping the time and playing tasty fills. Thanks to all who came out on such a cold night to hear our fine musical stylings and we promise you photos and videos pronto!

Dan wins ASCAPlus award and Avid Pro Tools Studio Giveaway!

Dan, an underpaid BMI writer for several years who switched over to ASCAP in 2010, received his first ASCAP royalty check this month which included money for an ASCAPlus award, a reward issued for live performances of material over the past year as determined by a "panel of distinguished music experts."

Then Dan received the great news from Avid that he was randomly selected from over 20,000 contestants to win the Pro Tools studio giveaway. Dan received a nice pair of M-Audio monitor speakers, a Euphonix control surface, an Avid M-box Pro, an M-Audio Aviom 49 MIDI keyboard and Pro Tools 9 software as his prize. Hopefully, the good fortune wll continue (knock on wood). The new gear will come in very handy as Dan mixes the new DSC album to be released this year.

The DSC pay tribute to John Lennon at Travelling Guitar Foundation benefit

The Conspiracy joined several area acts at the "Come Together" John Lennon tribute benefitting the Travelling Guitar Foundation on December 15th at Bergen Community College's Ciccone Theatre, performing the Lennon-penned classics "Working Class Hero" and "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except For Me and My Monkey" alongside the Conspiracy tune "I'll See You There." The event was hosted by Q-104.3's Maria Milito and raised money to give guitars to schools.

The DSC featured on first Alive With Clive Top 20 music compilation to raise money to fight AIDS

"Rock Song" from the debut Dan Sheehan Conspiracy album is featured on Clive Swersky's downloadable album The First Alive With Clive Top 20, an album which will raise funds to battle AIDS in Swersky's home country of South Africa. Alive With Clive is Swersky's show on White Plains Cable. Dan appeared on his show in late 2008 and subsequently battled for a position in the Top 20 guest artists on the show, finishing at number 6, thus garnering track 6 on the compilation. A video of Dan discussing and performing "Rock Song" on Alive With Clive can be found on YouTube. Clive also blogged about this song on 2 occassions (occassion 1, occassion 2). Swersky's press release for the release can be found here.

The DSC play the big city

The Conspiracy's new lineup played its first Manhattan show at Desmond's, playing to a fired up crowd after opening act Bandsaw. Dan debuted his new Les Paul Studio and the band debuted the new Kono/Mason/Sheehan composition "Forevermore." The band sends thanks to the great crowd for inspiring us to rock it on out. If you missed it, you can see a video from the show to your right!

Simon & Dan on Working Musicians with Roger Z

Catch Simon and Dan's semi-unplugged performance and interview with Roger Z. You do live in Westchester County, NY, don't you? Part I airs Friday Nov. 12th and repeats over the next 3 days, part II aris Friday Nov. 19th with various repeat showings. Check channels and air times here and here. If you don't live in Westchester you can find the duo's performance of "The Ever Pleasant Notion" from the show to the left or, in larger format, on YouTube right here.

DSC songs to be licensed to Alli Sports

Dan is signing off ths month on a deal to have "The Valley" and other songs from The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy album appear in ads for the skateboard/BMX company Alli Sports. The conspiracy spreads to the skater crowd!

DSC in Radio Crystal Blue podcast

We have to give a shout out to Radio Crystal Blue podcaster Dan Herman for continuing to play music from our 2008 CD and for letting folks know of all our activities. Dan spun "Go Outside" from The DSC on his November 7th show and talked us up quite a bit. Go to his website check out the podcast and also check out our videos from our appearance with Dan as guest co-host on the web show Rew & Who? from earlier this year.

DSC return to the stage with Brooklyn show

The Conspiracy returned to the stage for the first time since the summer on October 9th with a set at Brooklyn's reknowned Trash Bar that featured the debut of the new songs "The Ever Pleasant Notion" and "I'll See You There." Whereas the the band's summer shows all featured guest keyboard players, for this show the guys opted for a straight-ahead, rock and roll 4-man guitar and drums lineup. We've posted photos from the show and you can see a video to the right and the other videos from the show right here!

1/2 Conspiracy on Working Musicians

In the absence of Gian and Dave, Simon and Dan had to put extra energy into ther renditions of the latest DSC tunes (and a few old classics) at the taping of 2 episodes of the Westchester cable show Working Musicians on Sept. 27th. The fellas blasted through all-guitar and vocal versions of "Have a Nice Summer," "Dark Summer," "The Valley," "See Kay," "Shown the Light" and the newest DSC tune "The Ever Pleasant Notion." Stay tuned for air dates. Will we be posting clips on YouTube??? We'll let you know after we check out the tape!

New DSC tunes!

Dan, Gian, Dave and Simon have been spending rehearsal time and long nights up in their (individual) bedrooms working on brand new songs for the upcoming DSC album. Because we want to get these songs done right, we are withdrawing our previously mentioned album release date of October 2010 and looking more realistically at an early 2011 release. We've been working on 3 songs that Dave and Simon started writing before joining the band, with Dan adding lyrics and the band arranging, as well as rehearsing a few in-progress tunes that Dan had before the new guys came in. We should be previewing one or two of these songs at our upcoming appearance on the Working Musicians TV show and at our October 9 show at Trash Bar and Brooklyn, so now you have something to look forward to, how about that?

BANTER, Dan's pre-Conspiracy band also consisting of drummer Joe Smith, guitarist Jeff G and bassist Doogie, played their first show since 2004 at Cambridge live music hub TT the Bear's on Friday, August 6th. The band ripped through a set featuring songs from their Urban Pastures album, the Side One EP, and covers "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" by the Kinks and the Simple Minds classic "Don't You Forget About Me." Original lead guitarist Lance Vallis joined the band for the classic Banter tune "Claireville Countryside," making it a truly special reunion (Lance had not played with the band since it's earliest days in the late 1990s). A reunited Wide Iris and two newer Boston bands, Monalisa Overdrive and Alechmilla, also put on great sets and made for an awesome night of Boston rock and roll!

So how did we sound after a six year hiatus? I will be the first to admit that in the band's history we have played our share of great shows and also our share of clunkers, and this show was one of the classic ones! I remember in 2002, when I moved to New Yorka and came back to Boston for a Banter show a month later, wondering how we'd sound after a month apart, and that we were all amazed that we pulled it off (before this we regularly rehearsed twice a week). Then we didn't play again for a year and a half, coming back in April 2004 for a show that the videotape reveals to have been a bit rough and rushed, but three months later, again with almost no practice, we played a great set at Sky Bar in Somerville, MA (R.I.P.) But this was six years, save one show in Austin with Joe in 2009, so we were all pretty skeptical. We got together at Doogie's house two nights before the show and were truly amazed at how well we did. The resulting show ended up being about 8 out of 10 songs sounding great (the other 2 sounding OK) as long as you can be forgiving about a few lyrics sung out of order here and there! We didn't even know until we were setting up our gear that (original Banter guitarist) Lance was going to be there and he did a great job rocking the leads to "Claireville Countryside" without having performed or practiced with us since nineteen-something.

DSC Recording Update

Meanwhile the Conspiracy are busy getting the second DSC album together. Dan is currently mixing down the first batch of tunes while the band prepares to record the remaining songs, which will include some new songs that the various band members are collaborating on. Word on the streets is that these songs are dope. One thing we'll leak for now is that Andy Krikun of Andy & the Rattlesnakes and Blazing Wheel has made a guest appearance, playing piano on "Something In Return."

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, etc.) 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!

To the right you can see a video of our last 2 songs from the night, "Dark Summer" and "Have a Nice Summer."

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.

-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)! 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.

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" (video to the right). 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.

Banter Activity Brewing

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 Dan

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 January 27th edition of the popular web show Rew and Who features Dan, Gian and Bobby being interviewed by none other than Radio Crystal Blue host Dan Herman along with show regular Rew. The show also has the fellas performing a stripped down version of "Have a Nice Summer." 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.

"Collateral Damage" featured in Anti-War Songs database

The anti-war rap rocker "Collateral Damage" from The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy, a song which has been used in public service announcements, aired on numerous radio stations, viewed in countries around the world on YouTube, and studied at Stony Brook University (see February 2008 news), has been added to the anti-war song database at antiwarsongs.org. You can see the page for "Collateral D" here and once again we present you with the video to your left.

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" once again 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!

Dan gigs with Conspiracy, Acoustic Odyssey, and solo

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 have a great take of "Patterns of the Rain: for you below....

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 found 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.

Ariel's Digital Press Conference

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.

In the podcasts...

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!

Love From AZ

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.

"Track of the Day" on GarageBand.com!

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's return 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."

Podcamp NYC

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.

Rockin' the Commons to fight cancer in Fredonia, NY

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.

The DSC on Long Island Sound WUSB-FM

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)."

DSC airplay rises nationwide

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 Press!

The DSC got nicely hyped up for the second week in a row in Good Times magazine's "Demolition" column on page 24 of the Feb. 5-18 issue. Read it here if you weren't able to pick up a copy.

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 ative365.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 more 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.

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

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!

BANTER DRUMMER JOE SMITH ASSAULTED!!!

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

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:

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