Things may be happening quickly for Memphis rockers Dust For Life, but that doesn't seem to bother the band. After all, they come from a town that thrives on the business of rock and roll, where you don't have to look too far for inspiration.
Dust For Life began playing gigs around town in 1998. At first, things actually happened too fast. After receiving heavy airplay for one of their self-produced demos on a local radio station, founding member and guitarist Jason Hughes saw his up-and-coming band nearly crumble. He realized fulfilling his vision meant changing the band's line-up.
Hughes finally settled in with kindred spirits Chris Gavin on guitar and vocals, Rick Shelton on drums and vocals and Dave Rhea on bass. The new lineup brought a lot of experience and true commitment to Dust For Life. They were back in business.
The four musicians insist it was nearly cosmic how they got together. Chris Gavin was in another local band. Hughes had heard one of Gavin's demos, liked his voice and went to check out one of his shows. According to Hughes, "I sensed that behind those songs was a songwriting soul mate."
"I called him the next day and he immediately said, 'Let's get started on Wednesday,'" recalls Gavin. But that wasn't soon enough. Adds Gavin, "I said, 'Let's get started right now!'" Drummer Shelton (who was living in Los Angeles) was lured into Dust For Life after making, what he calls, a 2 A.M. "creative-crisis exit" out of L.A. He drove all the way back to Memphis and three days later joined the band. The last to join was Florida native Dave Rhea on bass who was recruited from the band Von Ra.
Dust For Life began the year 2000 determined to capture their newfound energy on tape. With a combination of time at Gavin's home studio and time booked at Ardent, one of Memphis' most famed recording studios, the band set out to record a CD that would be self distributed. Pete Matthews joined the band in the studio as co-producer. According to Matthews, "We were real low-key at first. We cut ten tracks in four days and sent them off to a couple of labels and people loved it. It's the best record I've ever been involved with." Wind-up Records signed the band and the recording continued. Hughes adds, "We were trying to record the best sounding record we could, and it was great that we didn't have to go back and re-track any of the songs."
The combination of recording in both a home and professional studio enabled the band to explore the subtler details of their song arrangements. According to Gavin," A lot of the vocals were recorded in my home studio. It gave me the freedom to try different things that I would have never been able to try otherwise. Time and money just wouldn't have permitted it. "
With influences drawn from the past few decades of rock, Dust For Life's music is instantly familiar and each song is instantly memorable. Dust For Life boast serious heaviness, but never shy away from beautiful melody. With every change of tempo, Gavin and Hughes' well-crafted songs are powered by their tandem guitar playing, and finessed by Shelton and Rhea's incredible ability to sustain the groove.
That ability is rooted deep into both Rhea and Shelton's musical fabric. Shelton's father was a drummer and he was raised on the rhythms of R&B. According to Shelton, "By the time I was four, all I wanted was to be a drummer."
Rhea's first musical experiences were similarly based in R&B. "My dad used to bang on my door yelling, ' Why are you listening to Otis Redding in the dark.'" He added, " I was a weird kid."
As a struggling musician, Gavin cut his teeth playing rhythm and blues in the city that is famous for soul music. Although he studied classical and jazz guitar, says Gavin, "I played in disco and funk bands. I learned more from covering Commodores songs than in any other stage of my musical training."
Both Gavin and Hughes, who share songwriting responsibilities on the CD, readily admit their songs have a similar theme. "There is a common thread," admits Gavin. "We were all dealing with hardships and failed relationships."
According to Hughes, "Songwriting is a way to deal with relationships or not fitting in with others. For me, I had people who wanted to stamp me into a mold that I was not comfortable with. Songwriting was a way to get out that energy and voice it." He adds, "Songs are like paintings, they mark a point in your life, and you can go back and see where you're progressing in your life."
"The songs are all very real to us because we all were exercising some demons," says Gavin. Ultimately, Gavin says, "The album is about dealing with various stages of acceptance."
One of the best examples of this can be heard on the first single "Step Into The Light." According to Gavin, the song is about, "seeing the truth and having the ability to accept it and grow from it. It's about discovering that everyone is dealing with hardships and overcoming them."
Dust For Life's dark lyrics lure the listener into a web of haunting imagery. Although dark in tone, Dust For Life's songs always redeem themselves with uplifting choruses. Of the CD's first song "Dirt Into Dust," Gavin explains further about dealing with hardships. "The song is about my way of motivating myself through times of pain and depression. It was a song that reminded me that you don't let anything beat you. It's about being at rock bottom and motivating myself to overcome bad situations."
On "Where the Freaks Go," Gavin offers an acoustic rendering of a painful resolution with a friend. He surrenders power chords for poignant lyrics and distortion for the determination to walk away from this troubled relationship.
Dust For Life further impress with understatement. "Lifelike" features a single-note progression on piano played by Shelton, which carries the verse with startling drama.
Judging by the impact Dust For Life is having on radio, their music appears to be reaching people. Having already made believers out of local Memphis radio programmers, the band's debut single "Step Into The Light" found its way onto some of the discriminating radio stations in the country. Additionally, as rock bands venture back into arenas and stadiums nationwide, the business of picking support acts has become critical to each show's success. Dust For Life has already been invited as the support for two of the most successful tours of the year, Creed and 3 Doors Down.
Source: http://www.dflrock.com/bio.html
