Live Performance of Dishwalla for the song Somewhere In The Middle
Dishwalla is an American, alternative rock band. The band's name comes from an Indian term for a person providing cable television to a neighborhood.
The Santa Barbara, CA, band Dishwalla made a big splash in 1996 with their catchy pop single "Counting Blue Cars." With the gritty heart and soul of those who came before them, Dishwalla's hard rock sound was enough for fans to make "Counting Blue Cars" one of the most-requested songs of that year. The song also garnered the band a Billboard award for Rock Song of the Year and allowed their debut album, Pet Your Friends, to sell more than a million copies.
Dishwalla, which emerged out of the early stages of post-grunge, is composed of J.R. Richards (vocals), Scot Alexander (bass), Rodney Browning (guitar), Jim Wood (keyboards), and George Pendergast (drums). They spent the mid-'90s touring with the likes of Sheryl Crow, Blind Melon, and the Goo Goo Dolls in support of Pet Your Friends. Prior to making a second album, the band was caught in the middle of the Polygram/Universal merger and such a move left Dishwalla pondering what to do next. Their second album And You Think You Know What Life's About was released in 1998; promotion and sales were lackluster due to label downsizing. Dishwalla's time with A&M was shortlived and exhausting because of such corporate behavior, but they stuck it out to contribute their cover version of "Policy of Truth" for the Depeche Mode tribute album For the Masses. By the new millennium, Dishwalla left behind major-market America for a third album. They signed with Immergent while Pendergrast left the band. Pete Maloney, a drummer picked up on the 1998 tour, resumed percussion duties. In 2002, Dishwalla appeared sound and sane, issuing the experimental third album Opaline. A self-titled album followed in 2005.
Back to the topMembers of Dishwalla
In 1996, the single "Counting Blue Cars" from the album Pet Your Friends climbed the charts and was much-played on the airwaves, bringing the band a short round of mainstream-scale success. The track earned them a Billboard Award for "Best Rock Song" for 1996 as well as two ASCAP Awards for "Rock Track Of The Year" in both 1996 and 1997. Their 1998 follow-up album, And You Think You Know What Life's About, failed to sustain the level of popularity achieved by "Counting Blue Cars". (Partially responsible for the situation was Universal's 1998 purchase and dissolution of A&M/Polygram, the label that produced the two albums.) The group is remembered for their creative compositions and the smooth yet powerful vocals of J.R. Richards. Their unique style and musical talent landed them many movie and TV series ventures.
Dishwalla have since made a handful of other ventures into the limelight. In 1995 the song "Counting Blue Cars" was featured in the movie "Empire Records". In 1998 landed the song "Truth Serum" in The Avengers; in 1999, the song "Stay Awake" was featured in the movie Stir of Echoes' and the song "Find Your Way Back Home" was featured in the movie American Pie in 2002 the song "Home" was in the movie The Banger Sisters; and the The WB series Charmed spotlighted Dishwalla as musical guests in one episode. Other TV shows that have used their songs include Smallville, The OC, Cold Case and NCIS. The band, which has a loyal fan following, has gone on to release two more studio albums, Opaline and the self-titled Dishwalla, as well as a live album, Live... Greetings From The Flow State.
Five singles charted on Billboard. In 1996, "Counting Blue Cars" peaked at #15 on the Hot 100 but climbed to #5 on both the Adult Top 40 and Hot 100 Airplay charts, #4 on the Top 40 Mainstream charts, #2 on the Mainstream Rock charts, and #1 on the Modern Rock charts. "Charlie Brown's Parents" hit #24 on the Mainstream Rock charts. The following year, "Give" was a #26 Adult Top 40 single. In 1998, "Once in a While" reached #17 on the Mainstream Rock charts and #20 on the Modern Rock charts. Finally, "Somewhere in the Middle" hit #25 on the Adult Top 40 charts in 2002.
In 2006 the band decided to take a break from recording.
In 2008 Dishwalla returned to touring with a modified lineup. The band's original drummer George Pendergast and the lead singer of Tripdavon, Justin Fox, as "Special Guest Vocalist" will be playing shows.
Lead Singer J.R. Richards has recorded a debut solo album titled "A Beautiful End" scheduled to be released in early 2009.
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