Domeshots released their sophomore effort Reception on March 21, 2005. They say that a band's second album pretty much sets the pace for the rest of their career. Domeshots need not worry about falling victims to the 'sophomore slump,' because with Reception they delivery a strong rock album that is ripe with maturity and growth, as compared to their debut album Self-Titled. Domeshots have been touring relentlessly since the day they formed and haven't looked back. I was able to nail down frontman Danner Alexander (who prefers to go by just Danner) during a rare break from the road.
If I knew absolutely nothing about Domeshots, how would you describe the band’s music to me?
DA: A hard hitting modern rock group heavily influenced by rock across the board, contemporary stuff (Mars Volta), the older stuff (Helmet & Primus); that range of hard rock.
Where did the name Domeshots come from?
DA: It’s an East Coast slang term from the 30s and 40s. That’s all I can divulge at the moment. You’ll get some good answers if you type it into dictionary.com.
When and where did the band get together?
DA: We all went to high school together. We jammed and we played music together, but it really wasn’t until late 2002 that we got serious. At that point we had been playing music together for about five, six years. It was just in garages, at community centers, and stuff like that.
What were the circumstances behind landing your record deal with Rock Ridge Music?
DA: We had known Tom [Derr] before we started working with [Rock Ridge]. We had already taken the initiative to start touring full time. We had a record done when we first started working with Rock Ridge. We sort of showed up with the record just ready to be released. We had a year of touring behind us before we released Self-Titled.
How did you know Tom?
DA: We knew him through a booking agent who was a good friend of ours. The agent passed our music to Tom. He had got in touch with us and just sort of followed us. I think he liked that we had taken the initiative and just started doing things on our own. We had no label, no backing, no management, and we had made the decision to not be just a local band anymore.
Your first album didn’t really strike a chord with me, but your latest album Reception is quite an improvement. Do you believe that Reception surpasses your debut?
DA: Yeah, I would agree with you. I believe that it surpasses it tenfold. Absolutely! Self-Titled was just a product of our budget, our expertise, and our experience. It was basically made by kids that didn’t know what they were doing; just trying to produce their own record, pay for it out of pocket, and put it out. We really learned a lot over the last two years. Reception was self produced too. You’re hearing two years of growth, songwriting, and production ideas.
Article comments
1 - nanny
This is the beat group out there. They are not just great artists, they are great people.
2 - nanny
This is the beat group out there. They are not just great artists, they are great people.