Did anyone believe that the decadent clan known as The Dandy Warhols would be around two decades after their formation in Portland, Ore.? Frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor will be the first to say, "No way." But he also can't imagine a life without music — a mutual obsession he shares with bandmates that are still making Psych-tinged Rock records and playing live shows long after The Dandy Warhols commercial and cultural peak.
"I tend to only write songs when I feel that it’s my last desperate cry for help before absolute abject suicidal depression, and it works," Taylor-Taylor told allmusic.com earlier this year. "It’s been working for me since I was 14 years old, picking up a guitar and noodling and stuff comes out. You make up a song or a few lines and a melody about your whatever it is that’s fucking with you emotionally at the time, and you feel better. It’s absolute salvation."
As the above statement attests, Taylor-Taylor isn't above a little Rock & Roll hyperbole, a trait never more evident than in 2004's Dig!, a fascinating documentary about his band's rivalry with The Brian Jonestown Massacre. And while the Dandys have never reached the glory to which they clearly aspire, they've managed to release nine studio albums of varying artistic merit.
The best of the bunch is Thirteen Tales of Urban Bohemia, a sprawling, genre-jumping record that ranges from the down-home feel of "Country Leaver" to the horn-addled psychedelic spender of lead track "Godless" to the Power Pop concision of "Bohemian Like You." Nodding to its place as a fan favorite, the band released Thirteen Tales of Urban Bohemia Live at the Wonder earlier this year — a record that encapsulates pretty much everything that is alluring and frustrating about The Dandy Warhols.
THE DANDY WARHOLS play Newport's Southgate House Revival on Wednesday, Sept. 17. Tickets/more info here .
