New Dreamers Bio:
Left to Right: Byron Lai, David Lassiter, Rudy Trubit, and Beano Shots [Poster from Matt Miller's collection]
The band's material was an amalgam of original songs, some by Rudy (Space Patrol, 666 The Anti-Christ-lyric by Kevin Carr). Space Patrol had one of my personal favorite lines (all modesty aside): "He will eat and sleep-with radioactive aliens. He is without fear, a space-age Father Damien. Spaaaaa-aaaace Pa-trooooool!")Other New Dreamers songs were by Beano who had already begun a fecund collaboration with Rollo P. Banks. "Black Gold" was an example of their early work ("Oil and Water-super spill. Prices going higher, while asshole foots the bill! War with the arabs, what a fucking choice. I'd scream it to the world, but the fumes attack my voice.")Bryon Lai contributed at least one original number. There were also an assortment of cover tunes-Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Cars, other assorted New Wave tunes. The band played a handful of gigs. A self-produced debut
show took place at the cabinet-making shop Beano worked at. Another
early show was at Little Orphan Annie's out by the airport, where the
audience sat stoically until we played the one song they knew. It was
by the Cars, probably "Just what I needed." Suddenly, the
dance floor was packed. This was my first experience with that phenomona--people
will often ONLY dance to songs they already know. It was pretty interesting,because
I don't remember ever having people dance at any of my gigs, and I hadn't
been to enough club shows to realize that was what happend. Ah, youth. The band dissolved shortly thereafter when drummer Lassiter
anounced his departure to join a band being formed by Sean Thibadeau
that promised to play more familiar material ("The Letter,"
"Happy Together," what would eventually become baby-boomer
staples). In retrospect, the lesson of the Little Orphan Annie's show
was not lost on Lassiter, as he was always pushing for familiar covers
and less of the weird shit I was trying to make the band play, having
just heard the first B-52's album. I was very dissapointed, but it wasn't too long before
Beano and I were contacted by Kit, mastermind behind that band that
would become the Squids. Byron went on to Hat Makes the Man, the cover
band Lassiter joined practiced like crazy, played one gig (if memory
serves) and collapsed. He returned to the fold, joining the Squids as
the sixth member, doing lights and sound and filling in on drums during
the "Porky Star Set," when drummer Frank Orrall came up to
sing a few songs every night. A tiny foot-note: The New Dreamers were briefly known
as the Diamond Heads. There is a very cool black and white flyer we
made up, with a photo by a friend of Beano (Shuzo?), the same photographer
that would later take the picture used for the slik-screen of the Squid's
EP Rudy Trubitt |