Audio-Files

All the young D.O.R.K.s

By Cassie Hood
hoodc@mscd.edu

Donovan Welsh needed something to pull him away from his barroom fights.

As he stood facing possible charges for assault, he decided he needed a new crowd and a new hobby. So, in 2001, he learned to play the bass and started a band.

His new crowd consisted of Bryan Knoebel and Schuyler Ankele, friends of friends from high school. They called themselves D.O.R.K. and started banging around the garage. After adding a new drummer and singer they started playing live-prematurely, as it turned out.

"We were playing out live way before we should have," Welsh said with a laugh. "It was awful; we had a drummer that couldn't play."

After a few lineup changes, including hiring Jimmy "Styx" Blair as their drummer, they were ready to be taken seriously. With embarrassing moments out of the way and a competent drummer in the fold, they set out to conquer the world, D.O.R.K. style.

In 2003, after a few low-scale tours, the band drove down to New Mexico to join the Vans Warped Tour. The only obstacle in their plan was the fact that they hadn't been invited to play the tour. They managed to talk their way into a one-day gig after literally running into Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman. The following year, after another chance meeting, the band traded work as setup crew on the tour in exchange for an opportunity to play a few gigs.

This year, their audacity and perseverance paid off. D.O.R.K. landed a real spot on the Warped Tour, and toured in style in the Fuse TV bus.

In the early days, the band played mostly 21+ shows and the response was underwhelming. Once they made the switch to all-ages shows, the band found its audience. Most of D.O.R.K.'s fans are teenagers, a fact that the band doesn't mind at all.

"Our humor is very much like a 13-year-old," Ankele said. "That's what we write songs for-stuff we like. We were once young rockers."

This humor is readily apparent in their live shows. The band likes to poke fun at itself and harass its audiences. At a recent show, Knoebel announced that he needed to get laid, then, minutes later, he stated he couldn't keep the girls out of his pants and turned around to shake his butt for the audience. Later, the band harangued the audience into a half-hearted sing-along as they played a song called "Fuck Yeah."

It's not all goofing-off and adolescent humor; D.O.R.K. shows pull the audience in. They play with intensity, throwing their entire being into their music. Their up-tempo, jovial songs make it impossible not to bounce along with the beat. As Blair franticly beats the high-hat, his face wrought with intensity, it seems as if he doesn't have time to breathe. Welsh and Knoebel bounce around the stage, constantly on the verge of crashing into each other. Ankele thrashes around, leaving the audience afraid he might fall off the stage. That intensity breathes new life into each chord and lyric. The live sound is closer to pure rock 'n' roll than pop-punk.

On their albums, the band lacks much of the intensity and individuality its live experience offers. Their songs sound like teenage poetry set to a formulaic pop-punk beat. The album offers a chance for Knoebel and Ankele's voices to shine. Both singers have high, somewhat whiny voices. On the CD, both voices are clearer and less harsh. They come across as sweet and lulling in some of the songs, a sound the live show lacks.

D.O.R.K. has put forth the effort to be successful and it looks to be paying off. To date, the band has played over 320 shows and sold around 4000 copies of its CDs. They recently recorded three songs, an original, "Jamie" and two covers, for the next "American Pie" movie, according to Welsh. Between that and their Warped Tour success, these dorks appear to be headed for the big time.

Catch D.O.R.K. when they get their goof on at 6 p.m. Sept. 17 at the Ogden Theatre. Free tickets are available for anyone over 21. Contact the band at www.wearedork.com for details. Everyone else, including their legions of teenage devotees, will have to pay $6.