The Dharma Bums were a U.S. garage band, consisting of Jim Talstra,

John Moen John Moen is a musician and member of The Decemberists, Black Prairie, Boston Spaceships, Eyelids, and Perhapst. Moen has played the drums since he was 15 years old. Prior to joining The Decemberists, Moen played with over 20 bands including s ...

, Jeremy Wilson, and Eric Lovre. They named themselves after the

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian an ...

book ''

The Dharma Bums ''The Dharma Bums'' is a 1958 novel by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac. The basis for the novel's semi-fictional accounts are events occurring years after the events of ''On the Road''. The main characters are the narrator Ray Smith, based on ...

''. The band was formed in 1987 in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

, United States, by members of two local bands, The Watchmen and Perfect Circle (no connection with the later bands The Watchmen or

A Perfect Circle A Perfect Circle is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. A Perfect Circle has released four studio albums, the first three during the early 2000s ...

). Their first album, ''Haywire'', was produced by

Scott McCaughey Scott Lewis McCaughey is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter and the leader of the Seattle and Portland-based bands The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5. He was also an auxiliary member of the American rock band R.E.M. from 199 ...

(lead singer of the

Young Fresh Fellows Young may refer to: * Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents * Youth, the time of life when one is young, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood Music * The Young, an American roc ...

) and recorded for the PopLlama label in 1989. McCaughey later played their debut to

Frontier Records Frontier Records is an independent record label, started in 1980 in Sun Valley, Los Angeles by Lisa Fancher, a former employee of Bomp! Records and writer of the liner notes for the first album by The Runaways. History Frontier Records fir ...

boss Lisa Fancher, who was impressed enough to re-release the album. One of the tracks, "Boots of Leather", proved to be an enduring

college radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

hit. In 1990 the more polished album ''Bliss'' was released on Frontier Records. Featuring greatly improved songwriting, this release covered subjects including rape, adolescence, and suicide in a mature fashion built on ragged rock textures. The Dharma Bums recorded their third and final album ''Welcome'' for the Tim/Kerr label in 1991 and disbanded in 1992. Wilson went on to form the alt-rock band Pilot. Many in the local Portland scene had expected the Dharma Bums to be a breakthrough

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...

act of the Northwest music scene. Some biographers, such as Melissa Rossi, author of ''Courtney Love: Queen of Noise'', and

Poppy Z Brite Billy Martin (born May 25, 1967), formerly Poppy Z. Brite, is an American author. He initially achieved fame in the gothic horror genre of literature in the early 1990s by publishing a string of successful novels and short story collections. He i ...

, author of '' Courtney Love: The Real Story'', write that

Courtney Love Courtney Michelle Love (née Harrison; born July 9, 1964) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, her career has spanned four decades. She rose to prominence as ...

and

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American musician who served as the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona ...

first met each other at a Dharma Bums concert in Portland — when Nirvana served as the opening act. In an interview with

Fuse TV Fuse is an American pay television channel launched in 1994 which was originally dedicated to music. After merging with the Latino-oriented NuvoTV in 2015, Fuse shifted its focus to general entertainment and lifestyle programming targeting mult ...

posted on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

on March 11, 2012, Courtney Love herself says, "I met (Kurt) in 1988 at a Dharma Bums show."

Discography

LPs

* ''Haywire'' (PopLLama Records, 1988) * ''Bliss'' (Frontier Records, 1990) * ''Welcome'' (Frontier Records, 1991)

Singles

* Haywire (7", PopLLama Records, 1988) * Givin In (7", Frontier Records, 1991) * Battle Of The Northwest Super Powers! (7", Frontier Records, 1992, Split 7" with

)

References

External links

* Dharma Bums entry on allmusic.com
SATYRICOM ...THE ALBUM
is a tribute to the defunct Portland nightclub.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dharma Bums Garage rock groups from Oregon Alternative rock groups from Oregon Musical groups from Portland, Oregon PopLlama Records artists 1987 establishments in Oregon Musical groups established in 1987