DNA was an American

no wave No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene that emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock's recycling of rock and r ...

band formed in 1977 by guitarist

Arto Lindsay Arthur Morgan "Arto" Lindsay (born May 28, 1953) is an American guitarist, singer, record producer and experimental composer. He was a member of the pioneering 1970s no wave group DNA, which featured on the 1978 compilation '' No New York''. In ...

and keyboardist Robin Crutchfield, and later joined by drummer Ikue Mori and bassist Tim Wright. They were associated with the late 1970s

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

no wave scene, and were featured on the 1978 compilation ''

No New York ''No New York'' is a no wave compilation album released in 1978 by record label Antilles under the curation of producer Brian Eno. Although it only contains songs by four different artists, it has been considered important in defining and docu ...

''.

History

DNA originally consisted of Lindsay, Crutchfield, Gordon Stevenson and Mirielle Cervenka, and took their name from a song by another no wave band,

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

. Stevenson went on to play bass for Teenage Jesus and the Jerks; Cervenka was the younger sister of

Exene Cervenka Exene Cervenka (born Christene Lee Cervenka; February 1, 1956) is an American singer, artist, and poet. She is best known for her work as a singer in the California punk rock band X. Music career The 21-year-old Cervenka met 23-year-old m ...

of X.

Terry Ork William Terry Ork (born William Terry Collins) was an American band manager and record producer for the new wave/punk music scene in New York City in the mid 1970s. Ork is associated with the success of the club CBGB as manager for punk band Telev ...

, head of Ork Records, booked the band at

Max's Kansas City Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South in New York City, which became a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists, and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s. It was opened by Mickey Ruskin (1933–1983) in Dece ...

for its first show. Cervenka and Stevenson left after hearing this. Lindsay and Crutchfield hastily recruited Ikue Mori—who at the time had little command of English and no musical experience—to be DNA's drummer. This lineup of DNA played occasionally at Tier 3,

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in the East Village, Manhattan, East Village in Manhattan, New York City. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for ''Cou ...

and

and recorded one 7" single. Within their first year, they had cemented their reputation as a paradigmatic no wave band when

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

selected them as one of the four groups documented on the ''

'' LP, the first recording to expose no wave groups to an audience outside of

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

. The other three bands appearing on this album were The Contortions, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and

. Shortly after the recording of ''No New York'', Crutchfield left DNA to form a new band, Dark Day. He was replaced by Tim Wright, previously of the

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

band

Pere Ubu Pere Ubu is an American rock group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. The band had a variety of long-term and recurring band members, with singer David Thomas being the only member staying throughout the band's lifetime. They released their ...

. As Wright played bass guitar and not keyboards and was the only member of the band to have any conventional instrumental technique, the change in DNA's sound was dramatic. The music became even more spare and angular, with Wright's bass lines creating a sometimes menacing sound to support Lindsay's scraping, atonal guitar and Mori's irregular rhythms. Their song structures became tighter, briefer, more abstract, and have been compared to

haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 Mora (linguistics), morae (called ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' in Japanese) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a ''kire ...

. The Lindsay-Mori-Wright lineup of DNA developed something of a

cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...

between 1979 and 1982, but perhaps more of their fans came from the art world than from rock audiences. Live shows were frequent in this period, but rarely outside of the

/ Mudd Club/ Tier 3 circuit in lower Manhattan. The group's 10-minute debut album, ''

A Taste of DNA ''A Taste of DNA'' is an EP by the no wave band DNA, released in 1981 through American Clavé. It was to be the band's last album to be released before they disbanded the following year. Track listing All songs written by DNA Personnel ;D ...

'' was recorded for Kip Hanrahan's ''American Clavé'' label, and was later released on Rough Trade in 1980. Some live DNA tracks appeared on compilation albums while the band was still in existence. Lindsay, Mori, and Wright decided to dissolve the band in 1982. Its final concerts were three consecutive sold-out nights at CBGB. DNA's final encore was a cover of

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

's "

Whole Lotta Love "Whole Lotta Love" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It is the opening track on the band's second album, '' Led Zeppelin II'', and was released as a single in 1969 in several countries; as with other Led Zeppelin songs, no singl ...

". This is not included on the CD ''Last Live at CBGB'', released more than a decade later, on

John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conducting, conductor, saxophonist, arrangement, arranger and record producer, producer who "deliberately resists category". His Avant-garde music, avant-garde and experimental music, ex ...

Avant Avant can refer to: People * Avant, part of music production team Bloodshy & Avant * Avant (singer), Myron Avant, an American singer * Clarence Avant, a music executive * Jason Avant, is a US American football player Places * Avant, Oklahoma, ...

label. Lindsay and Mori, and to a lesser extent Crutchfield, have remained active in music. '' DNA on DNA'', a comprehensive CD chronicle of the band, was released by No More Records in 2004.

In popular culture

The band is featured in the film '' Downtown 81'' starring

Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti ...

.McGonigal, Mike
"Same Ol' Samo"

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ × 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...

, Summer 2000. The rock group

Blonde Redhead Blonde Redhead is an American alternative rock band composed of Kazu Makino (vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar) and identical twin brothers Simone (drums, keyboards) and Amedeo Pace (lead guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals) that formed in New York ...

takes its name from a DNA song.

Discography

Live albums

* '' DNA (Last Live at CBGB's)'' (1993),

(Japan), Avant 006 (CD)

Compilation albums

* '' DNA on DNA'' (2004), No More Records, NoCD12

Collaboration

* '' John Gavanti'' (1980)

EPs

* ''

'' (1981), American Clavé, AMCL 1003EP (12")

Singles

* "You & You" b/w "Little Ants" (1978), Lust/Unlust Music, 11-CAN-234

Compilation appearances

* ''

'': various artists (four DNA tracks) (1978), Antilles, AN 7067 (LP) * ''The Fruit of Original Sin'': various artists (three DNA tracks) (1981), Les Disques Du Crepuscule, twi 035 (2xLP) * ''American Clavé Sampler'': various artists (one DNA track) (1993), American Clave (USA), AMCL 1020/1026 (2xCD)

Notes

References

* *

External links

Official Myspace page
for "Llik Your Idols", a documentary about the Cinema of Transgression featuring DNA live.
DNA Live at the Mudd Club, 1981
(YouTube clip 10:47)
"X-Magazine Benefit"
by Coleen Fitzgibbon and Alan W. Moore 1978/2009, video, 11 minutes of

Colab Colab is the commonly used abbreviation of the New York City artists' group Collaborative Projects, which was formed after a series of open meetings between artists of various disciplines. History Colab members came together as a collective in ...

's X Magazine Benefit that documents the

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

performances of DNA,

James Chance and the Contortions James Chance and the Contortions (initially known simply as Contortions, a spin-off group is called James White and the Blacks) was a musical group led by saxophonist and vocalist James Chance, formed in 1977. They were a central act of New York ...

, and Boris Policeband

DNA is the fourth and fifth tracks on Clocktower's

Vinyl Mix (aired 5/9/16) {{DEFAULTSORT:Dna No wave groups American experimental rock groups American noise rock music groups Musical groups disestablished in 1982