Dishwater Blonde

http://www.eonline.com/Gossip/Answer/index.jsp?id=82&num=3

A.B. Replies: What's Dullsville is watching Paris Hilton at 2 a.m., crawling out of yet another paparazzi lair/velvet-rope fortress/tourist trap, swathed in two pounds of camera-ready foundation and mewling that she has no privacy.

Lots of actors stay up late, indulging in varying combinations of feuding, catfighting, back-stabbing, boyfriend stealing or just looking at each other funny over $400 bottles of Dom. In fact, Hollywood's hottest clubs rarely open their doors before 9 p.m., and the concave young celebrities of our era rarely appear before 11. There goes your theory, up and floating away like Lindsay Lohan caught in a Santa Ana wind.

I mean, don't you want to read, in future issues of Us Weekly, stories about, gosh, I don't know, Mary-Kate snubbing Nicole in the VIP room at Dude's or, say, Ashlee Simpson making out with Alyssa Milano, all while DJ AM spun blisterin' hot tracks, and Bijou Phillips sipped an S Guaro, and Kimberly Stewart collapsed, wilted and dazed after yet another failed attempt to outrun the pigpen-like haze of C-lister smog that follows her everywhere? Stuff like that never happens over dinner. At least, not out here.

*Vince Vaughn alone could keep the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power out of the red, given his fondness for amplified entertainments into the wee hours. He used to hang at Joey Lauren Adams' late-night faux-country-music club; now he takes the party on the road with his new live comedy show.

*An Atlanta paper recently detailed his party-crashing itinerary: getting off his own bus to check out a band called DISHWATER BLONDE, hanging out for three hours and dancing for everyone. "Vaughn," the story read, "was clutching two DISHWATER BLONDE CDs when he finally departed the club in the wee hours."

http://www.wbir.com/cs/blogs/the_pop_culturephile/archive/2006/02/09/1313.aspx
- Eonline

And in Atlanta, party boy Vince Vaughn was spotted at Vinyl shaking his booty to Dishwater Blonde after his comedy show at EarthLink Live. The Loft’s talent buyer, Brandon Mize, who was also at Vinyl that night told me, “He was dancing and everything. It was great.” Well, thanks for the insightful commentary. Obviously, men are as mesmerized by Vaughn as women are.

- The Suday Paper (Atlanta, GA.)

Atlanta Journal Constitution (PEACH BUZZ)

Overscene

"Wedding Crashers" thespian Vince Vaughn did a little late-night party-crashing at Vinyl, the nightclub adjacent to his sold-out Wild West Comedy Show at Earthlink Live in Midtown early Thursday morning. Originally, his after-party was scheduled for elsewhere, but Vaughn opted at the last minute to get off the bus and check out Dishwater Blonde, the band gigging inside.

Three hours later, the band finished up by playing "Soul Man" and some Prince covers as Vaughn showed off his "Wedding Crashers" dance moves.

"He spent a lot of time here," Josh Antenucci told us Friday. "He shot some pool, had some cocktails and was just a cool guy."

Vaughn was clutching two Dishwater Blonde CDs when he finally departed the club in the wee hours.

- Atlanta Journal Constitution (PEACH BUZZ)

In a relatively short time, Knoxville funk ensemble Dishwater Blonde has become one of the most celebrated and promising bands in the area. The past few months have been a watershed for the band, with performances at Sundown in the City, Saturday Night on the Town and Bonnaroo. In addition to fueling the word-of-mouth fire that started with the band's debut, these gigs have caught the eye of commercial sponsors and other promoters looking to bring the band's music to a national stage.
Three separate shows at this year's Bonnaroo had Dishwater Blonde frontman Davis Mitchell in an excitable state of disbelief. The experience is one only a few local bands know firsthand. Often competing for attendance with national favorites such as Dave Matthews and Jack Johnson, the band was thrilled with the turnout at its stage.


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"It was amazing, especially for a band of our age," says Mitchell. "We're just now getting our feet wet gigging regionally, so getting picked for Bonnaroo was pretty cool. It was an amazing energy, not only getting to perform but getting to see how all that works. We had these all-access passes, so we got to see all these shows from backstage and got to sit down and eat with Herbie Hancock, and see all these intimate interviews with John Mayer, Robert Randolph and Jack Johnson."

Dishwater Blonde's recent shows have showcased the band to promoters eager to have the group play in their areas, though DWB's next big gig will be in Knoxville, headlining Metrofest Sept. 10, before heading to Cincinnati for the Midpoint Music Festival.

"We're talking with Jones Soda about putting together this mini-tour where we go to New York and get ourselves in front of some labels," says Mitchell. "We're going to do stuff like that and keep writing and recording music, and hopefully it will begin to snowball and be out of control, and we'll be living next door to Puff Daddy before you know it."

Before leaving town, however (except for a gig in Tuscaloosa), Dishwater Blonde will release its second album, "The Second Coming," with a Blue Cats show slated for Aug. 26. The new album will unveil a slight shift in the band's direction, drawing more on rock influences than in previous work.

"It's a new spin on how we sound," says Mitchell. "It's more progressive and has more of a rock edge. It has more developed songwriting and better recording quality."

With its recent boost toward stardom, a new album on the way and last week's Prince tribute at Blue Cats, Mitchell says the band's ratio of original and cover tunes will continue to weigh on the side of original songs. While the Prince tribute was appropriate after so many comparisons (not to mention DWB's founding members first met while in line for Prince tickets), Mitchell says that covers are far less gratifying now that fans have become familiar with his own work.

"The comparison (to Prince) is always there. Anytime someone pops in our CD and hears a guy singing in a falsetto, they think Prince," Mitchell says.

Saturday, July 23, Contagioso - an impromptu, experimental conglomerate of Dishwater Blonde and the Spades Band, will play Preservation Pub at 10 p.m.

By JER COLE
July 22, 2005



- News Sentinel

Stylistically and physically, Dishwater Blonde is a model of musical diversity. Ranging from funk to R&B to disco to rock opera, the group has a vast arsenal for getting its messages across, and with up to 10 rotating band members on stage at once, the party begins before the fans are even allowed in.

Dishwater Blonde was formed when founding members Robby Mathis and Davis Mitchell (formerly of Mr. Skinny) met in line for Prince tickets in 1997. The two musicians began exchanging influences and recording demos, ultimately building up the necessary steam to recruit a lengthy roster of players and release the band's self-titled debut in 2004.

Combining band members "from all walks of life," from ornithologists to architects, the band names its chief influences as Sly & The Family Stone, the Gap Band and Prince. Dishwater Blonde's wide array of characters and influences produces an understandably motley set list.

"Our name itself, Dishwater Blonde, means different things to different people, and that's sort of how our music tends to be, too," says bassist Mathis. "Different people pick up on different aspects of it and might describe it one way while another person may hear something totally different."

"Gerald (Ware), our drummer, stylistically comes from the same background as us, but he likes to branch off from that," adds vocalist/guitarist Mitchell. "What he says he likes about playing with Dishwater Blonde is that from one minute we'll be funk and pop, the next minute we'll be rock opera, and the next minute we'll be straight-up rock."

With vocals compared to the likes of Stevie Wonder delivered in a Jamiroquai-like format, the band is known for its energetic live act and never playing its songs the same way twice. Through the duration of the band's three-plus hour shows, fans quickly become performers as the group heavily promotes audience participation in a multitude of forms.

After overcoming some personal strife in recent years, the group members are like family to each other, and they devote themselves to spreading a positive message.

"Through overcoming some obstacles in my life over the past couple of years, with Robby being a really positive influence, we've been able to take some of our influences and lay out a real positive, openly spiritual message over a bed of nasty funk and R&B that gets people moving and hopefully asking questions," explains Mitchell. "We practice something I like to call the 'medicine in the dog food' philosophy, where we put a message of hope and love into music you can dance to as well as anything out there."

On Wednesday Dishwater Blonde will excite the Downtown Grill and Brewery, and the band anticipates a nine-piece ensemble for the performance.

By JER COLE
August 20, 2004



- News Sentinel

Contagioso is Catching
It looked like it was going to be a quiet Saturday evening at Preservation Pub, after a clever but quiet set by San Francisco duo Mars Arizona. That’s until seven guys got up on the little corner stage, including a big guy on congas, a dude with a guitar and a ‘fro, an intense-looking fellow with a trumpet, and a familiar-looking kid with a Sinatra hat pulled down like Kenny Chesney as a gangsta.
It was a band known, for the evening at least, as Contagioso. Led by Davis Mitchell, charismatic frontman for Dishwater Blonde, the band included elements of both DB and the Spades, the latter of whom had played the same joint the night before. What followed from the seven-piece band was an orgy of biracial funk that packed the dance floor with that rarity in downtown clubs, a biracial audience.
Guitarist Cosmo Holloway’s fro was the object of pre-show sarcasm at the bar. By the end of the show, we all wished we had one.
Mitchell seems to have a healthy ego, but he stepped aside several times during the night to let a broad range of guest singers step in, to balance the funk with folk-rock and soul and two-mike hip-hop. Though more than half of their repertoire is recognizable funk classics from James Brown to Prince, some of them combined in cunning medleys, Contagioso added much of its own and seemed to pump the old stuff up just a notch. Maybe it was the malt liquor we were drinking, but Contagioso seemed more or less to be picking up where Sly and the Family Stone dropped off 30 years ago, and left us trying to remember why we ever gave up on funk.


- Metro Pulse

Local acts appearing at the Bonnaroo Music Festival 2005 include R. B. Morris & Hector Qirko, Mic Harrison, Dixie Dirt, Jodie Manross, Dishwater Blonde and Todd Steed & the Suns of Sphere.

"It takes a stage of development to communicate with thousands of people and this offers an opportunity to take that next step," said Capps.

- News Sentinel (Knoxville, TN.)

Dishwater Blonde
So, Davis Mitchell, what’s up with wearing a hat all the time? You’ve got a snazzy collection and all, but we are living in the 21st century these days, and it’s just not normal. Are you trying to hide something? An embarrassingly shaped bald spot, or a raging Mohawk you don’t want your mom to see? Because, we’re on your side, buddy. We promise not to tell.

Unless, of course, the rumors are true—that what’s really going on beneath those colorful felt domes is a stealth hypnotic operation. Mind bullets, as Tenacious D would say. As in, you and your band, Dishwater Blonde, casually get up to perform your brand of neo-soul white boy funk, and suddenly the audience loses control over their own bodies. Even the most sedentary toes start tapping, slow-motion butts begin twitching, and the dance floor mysteriously swells beyond fire code capacity. You don’t think that’s just a little bit fishy? We’re not accusing you of anything, Mr. Mitchell; all we’re saying is that it looks pretty damn suspicious. (Leslie Wylie)
Back to School Funktacular w/ Dishwater Blonde, Jaystorm and DJ Stress • Friday, Aug. 26, 9 p.m. • Blue Cats • $6; $5 with college ID

- Metro Pulse Online

Funk bands bring fusion of sound to Old City
Cheryl Burk - Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 02, 2005 issue
Click here to print


Students with a flair for funk and an ear for excitement should head down to Blue Cats tonight to hear Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe.

The band is considered to be a “highly energized funk machine” and has been doing its thing together since 1998. The band has a reputation that precedes it as a group whose energy allows it to perform an impressive all-night show. The group released its album “The Bridge” in 2002 which received praise from critics.

Justin Thorpe, bar manager at Blue Cats, said Denson’s dynamic sound is hard to categorize in just one genre.

“They are rhythm and blues, hip-hop and jazz. It’s led by former Lenny Kravitz saxophone player Karl Denson,” Thorpe said. “They have a mix of jazz soul and funk.”

Hunter Bradshaw, marketing coordinator at Blue Cats, said Denson’s performances are one of a kind.

“Karl Denson, one of the funkiest guys around. He sings, he plays a flute, he plays the sax — he was the saxophonist in “Coming to America. He has collaborated with tons of people and he is huge on the Bonnaroo scene. His sound is really upbeat, soulful, and funky.”

Dishwater Blonde will open up for Karl Denson’s tiny universe and viewers can expect their show to be equally captivating. Dishwater Blonde is considered a Knoxville “neo-soul” sensation. The band recently released its self-titled debut album which has been making waves throughout Knoxville. The band’s reputation has spread throughout Knoxville gaining it a growing base of loyal fans.

Thorpe said Dishwater Blonde is known for drawing a crowd and getting them involved.

“Dishwater blond is opening and they are really good they have always brought a good crowd for us,” Thorpe said. “They really bring the crowd to life with the lead singers energetic dancing and vocals throughout the show.”

“It will probably be a whole night of jazz and funk infused music,” Thorpe added.

Bradshaw said he is personally a fan of Dishwater Blonde and that the band has been getting crowds going since their second concert.

“Dishwater Blonde is a blast!” Bradshaw said. “I went to their second concert and everyone in the entire bar was going crazy convinced in their own funkiness.”

To juxtapose these two funk inspired bands, Blue Cats will also offer a bit of rock ‘n’ roll in the form of Old Union. Old Union blends the sounds of blues and rock to create a unique new sound appealing to even the most discriminating music fans. Old Union, like Dishwater Blonde, has accumulated a loyal fan base that can’t get enough of this band’s energizing shows.

The concert costs $15 at the door and Thorpe says for three bands that will just keep going this is not a bad deal.

“For $15 you are going to get three bands whose high energy level is uncommon,” Thorpe said.

For more information on the concert go to http://bluecatslive.com

- The Daily Beacon

By Steve Wildsmith

of The Daily Times Staff

There's a song on the new Dishwater Blonde album, ``Spark,'' that's more fitting in its title than perhaps anything front man Davis Mitchell has ever written.

It's a simple acoustic track, gentle in tone and stripped of the bombast, the exuberance, the fast and furious R&B funk that's a common denominator in the rest of Dishwater Blonde's music. But it has more soul than just about anything else in the band's catalogue.

Mitchell wrote it, you see, sitting in the stairwell of the Knox Area Rescue Ministries. He wasn't slumming it, getting in touch with his gritty urban side to make some sort of statement. He wasn't visiting friends. He was a resident, and ``Spark'' was the first song he attempted to write after finding salvation and escaping a dark road of addiction that had led him toward death.

In the more than three years since then, Mitchell has gone on to leave the mission program, land a job, marry his wife, Angela, and start a band that has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the East Tennessee music scene that's unparalleled by all but a few other acts. The whole time, he's never lost sight of where he's been or who's responsible for the blessings he's received -- God.

``These songs, that's what they came out of,'' Mitchell told The Daily Times this week, discussing the band's new album, ``The Second Coming,'' that Dishwater Blonde will celebrate tonight at Blue Cat's. ``God reminded me of where I had been and made me see where he brought me to. Just like everybody else, I wake up some days kind of in a funk, and not in a good way.

And then, all of the sudden, God reminds me -- `Hey, look, crybaby; remember this? Remember that? Remember not wanting to wake up? Remember not knowing where your next meal was going to come from?' It makes me grateful, and makes me realize every single day is a gift.

``I don't hide that in my music. Sometimes, it's hard to figure out what people dig about it so much, because we're very blunt about our message,'' Mitchell added. ``I'm not apologetic at all about that. My heart's desire is to share the music God has given me, because he changed my life and gave me this new tune. I've done the band scenario -- I've sung about women and bars and seemingly worldly things, and it all crashed to the ground. And I don't think it's a coincidence.''

Redemption songs

Mitchell's musical roots date back to his sophomore year of college at the University of Tennessee, when he became obsessed with learning the guitar. Instead of studying, he often wound up practicing up to 12 hours a day, and within a couple of years, he'd formed the band Mr. Skinny.

Touring with Gran Torino and the Derek Trucks Band, Mr. Skinny went as far as it could without being signed to a label. But at the same time, Mitchell started using drugs and alcohol -- recreationally, at first, but the situation quickly got out of control. Mitchell used drugs to escape his frustration with his music and his personal life, and eventually, the chemicals consumed those things instead of just blocking them out.

He left behind music altogether, save for the occasional grandiose plans cooked up while he was getting high. He bounced from detox center to rehab and back, eventually becoming homeless, sleeping with friends or at homeless shelters whenever he could. Eventually, old friend Robby Mathis took Mitchell to church, and it was there he heard a message of Christ and redemption. It changed his life from that point on.

``Robby used to come see me in Mr. Skinny, and he told me after I got sober that he always thought there was just something about me, that he could tell if God ever got hold of me, he was going to use me to touch people's lives,'' Mitchell said. ``I still reflect on that, from time to time.''

Mitchell and Mathis had first met back in 1997, while standing in line for Prince tickets. Mitchell had brought along a guitar, and while they waited for six hours in line for tickets to go on sale, they traded the guitar back and forth, playing Prince licks for each other.

They shared that love of R&B and funk, through Mitchell's Mr. Skinny days and through his haze of drug addiction. Mitchell entered the Knox Area Rescue Ministry's rehabilitation program in November 2002, and over the past three years, he's seen his life improve beyond anything he could have hoped for. He's now married, living in his own place, driving a van and playing music.

He and Mathis put together Dishwater Blonde at the end of 2003, and the band's rise has been nothing short of electric. Since 2004, when Dishwater Blonde first debuted, the band has played venues and festivals normally reserved for acts that have years under their belts -- Sundown in the City (where DB opened for Victor Wooten), Rockin' the Docks in Lenoir City and Bonnaroo 2005, where Dishwater Blonde -- alongside scene veterans Todd Steed, Jodie Manross, Dixie Dirt and Mic Harrison -- was one of a few local acts chosen to represent Knoxville.

``We've been blessed with a lot of opportunities a band our age normally doesn't get,'' Mitchell said. ``Some of the things we've done, it's pretty unheard of for a band our age. We can't explain it on our own terms; it's just God opening doors for us.''

Dishwater Blonde's appeal is even more astounding given Mitchell's unabashed love for God. He doesn't hide his faith, but neither does he proselytize from the stage. However, in an age where stark lines divide Christian and secular music, it's amazing to see so many fans gravitate toward a band whose lyrics are so obviously God-centered.

``People come up and relate the songs to their lives all the time,'' Mitchell said. ``Like `If I Don't Have U' (off ``The Second Coming'') -- that can be some guy singing to a girlfriend or a girl to her boyfriend, but if you listen close to the lyrics, I wrote it at a point in my life when I was about to get married, and I realized that on my own strength I could never maintain an earthly relationship. If you don't have God, you can't do anything, and that includes holding a marriage together.

``It's a relatability factor, but it's also the music. It's the R&B grooves that sound familiar and a catchy chorus, and it's not meant to be preachy at all. Whether you like a funk groove or R&B, you can still bob your head to the music, and what people grab from us is the energy of the live show. People look at the stage and see so many people up there, they can see themselves up there in some way.

``It's a multi-cultural, multi-racial, multi-gender band with horns, rock guitar and funk drumming,'' he added. ``There are so many elements of different styles of music, but the overall end result is something it seems like the masses are digging.''

God-given talent

``The Second Coming'' is a bold message, Mitchell said. It wasn't intended to be, but like all of his songs, the tracks on the album came from a Higher Power.

``Honestly, God gave us these songs, and they're the best songs to date we've written,'' he said. ``That was the whole process of this album -- as I went through something, a song always came out of it. And the end result was letting everything go. I mean, how can any worry add minutes to your life?

``God is going to clothe me and feed me and make sure I have everything you need to make it through my day. I went through a tough period putting the band together and making sure people liked songs, and finally, God asked, what did I want. And my answer was to please him and be happy. And he told me to go ahead and be happy, because tomorrow may never get here.''

``I think `Second Coming' is a bold message, but people seem to identify with it, because it's all about taking the struggles of our own lives and applying it to our songs,'' he added.

Already, Dishwater Blonde is looking ahead. A tentative live album is in the works, and band members have collaborated with members of the local group The Spades Band for an all-star project, Contagioso. Mitchell's peers in the East Tennessee rock scene are well aware of his commitment to God, but because he was in such bad shape several years ago, those who knew him then are just happy he's found some sort of salvation, regardless of their own beliefs.

``I was in such bad shape as an addict that even the worst addicts out there said, `Davis needs help,''' he said. ``Now, they're like, `You got that Jesus thing; whatever works for you, man, because you needed something.' It's almost a joke to some folks because it's such a drastic life change. I don't walk around saying, `Hey, let me tell you about my story, but it does come up occasionally when people ask about the music.

``It's in the music, so I don't really have to say anything. It's all around me, and the attraction is that the music is in us. Most people aren't looking for it and don't realize it's in there anyway, and we don't force it on anyone. But I think that's also what draws people to us.''

That, and the music, the power of which is so undeniable that dancing is almost a requirement at a Dishwater Blonde show. And that's just fine with Mitchell.

``God created booties to shake,'' he said with a chuckle. ``

- The Daily Times