DNA (band)

DNA on DNA 2004 - No More Records, NoCD12. Singles. American Clavé Sampler: various artists (one DNA track) 1993 - American Clave (USA), AMCL 1020/1026 (2xCD). Compilations. Last Live at CBGB 1993 - Avant (Japan), Avant 006 (CD). Albums. The Fruit of Original Sin: various artists (Three DNA tracks) 1981 - Les Disques Du Crepuscule, twi 035 (2xLP). Bruno chose not to perform since their deal to use the name required the members to not promote their own music while doing so.

A Taste of DNA 1981 - American Clavé, AMCL 1003EP (12"). However, no further appearances have been scheduled. No New York: various artists (Four DNA tracks) 1978 - Antilles, AN 7067 (LP). Currently, Curless, Jurado, and Moneymaker paid for permission to use the name. "You & You" b/w "Little Ants" 1978 - Lust/Unlust Music, 11-CAN-234. During the summer of 2003, the lineup of Curless, Jurado, and Moneymaker reunited briefly for a reunion concert. They have since taken the name The DNA Disciples to avoid confusion with the no wave band described above, and also produced a second Suzanne Vega remix, "Rusted Pipe". Her first album, Expose This, was released in the Spring of 2004.

DNA was also the pseudonym taken by two British dance producers for a remix of Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner". After a small stint with the band Wet, she worked on a solo career focused mostly on dance oriented material. The contemporary indie rock band Blonde Redhead takes its name from a DNA song. In 1995, Bruno fully recovered from her throat tumor and began singing again. Lindsay and Mori and to a lesser extent Crutchfield have remained active in music. Jurado ended up doing work with Jazz artists; Kelly Moneymaker has released a few albums (Like a Blackbird and Through these Basement Walls); while Curless has done a few low-key projects. DNA on DNA, a comprehensive CD chronicle of the band, was released by No More Records in 2004. At the beginning of 1996, Arista dropped the group, and the members disbanded to pursue their own projects.

DNA's final encore was a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love." Sadly, this is not included on the CD Last Live at CBGB, released more than a decade later on John Zorn's Avant label. In 1995, they recorded the Diane Warren-penned song "I'll Say Good-Bye for the Two of Us" for the soundtrack of the film Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home; that same year, the song was issued on Greatest Hits. It's a measure of the cult following the band had developed that its final concerts were three consecutive sold-out nights at CBGB. Despite the disappointment, they managed to have two US Top 40 hits from the album: "I Wish the Phone Would Ring" and the #1 adult-contemporary smash "I'll Never Get Over You Getting Over Me". Lindsay, Mori, and Wright decided to dissolve the band in 1982. The album was not as commercially successful as their previous albums, and two singles from the album failed to make the US Top 40. Some live DNA tracks appeared on compilation albums while the band was still in existence. That same year, the group released their self-explanatory third album, which leaned more to an adult-contemporary style.

DNA recorded but one (brief, approximately 10 minutes) album - A Taste of DNA - for Kip Hanrahan's American Clavé label (later on Rough Trade) in 1980. But her health only worsened, and she was finally replaced by Kelly Moneymaker in 1992. Live shows were frequent in this period, but rarely outside of the CBGB - Mudd Club - TR3 circuit in lower Manhattan. The group took a little bit of time off from their schedule in hopes that she would recover. The Lindsay-Mori-Wright lineup of DNA developed something of a cult following between 1979 and 1982, but more with art than with rock audiences. In the middle of 1990, Bruno began having throat problems which soon turned out to be a benign tumor in her vocal cords. Song structures became tighter, briefer, more abstract, and have been compared to haiku. Their second album, What You Don't Know (1989), went gold and proved to be almost as much of a success as their debut.

The music became even more spare and angular, with Wright's bass lines creating a sometimes menacing sound. In 1987, a rerecorded version of "Point of No Return" was released; while the first few thousand copies of Exposure contained the original version of that song, the rest of the copies contained the new version. As Wright played bass and not keyboards, and was the only member of the band really to have any conventional instrumental technique, the change in DNA's sound was dramatic. This album proved to be one of the most successful dance albums ever released, going multi-platinum. He was replaced by Tim Wright, previously of the Cleveland band Pere Ubu. Toward the end of 1986, the group released their debut album Exposure (which still consisted of background vocals done by the original members). Shortly after the recording of No New York, Crutchfield left DNA to form a new band, Dark Day. Before the album's completion, Miller left the group due to personal and business problems and began a solo career; she was replaced by Ann Curless.

The other three bands appearing on this album were The Contortions, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and Mars. But shortly thereafter, Casanas was fired, and Lorenzo quit to pursue other ambitions; they were replaced by Jeanette Jurado and Gioia Bruno. Within their first year, they had cemented their reputation as a paradigmatic no wave band when Brian Eno selected them as one of the four groups documented on the No New York LP, the first recording to expose no wave groups to an audience outside of lower Manhattan. This led to their signing with Arista Records. This lineup of DNA played occasionally at CBGB and Max's Kansas City and recorded one 7" single. The next year, they recorded and released another dance single entitled "Exposed to Love". After the rapid departure of Stevenson and Cervenka, Lindsay and Crutchfield hastily recruited Ikue Mori - a Japanese woman with little command of English and no drum set - to be DNA's drummer. That same year, they recorded "Point of No Return" which became a dance hit.

This incarnation of the band was very brief, not playing even one concert. Record producer and songwriter Lewis Martineé formed an all-female vocal trio called Exposé in 1985; he hired Sandra Casanas ("Sandeé"), Aléjandra Lorenzo ("Alé"), and Laurie Miller to be in the group's lineup. Stevenson went on to play bass for Teenage Jesus and the Jerks; Cervenka was the younger sister of Exene Cervenka of X. Exposé is a Latin freestyle pop-dance trio of the 1980s. DNA originally consisted of Lindsay, Crutchfield, Gordon Stevenson, and Mirielle Cervenka, and took its name from a song by another no wave band, Mars. 1994: "In Walked Love" (US #84; lead vocals by Ann Curless, from the album Exposé). Their music was described as spare, noisy, and angular and was compared to some of Captain Beefheart's output and even to Anton Webern. 1993: "As Long as I Can Dream" (US #56; lead vocals by Ann Curless, from the album Exposé).

Rather than playing their instruments in a traditional manner, they instead focused on making unique and unusual sounds. 1993: "I'll Never Get Over You (Getting Over Me)" (US #8; lead vocals by Jeanette Jurado, from the album Exposé). Formed in 1978 by guitarist Arto Lindsay and keyboardist Robin Crutchfield, DNA were inspired by a promoter who wanted a band composed of first-time musicians. 1992: "I Wish the Phone Would Ring" (US #28; lead vocals by Jeanette Jurado, from the album Exposé). DNA was a short-lived but influential New York rock band, associated with the no wave movement. 1990: "Your Baby Never Looked Good in Blue" (US #17; lead vocals by Jeanette Jurado, from the album What You Don't Know). 1989: "Tell Me Why" (US #9; lead vocals by Gioia Bruno, from the album What You Don't Know).

1989: "When I Looked at Him" (US #10; lead vocals by Jeanette Jurado, from the album What You Don't Know). 1989: "What You Don't Know" (US #8; lead vocals by Gioia Bruno, from the album What You Don't Know). 1987: "Seasons Change" (US #1; lead vocals by Jeanette Jurado, from the album Exposure). 1987: "Let Me Be the One" (US #7; lead vocals by Gioia Bruno, from the album Exposure).

1987: "Point of No Return" (US #5; rerecording of their 1985 hit; lead vocals by Jeanette Jurado, from the album Exposure). 1987: "Come Go With Me" (US #5; lead vocals by Jeanette Jurado, from the album Exposure). 1986: "Exposed to Love" (lead vocals by Aléjandra Lorenzo, from the album Exposure). 1985: "Point of No Return" (lead vocals by Aléjandra Lorenzo).

2002: Exposé's Greatest Dance Mixes. 2001: The Encore Collection: Seasons Change. 1999: Master Hits. 1995: Greatest Hits.

1992: Exposé. 1989: What You Don't Know. 1987: Exposure.