Q&A: DASH talk about their Bozeman origin story and “SUPER” debut
Ahead of their first headlining show at the Top Hat on Friday, Dec. 21, we got to learn a bit more about Bozeman’s newest funky sonic sensation, Dash. Read our Q&A with Dash frontwoman, Kayti Korte, below.
Are all members of the band from Bozeman? Did you meet in Bozeman? What brought you together?
We’re not all from Bozeman! Ben and I (Kayti) met several years ago at Montana State University. Ben is from Moscow, Idaho, and I’m from Laurel, Montana. We met Carl (bass) and Dylan (drums) last year. Ben and I work at the Zebra Cocktail Lounge in Bozeman and we met them while they were there playing with their bands at the time. Dylan is from Havre, Montana and Carl is from northern Minnesota. We’ve all been living in Bozeman for several years now. When Ben and I dreamt up DASH early last year, we knew Dylan was a killer drummer and wanted him on board. He happened to be between projects at the right time and was down to start this with us! He knew Carl better than we did and brought him on about a week later. It just clicked!
How did you come up with the name DASH and its accompanying superhero-esque graphics?
It turns out that once you start a band, the hardest part is coming up with a name that everyone can tolerate. Both Ben and I are Aries, fire signs, and it is quite apparent in our personalities. The word DASH just really emulated what we were about and the season we were going through. DASH can be described as a quality of active mental and physical forcefulness; to move with haste; and a spirited quality in action or style. We wanted to hit the ground running and really kick this thing into high gear. So it made sense to us in that way, as well as just being a fun, memorable word.
The superhero graphic idea originally just started with our logo, using our name as a verb like comic text, and then once we named the album ‘SUPER’ it only made sense to continue with that theme.
You released your debut album Super earlier this year. Can you tell us about the making of your album:
Where was it recorded?
Our album was recorded at Dioskouri Studios in Belgrade. Ben went to Music Technology school with the lead engineer, Cody Lindblom, and we’ve always been great friends with him and his co-engineer, Kurt Binder. They have fantastic ears, and we knew they’d put everything they had into this project with us.
Who did the songwriting?
DASH’s songwriting is a collaborative effort. Generally, Ben will start with a song idea, sometimes a riff or melody, other times a mostly finished song. In whatever form it’s in at that point, he’ll bring to the band and we’ll work together to create the rest of the instrumentation and vocal parts.
What inspired it?
The album was largely inspired by our crazy desire to do this project at light speed. A lot of the material was written about that season of our life, of looking forward to chase your dreams and just send it off the cliff.
Anything else notable?
Everyone worked their butts off on that project. We wrote and recorded it in our first six months of being a band, and everyone poured their hearts into it.
What makes DASH stand out from other similar bands?
We have a crazy energy. Every single one of us goes absolutely nuts on stage. We have THE best time and it definitely shows. I also think our songwriting is really unique in that it doesn’t follow one specific genre. We kind of do whatever we want, and it ends up sounding like DASH and that’s what is important to us. We love drawing influence from basically every genre and you can tell.
Which artists would you say had/have an influence on your sound?
We all come from really different backgrounds so it’s a crazy hodge podge of things, but I think we’ve narrowed it down to Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, and James Brown. These artists were trailblazers for their genres and really changed the game.
What do you think is the most challenging part of being such a young band? What’s the best part?
I’d say one of the most challenging things is getting people to take you seriously. Not only is the band young, we’re all pretty young as well. I think one of the best parts is surprising people. They don’t think that four “kids” in a brand new band are going to be any good. We kind of came out of left field and I love that.
Since you’re playing Dec. 21st, are you planning on anything particularly festive for your show?
We’ve got a few things up our sleeve! I love the holidays and love sharing that with people. We’ll definitely be dressed festively for sure!
What are you looking forward to most about your first headlining show in Missoula?
We had so much fun playing with Innasci in October, we could hardly wait for this! The people of Missoula were phenomenally supportive then and we just want to come back and put on a great show for them!
What are your plans for the future? Tours? New Music? Chillin’?
We have lots of future plans! Not so much on the chillin’, we’ve got a three week tour coming up in January down through the south and Colorado, and TONS of new music. You’re going to hear some of it on Friday, and we’re super excited about it! We’re going to be touring for most of 2019 and we want to make sure we keep writing through that time. We’ll be touring again in March and April as well.
What’s your favorite part about Missoula?
The people and the music scene! It’s really vibrant and supported well by the community.
What can fans do to ensure they have the best possible time at your show?
Dress festively and get ready to dance party! Our main mission is for people to have a freaking blast and dance their faces off! We can’t wait!