Dinosaurs works to live up to namesake
The band has drawn inspiration from bands across the Midwest.
April 25, 2008
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth is a lot like a T-Rex. If you see the noise-pop septet coming toward you, run.
(Click graphic to enlarge)
Noise-pop seven-piece When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth is trying to bring back a taste of the cretaceous era with its album Snacks, which earned its name simply because the band members like to eat snacks.
Even with all sorts of munchies around, starting the band wasn't a gradual development for drummers Daniel Francis Doyle and Brandon Crowe; guitarists Marc Voorhees and Nate Cross; screaming vocalists Jesse Hodges and George Dishner; and bassist Cory Plump.
In fact, the idea spontaneously popped up when Plump and a few future "li'l dinos" were just hanging out and someone drunkenly called out, "Hey, we should start a band!" Plump agreed, and after a night at a bar with Crowe, the group had a drummer. The rest of the crew came from other projects the original members were involved in.
"I didn't know Jesse, the singer, until the day he came over and practiced with us, but I'd worked with Cory a long time," Cross said.
Cross and Plump also play together in the band Awesome Cool Dudes, a disco-pop quintet.
"Different pairs of people knew each other for different periods of time, but now we all are basically friends," Cross said.
Choosing the band's moniker was a simple process as well; the members didn't actively search for ideas, but instead waited until something fitting came around. Voorhees said one night while drinking he was reminded of his love for dinosaurs.
"I went over to Cory's house and suggested When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, and he was into it, and he started playing air guitar and making dinosaur noises and roaring and it was pretty sweet," Voorhees said. "That's how we knew it was the right name."
The group didn't decide on a specific genre. Instead, they sat down and started to play. In Dishner's words, the only criteria they defined for their music were "noisy" and "loud."
Voorhees said the idea for the group's most well known music video "It's Not the Heat, It's the Humidity" spurred, as usual, from just hanging out. After practice one day Voorhees and the rest of the band joked about how it would be funny if their music were played acoustically and began reminiscing about the classic MTV Unplugged videos. They decided to dress up as well-known music icons for the video, and after briefly considering outfitting themselves as Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart and Alice in Chains, they decided to perform dressed as the members of Nirvana with two Kurt Cobains.
Although the members of WDRTE have yet to encounter any velociraptors while on tour, they have seen stranger things.
"We saw a naked guy outside tripping on acid on 4/20," Plump said. "It was still completely bright outside — it was weird."
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