Dance Hall Crashers

Emerging from the storied Operation Ivy, the ska-punk band Dance Hall Crashers formed in Berkeley, California, and began under the brief leadership of Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman, both former Op Ivy members who would later reunite in Rancid. Within weeks of the group’s launch in 1989 those two departed, yet the project persisted with vocalist Elyse Rogers and guitarist Jason Hammon at the helm; additional personnel shifts occurred, most significantly the arrival of second singer Karina Denike in 1990. The band soon dissolved, only to yield to fan demand for a one-off reunion show in 1992. That performance generated such enthusiasm that the musicians quickly reconstituted on a lasting basis, stabilizing around Rogers and Denike sharing vocals, Hammon on guitar, his brother Gavin on drums, guitarist Scott Goodell, and bassist Mikey Weiss. As the inaugural act signed to MCA’s newly established 510 imprint, they delivered their first full-length album, Lockjaw, in 1995. A collection of earlier singles titled The Old Record appeared in 1996, after which they returned the following year with the studio album Honey I’m Homely. Further recordings arrived in steady succession, among them the 1998 EP Blue Plate Special, the 1999 studio release Purr, and 2000’s concert document The Live Record: Witless Banter and 25 Mildly Antagonistic Songs About Love.