Dayne
Anonymityville (Dog Pile)
This seventh album by Dayne (which means “do as you’re not expected”) is unabashedly inspired by melodic hard rock. Opener “Poisonous Remains” begins with a swearing-like-a-dockhand phone psychic praising the Beatles for showing that “anyone can do it,” a quote joined by cinderblock-punching guitar riffs. More an intro to the album than the song itself, this snippet reveals two things: a contorted sense of humor and a firm D.I.Y. ideology. Experiencing Spinal Tap-like personnel changes in their 15 years, Dayne is currently a duo: vocalist Chris Marsh and multi-instrumentalist Steve Solomon. Much of their 30-minute album rocks: The AC/DC riff work on “Bastardized Version #9” is the 12-pak soundtrack to Hunter S. Thompson’s first book, Hell’s Angels; “Subatomic Voodoo” is the lost demo recording from post-Everyday is Halloween Ministry; and one could imagine a slightly rappin’ Joey Ramone coming up with lyrics like “sleep walk Throwback Acid-cracker head Bed rock” on “Angel Amphetamine.” But there are missteps too, like the clichéd lyrics on “Live A Little,” while the key of “El Paso Queen (Mexican Nightmare)” is a bit of a stretch for Marsh’s vocals. Still, a little disjointedness is to be expected as the album’s 10 tunes were written with the duo swapping tapes back and forth in the mail. Does Anonymityville distinguish itself among its influences? No, but it still rocks hard. 
This article appears in February 4 • 2000.