Honolulu a favorite venue for ska/punk Crashers

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

From left, Dance Hall Crashers Jason Hammon, Gavin Hammon, Elyse Rogers, Karina Denike and Mikey Weiss have stopped recording, but they're always down for getting back on stage for appreciative Hawai'i fans. The San Francisco-bred band will perform tonight at Pipeline Café. Dance Hall Crashers Opening act: Center City 7 p.m. today Pipeline Café $18.50 (877) 750-4400

But from their first Honolulu show in 1993 through eight more leading into tonight's Pipeline Café gig, the San Francisco-bred ska and pop-punk quintet Dance Hall Crashers have been an enviably consistent Hawai'i concert draw. Though the band ceased recording and touring in 1999 and has only played a handful of shows since, local X- and Y-generation ska-punk fans still can't get enough of the high-energy Crashers.

And the feeling is mutual.

"Other than L.A. and San Francisco, we've played Honolulu more times than any other city in the world," said co-lead vocalist Elyse Rogers. Nowadays "we really only play the places that we really like going to. And we love Hawai'i!"

Honolulu was one of the first markets outside of Los Angeles and the Bay Area to fall for the charms of the Crashers' music in 1993. The reason? Heavy airplay of their self-titled 1989 indie debut album on now defunct, still much-missed Radio Free Hawaii.

"The first time we visited was interesting," remembered Rogers. "We hadn't even started touring that much ... and we were just so surprised that a promoter (from Hawai'i) had called us, offered us a bunch of money, including plane tickets and hotel. We didn't know anything about Radio Free before we got there.

"We did two shows at the Garage ... and were shocked that people knew our songs."

Recalled the Crashers other lead vocalist Karina Denike, "I remember us driving around in a van and just going to this small record store just to go record shopping ... getting recognized, and tripping out about it. We were really surprised and confused, because that was the first time that had happened to us. It was really kind of our first sense of, 'Hmmm, maybe we'll start to do well.' "

The two vocalists originally joined the Crashers in 1989 at age 18 — Rogers before co-founders Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman bolted after just two weeks to form punk revivalists Rancid, Denike six months later. Lineup changes continued until the Crashers disbanded the following year.

The band reformed in 1992 — with guitarists Jason Hammon and Scott Goodell, bassist Mikey Weiss, drummer Gavin Hammon, and sans a ska staple horn section — after a sold-out reunion show at the Crashers' longtime San Francisco haunt Slim's. Their new sound? Pop-punky with snippets of rock steady and ska, and immediately appealing to West Coast and Hawai'i kids discovering early No Doubt, Sublime and Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

In 1994, the Crashers signed with indie 510 Records, which was soon swallowed up by major label MCA. Two modestly selling full-length albums — 1995's "Lockjaw" and 1997's "Honey, I'm Homely" — and an EP "Blue Plate Special" followed before MCA and the Crashers parted ways in 1999. The band issued a final studio album, "Purr," later that year before deciding to scale back on touring and recording as DHC.

"At that point, we had been in Dance Hall Crashers for our entire adult lives," said Rogers. "And being in a band that tours constantly, it's really prohibitive for everything else you want to do with your life. Everything gets put on hold — from starting families, to going to grad school, to everything else we wanted to do. We didn't want to look back on our young adult lives with regret, and think that we missed out on anything."

And so without calling it quits on the Crashers, its members simply moved on. The Hammon brothers remained in the Bay Area and formed alt-rock side project My Fellow Astronauts. Weiss packed up for Brooklyn, N.Y., where he now owns an electronics store. Rogers moved to Los Angeles for graduate school, had a son, and began managing bands like reformed ska revivalists Hepcat. And Denike formed Star Nova, a very un-Crasher like quintet playing "moody Bjork-esque, Tom Waits-y, Nick Cave-y songs, but with girl singers" and now recording its first CD in San Francisco. Only Goodell left the band permanently.

Arriving months after a trio of June shows in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Anaheim, the Crashers' Pipeline gig will be their fourth (and final) appearance for 2003. There are no plans for touring, pursuing another major label deal or, for that matter, recording another DHC album. The band's last CD release was 2000's "Live Record: Witless Banter and 25 Mildly Antagonistic Songs of Love," which captures the playful, engaging Crashers' at their onstage best.

"It's still really fun music," Denike said when asked about the newfound joys of rehashing the classics a half-dozen times a year, instead of 300. "It's not supposed to be taken too seriously. It's definitely got a certain amount of nostalgia, rock 'n' roll and punk rock edge to it that we totally love ... that's in our blood. We grew up listening to that music, and it's not something that ever goes away.

"And that's what we still love about this band."

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005.

Dance Hall days, nights, etc.

Formed: 1989, in Berkeley, Calif.

Members: Elyse Rogers and Karina Denike (co-lead vocals), Jason Hammon (guitar), Mikey Weiss (bass), Gavin Hammon (drums).

A discography:

• "Dance Hall Crashers" (1989, Moon).
• "1989-1992" (1993, Moon).
• "Lockjaw" (1995, MCA).
• "Honey, I'm Homely" (1997, MCA).
• "Blue Plate Special EP" (1998, MCA).
• "Purr" (1999, Pink & Black).
• "The Live Record: Witless Banter and 25 Mildly Antagonistic Songs of Love" (2000, Pink & Black).

Amazon.com customers who bought Dance Hall Crashers also bought: Save Ferris, Less Than Jake, Letters To Cleo, Buck O Nine, The Eyeliners.

Where they've crashed:

• @ World Café, Dec. 29, 2001.
• @ World Café, Nov. 13, 1999.
• @ Andrews Amphitheater, March 31, 1998.
• @ Nimitz Hall, Nov. 15, 1997.
• @ The Big Mele, Kualoa Ranch, Sept. 14, 1996.
• @ The Groove, Oct. 7, 1995.
• @ After Dark, May 27, 1994, for Radio Free Hawaii's third birthday bash, and April 2, 1994.
• @ The Garage, March 19-20, 1993.

Things they do in Honolulu when they're hungry: Eggs 'N Things, 1911B Kalakaua Ave. A daily a.m. pilgrimage for the Crashers since their first Honolulu show, band members were sad to find it had been gutted by a fire a day before their last visit in December 2001. Rogers' fave is banana and macadamia pancakes, while Denike's is a papaya with granola and yogurt, and a vegetarian omelet.