BIO MENU
Biography:
Raised in Peoria, Illinois, Dallan
has been playing guitar since 5th grade (after having
dallied with the tenor saxophone). He has studied electric,
acoustic and classical guitar with an emphasis on funk,
rock, rhythm and blues and odd meter. As a freshman
in high school, a fabled basement audition landed Dallan
a spot as lead vocalist in his very first band, Believer.
Believer played a wide variety of covers ranging from
the Monkees to Black Sabbath, and also featured Dallan's
first guitar hero; his brother, Darrin.
A new band, solo acoustic performances
and open mike nights followed while attending college,
as well as playing electric guitar in the University
of Illinois Basketball Jazz Band. Playing directly on
the basketball court to the roar of 15,000 basketball
fans was extremely exciting. Not only did it mean the
best seat in the house for every U of I home game, but
it also gave Dallan his first taste of national television
exposure as a musician. After winning Peoria's Best
Guitarist Contest in 1990 and feeling the call of the
music biz, there was no turning back. Dallan took his
BFA in Graphic Design and relocated to Los Angeles to
pursue the ever-intriguing life of a musician.
First stop was Musician's Institute
in Hollywood, where Dallan studied at the Guitar Institute
of Technology and taught very briefly after graduating.
While still in school, he was asked to participate in
a Warner Reprise Video called "Guitar". This
small step into the spotlight saw him performing on-stage
with a backing band consisting of John Entwistle (The
Who), Aynsley Dunbar (Journey), Brian Setzer (Stray
Cats), Billy Burnette (Fleetwood Mac) and Jeff "Skunk"
Baxter (Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers). Gigging in Southern
California clubs, recording demos and paying dues followed
while learning the ways of the industry.
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Universal Studios Hollywood then
put Dallan under contract as a singing, dancing, guitar
playing Frankenstein in a rock show of monstrous proportions;
Beetlejuice's Rockin' Graveyard Revue. Performing with
elaborate costumes, six-inch heels, make-up and extreme
amounts of pyrotechnics to thousands of people each
day had a profound effect on Dallan. For all intents
and purposes, his childhood fantasy of playing in KISS
had at last been realized. When BRGR closed in 1999,
after a four-year run, Dallan was tapped by USH to perform
in the Blues Brothers show. He could be seen off and
on singing and dancing as Elwood Blues for another four
years. A bit of a breeding ground, many alumni of the
BRGR show went on to perform in major Broadway productions
and groups such as the Peter Criss band and Foreigner.
Dallan's next big break would not be far off.
In 1996 came a call from Terri
Nunn about lending guitar and vocals to the multi-platinum
band Berlin. This relationship led to a full-length
studio record, two indie EPs, two remix records, two
live albums and a concert DVD documenting the band's
stellar stage performance. Between recording sessions,
Berlin continued to uphold a healthy touring schedule,
dividing time between clubs, the shed circuit and year-round
radio festivals. Lineups have included Interpol, Bare
Naked Ladies, Duran Duran, Smash Mouth, The Cure, Culture
Club and Jet. Some Berlin highlights were a show for
40,000 people in Atlanta with Hole, national tours with
the Go-Go's and The Psychedelic Furs, and several television
appearances, including performing on Happy Hour (Dweezil
and Ahmet Zappa's show) and several VH1 specials. After
a particularly rousing taping of “Versus”
on the Comedy Central network, Rolling Stone magazine
quoted Dallan proclaiming, "We are the ambassadors
of kick-your-assador" (RS - 6/24/99). Berlin was
also fortunate enough to have played some shows with
long-time heroes Heart, featuring Ann and Nancy Wilson,
Ben Smith (Lovemongers), Darian Sahanaja (Wondermints,
Brian Wilson), Mike Inez (Alice In Chains, Ozzy Osbourne)
and Gilby Clarke (Guns N'Roses). In 2004, after 8 years
performing alonside Terri Nunn, Dallan made the difficult
decision to mov e on to greener pastures (i.e. more
money).
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In 1997, Dallan was asked to join
Restless Records recording act Chopper One, a post-punk
power pop band featuring Jason Cropper of Weezer fame.
Dallan came on board in time to record a new single,
"A Punk Named Josh". The song, produced by
Jason Cropper and Steve Kravac (MXPX), and mixed by
Jack Joseph Puig (Weezer, Goo Goo Dolls, The Black Crows,
No Doubt) became the number one added radio single in
Australia in May/June of 1998, beating out new releases
from Smashing Pumpkins and Green Day. The hilarious
music video for "Josh", starring and directed
by comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, quickly saw more than
600 requests a week on the Box music television channel
in America and regular rotation on Australia's music
video stations.
After parting ways with Restless,
Chopper One broke up and Dallan and Jason began a new
project called Fliptop. This punk/pop super group featured
Josh Freese (A Perfect Circle, Guns N'Roses, Vandals,
Devo) on drums and Scott Shiflett (Face to Face, Jackson
United) on bass. Although a full-length album was recorded,
only five of the fourteen tracks were mixed down (for
demo purposes). Unfortunately, scheduling turmoil caused
disbanding and the album was never released.
Dallan also contributed his guitar,
bass and songwriting skills to Tweaker, the eclectic,
electronic pop brainchild of Chris Vrenna, former drummer/programmer
for Nine Inch Nails. Released in 2001 on Six Degrees,
the album also features performances by Buzz (Melvins),
David Sylvian, and Wayne Kramer (MC5), among others.
A very bizarre and elaborate performance by the Tweaker
collective was in the works for touring the U.S. when
the September 11th disaster occurred, and was subsequently
scrapped.
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During a February 2000 tour of
the states with Berlin, Dallan stumbled into a Scottsdale,
AZ club called the Martini Ranch and witnessed his first
performance by The Chadwicks. The friendship that followed
led to a business proposition that would see Dallan
traveling from Los Angeles to Phoenix every weekend
he could manage, to play with their 80's side project,
Rock Lobster. Two years later, he joined The Chadwicks
as well, and continues to play an average of 150 shows
a year locally and nationally with both bands. The Chadwicks
are sponsored by Miller Lite and continue to be a first
choice to open for touring nationals. They’ve
shared bills with the B-52’s, David Lee Roth,
Sugar Ray, Dramarama, Collective Soul, The English Beat,
Fuel, 311, The Roots and Hall & Oates, among others.
Increased duties with The Chadwicks
resulted in Dallan relocating to Tempe, AZ in the Spring
of 2004. He continued to play with Berlin for another
six months following the move, but had no choice but
to leave behind the other Los Angeles projects he’d
been involved in. Industrial rock band Carbon 9 found
a new guitarist and is still going strong. Big Love,
on the other hand, ended up disbanding. Though the band
never took off quite like Dallan had hoped, they did
manage to place a song in the movie “Scooby-Doo
2: Monsters Unleashed” before calling it quits.
If you haven’t seen it, be sure to check out the
DVD. Freddie Prinze Jr.’s very sad and introspective
scene as Fred sitting behind the wheel of the Mystery
Machine chatting with Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar)
just wouldn’t be the same without those haunting
guitar embellishments.
While The Chadwicks show
no signs of letting up, Dallan still has a few surprises
up his sleeve. A brand new, special, super secret band
is in the works for launch in the very near future.
Keep your ears peeled.
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Discography:
Berlin
Metro-Greatest Hits (2004) Cleopatra
Various Artists/Berlin
This Is Electroclash (2003) Cleopatra
Berlin
Voyeur (2002) ArtistDirect
Various Artists/Drowning Pool
XXX-Soundtrack (2002) Universal
Various Artists/Berlin
Greatest Hits Live: The Motels/The Fixx/Berlin (2002)
Beyond
Tweaker
Attraction to All Things Uncertain (2001) Six Degrees
Berlin
Live: Sacred & Profane (2000) Timebomb
Methods of Mayhem
Hypocritical remixes (2000) MCA
Berlin
The Greatest Hits Remixed (2000) Cleopatra
Dangerous Darrin
The Revenge of the Chicken McNuggets (2000) Independant
Fliptop
Fliptop (2000) unreleased
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Berlin
Fall Into Heaven 2 EP (1999) HeavenSake
Berlin
Fall Into Heaven EP (1999) HeavenSake
Doris Doomsday
Doris Doomsday (1999) QBC
Berlin
Jingle Ball '98 - The CD (1998) Star 100.7 FM San Diego
Chopper One
Chopper One (1998) Restless
Chopper One
A Punk Named Josh single (1998) Restless
Chopper One
Now Playing (1997) Restless
Lawrence Collins
Naked and Chained (1996) LCR
Margaret Owens
Bigger Than the Sky (1995) QBC
Reneé/Russek
Duck Inherits Spoon (1995) Independant
Lawrence Collins
Hymns from the Battlefield (1993) LCR
Tourography:
Berlin
US Tour 1998-2004
Blues Brothers Revue
Universal Studios Hollywood 1999-2004
Universal Studios Japan 2001
Chopper One
European Tour, Spring 1999
West Coast Tour, Spring/Summer 1998
Berlin
West Coast Tour, Winter 1996
Beetlejuice's Rockin' Graveyard Revue
Universal Studios Hollywood, 1995-1999
Lawrence Collins
International Tour, Winter 1994
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Filmography:
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
Feature Film, DVD/Soundtrack Composition, Performance
(2004) Warner Bros.
Berlin/Intimate
DVD/Performance (2003) ArtistDirect
Berlin/Blink of an Eye
Music Video/Performance (2003) ArtistDirect
XXX
Feature Film, DVD/Soundtrack Performance (2002) Columbia
Tri-Star
Happy Hour
TV/Featured Performance (1999) USA Network
Before They Were Rock Stars
TV/Cameo Performance (1999) VH1
Comedy Central's VS.
TV/Featured Guest (1999) Comedy Central
Where Are They Now?
TV/Cameo Performance (1999) VH1
Chopper
One/A Punk Named Josh
Music Video/Performance (1998) Restless
Other American Fables
Feature Film/Music Supervisor/Composer/Voice Over (1997)
Aquaboy Films
Reverse Heaven
Feature Film/Soundtack Composition (1996) Crystal Sky
Comm.
Multimedia X 4
Promo Video/Original Score (1994) Wilarvi Comm.
Guitar
Documentary Film/Cameo Performance (1991) Warner Reprise
Video
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Training:
- Musician's Institute:
- Keith Wyatt, Jennifer Batten, Steve Trovato,
Mike Miller, Norman Brown, Bruce Buckingham, Russ
Parrish, Nick Nolan, Dan Gilbert, Scott Henderson,
Tommy Tedesco
- University of Illinois:
- Private:
- Connie Brockmeyer, Matt Stewart
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