Dust for Life
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Dust for Life is a post-grunge band formed in December of 1999 after the dissolve of the Memphis grunge band Bacchanal. Bacchanal's founder, Jason Hughes filled former singer Chris Bangs' shoes with Bacchanal's keyboard player, Marc Gurley. Shortly thereafter Hughes replaced Marc Gurley and Tim Fowler with Chris Gavin. Jason Hughes and Chris were introduced by mutual friend and current agent, Carol Snodgrass.
They quickly formed a bond mutually liking artists like Black Sabbath and Alice in Chains. They decided to form DFL and wrote 15 songs over that winter. Josh Weil and Rick Shelton rounded out the lineup. In April 2000, Dust went to Ardent Studios in Memphis, TN with co producer/engineer, Pete Matthews, ostensibly to record "demos." What they came out with was : "Step into the Light," "Dirt into Dust," "Dragonfly," " and "Where the Freaks Go." "I remember getting the songs and overnighting them to Jeff Hanson (manager of the band Creed) and him calling us flipping out," says Jason Hughes. Dust for Life never looked back. They quickly signed with Hanson MGMT and Wind_Up records and finished the debut disc in June 2000 at Ardent.
In August 2000, the band joined Creed on the road as a support act with Dave Rhea, from the Von Ray (Elektra) on bass. They spent the whole fall that year touring with 3 Doors Down and Nickelback and Cold. Step into the Light got an unprecedented 48 ads at radio the first week including KROQ in New York and KROQ in Los Angeles. Step was eventually played on 338 radio stations simultaneously while reaching #10 on Billboard's Active Rock charts. "We had a really good band and great songs, but we were also lucky to be there," said Chris Gavin. The band garnered rave reviews and was featured in Hit Parader, Circus Magazine, Metal Edge ,Guitar One, and Guitar for the Practicing Musician just to name a few. Dust for life even appeared as guest hosts on VH1's ,The Rock Show.
"Seed" was released as the second single in the spring of 2001 and even without any push from the Label it went in to Billboard's Top 40 of Active Rock songs. The band toured throughout the spring and played shows with Linkin Park, Lifehouse, Fuel, Stone Temple Pilots, and Tenacious D, just to name a few. Then, in May of 2001, the wheels came off. The band found out that all of its "untouchable " publishing money had been spent frivolously by the involved parties. They came out publicly with what happened and why they were off tour in the middle of the record cycle in what Chris and Jason would later call "the smartest dumb move we ever made." The band promptly released Hanson MGMT ,Flood Bumstead, McCready and McCarthy from their roster.
Shortly afterwards, Rick Shelton left Dust for fame and fortune in Lava/Atlantic band, Course of Nature. Jason, Josh and Chris soldiered on through 2 more tours and many new songs that they thought might never see the light of day. The bad business eventually took its toll on the guys and the band has been "on break" until now.
In July of 2003, Chris and Jason shared song ideas and decided that it was time to dust off the guitars. With Rick making the second Course record and Josh busy managing the breakfast bar at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Memphis, Chris and Jason recruited young guns, Mike McSorley on bass and Steve McClenaghan on drums. "They have brought a whole new dynamic to the group and they have that untainted enthusiasm that really gives the new songs a lift," says Jason.
