DNA

No New York

DNA were a New York no wave band founded in 1977 by Arto Lindsay on guitar and vocals and Robin Crutchfield on keyboards, taking the name from a song by the band Mars. Lindsay was born Arthur Morgan Lindsay on May 28, 1953 in Richmond, Virginia, and grew up in Pernambuco, Brazil, where his parents were missionaries; Crutchfield was born on September 8, 1952 in Dayton, Ohio. Wikipedia lists an original line-up with the bassist Gordon Stevenson and Mirielle Cervenka, both gone after the first show, at Max's Kansas City in early 1978, booked by Terry Ork. Ikue Mori was recruited hastily as drummer, with little English and no musical experience, and the keyboard trio of Lindsay, Crutchfield and Mori became the No New York line-up. Crutchfield left in 1979 to form Dark Day, and Tim Wright, formerly Pere Ubu's original bassist, replaced him.

DNA played the 1978 Artists Space no wave festival, which Brian Eno attended while in New York to produce Talking Heads, and proposed the compilation. The 1978 single "You & You" b/w "Little Ants" came out on Lust/Unlust Music, and No New York, recorded in spring 1978 at Big Apple studio, came out on Antilles (AN-7067). The EP A Taste of DNA followed on American Clave in 1981, though Wikipedia's prose says 1980 on Rough Trade; Christgau and Trouser Press say 1981 on American Clave, and we use that. The Fruit of Original Sin (Les Disques du Crépuscule, 1981) had three live tracks, which Trouser Press called a weak epitaph for poor sound and odd editing. No studio LP was ever released. Lindsay told the Red Bull Music Academy that DNA only lasted two or three years.

They played CBGB, the Mudd Club and Tier 3, and appear in the film Downtown 81. In 1982 Lindsay, Mori and Wright decided to dissolve the band; the last shows were three sold-out nights at CBGB, ending with a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love". DNA on DNA (No More Records, May 11, 2004; 32 tracks, 62:47, produced by Jason Gross and Alan Schneider) gathers recordings from 1978 to 1982, with Christgau's A-minus and a Pitchfork 8.1. Blonde Redhead take their name from a DNA song, which Wright reworked, deciding to make it melodic, and almost danceable. Marc Masters's No Wave (2007) covers the band.