Betty Dylan Dr. Dan (left) and
Vickie Lynne of up and coming band Betty Dylan
will be perform May 3 at The Joint in West Los Angeles.
By David Holmberg
Daily Bruin Staff
Betty Dylan is not a woman. Betty Dylan is not the daughter of
Bob Dylan. In fact, Betty Dylan is not even a person.Â
Betty Dylan is a band, but more than that, its musicians are
artists.
“We think that what we’re doing is legitimate, and
our goal isn’t to go out there and sell 10 million records
and be the new Madonna,” said lead male singer and guitarist
Dr. Dan.
“I’d like to be Madonna!” countered Vickie
Lynne, the band’s lead female singer, who also plays
guitar.
This is life for the two fundamental components of the enigma
that is Betty Dylan. In an interview at their Westwood home, the
two talked about their past, their music of the present, and the
future of their band.
Dr. Dan, who is not a doctor of anything in particular, talked
about the musical rigors of his past, trying to make a living as a
struggling artist.
“I got desperate to try and make money and I ended up in
some odd jobs. One of them was playing Keith Richards in a Rolling
Stones cover band. We played in the Deep South, the gigs nobody
wanted to do. But we’d be playing, and all of a sudden
we’d have a great moment on stage, and you’d look up
and see this Mick Jagger imitator prancing around in this costume,
and you’d get kind of bummed. I picked up a few bad habits,
too, like I kick my leg occasionally now.”
Eventually, after playing in his own band and living on floors
in New York City, Dr. Dan decided to leave for sunnier weather and
the shores of the Pacific Ocean. In Los Angeles, he had planned on
continuing to play music, but purely for fun.
This lasted until he met Lynne.
“I had been in different iterations of various bad bands
for about five years,” Lynne explained. “My band then,
Venus Con Carne, did a few things, but it didn’t really go
anywhere.”
Then fate intervened to bring the two together. Through a series
of random business interactions, Dr. Dan and Vickie were introduced
to each other, and then it all happened.
“There was chemistry on the phone even when we first
talked to each other, and I was like, “˜that guy’s
voice…'” Vickie said as she trailed off
nostalgically. “But we had no idea we were both
musicians!”
A musical relationship was nowhere on their minds, though. In
fact, it was quite the opposite, and at first they resisted playing
together.
“We avoided that thought for a long time,” she
continued. “But he was putting his band together, and I
couldn’t sit there and not sing, so I got up and said,
“˜I’m just going to sing a little backup.’ And
pretty soon I wasn’t just singing backup.”
In many respects, this was the birth of what would become Betty
Dylan.
Initially the band was called Dr. Dan and the Prescriptions and,
with seven or eight members, was somewhat unfocused. Producer
Marvin Etzioni, who has been behind records for artists including
Counting Crows and Toad the Wet Sprocket, suggested that the group
concentrate on Dr. Dan and Vickie as the core. So it did.
“That was part of her voice, too,” Dr. Dan said.
“She’s a great singer, and her voice really centered
us. It gave an answer to “˜what is Betty
Dylan?'”
Which itself is an interesting question.
“The name came out of a sort of free association in her
head,” continued Dr. Dan. “We’ve created a
bunch of different mythologies to explain it, but there isn’t
one definitive explanation.”
“It’s probably from my subconscious, because I had
an imaginary friend named Betty,” Lynne said. “And then
“˜Dylan’ from Bob Dylan.”
With name in place, the band began a series of trips to New
York, and in the process inadvertently recorded its first
album, “American Trash.” There, it was joined by
legendary drummer Bernard Purdie, who has played with numerous
artists including Steely Dan and Ray Charles, as well as bass
player Jerry Jemmont, who has been heard with greats such as B.B.
King and King Curtis.
“In one day, in five hours, we got five songs,”
Vickie said. “And that is unbelievable.”
Although its music is in constant flux ““ even before its
second jazz-influenced album is completed the band has begun work
on a third acoustic set ““ Betty Dylan’s core sound
remains stable.
“I am very pop oriented and I grew up listening to the
Beatles and a lot of Elton John,” explained Lynne. “But
I don’t really like country music. I don’t buy it. But
I can’t help singing like a country singer. And whatever
we’re doing now, if that’s country, then I’m
doing it.”
“For me, Dylan and the Rolling Stones, all that rootsy
blues,” Dr. Dan said. “But although you like certain
types of music, you have to accept who you are. As an artist, you
are your limitations, and your style comes out of that. We do have
a lot of country in us, but music is played in the moment and it
all fluctuates.”
Not only has Betty Dylan created a unique musical style, it has
also journeyed forth into the artistic realm of literature. Its
first album is being released with a coinciding book, written by
Dr. Dan, who has an master’s in fiction from Johns Hopkins
University.
As artists, the future of the two appears sealed. Writing songs
and novels, playing music in bars and on grass lawns, as long as
Betty Dylan is having fun and able to express itself creatively,
nothing else matters.
MUSIC: Betty Dylan will perform May 3 at The
Joint, 8771 W. Pico Blvd in West L.A. at 11 p.m. with $5 cover, $4
with student ID. Its book and album is currently available at its
shows and on its Web site,www.BettyDylan.com.