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Dismemberment Plan Information
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'The Dismemberment Plan' was a Washington D.C. based indie rock band formed on January 1, 1993. Also known as 'D-Plan' or 'The Plan', the name comes from a stray phrase uttered by the insurance salesman in the popular comedy Groundhog Day. The band members included Eric Axelson (bass), Jason Caddell (guitar), Joe Easley (drums) and Travis Morrison (vocals and guitar). (Steve Cummings was the original drummer, and left the group following !. He was then replaced by Joe Easley.) That cemented the band's lineup for the rest of its existence.
Band history
Aside from a brief interlude in 1998 and 1999 when they were signed by Interscope Records, the band remained fiercely loyal to local label DeSoto Records. Their breakthrough album, Emergency & I, was actually created during their time at Interscope. However, they were dropped from the label shortly after its completion, and thus took it back with them to DeSoto, where it wound up being released. The EP for "The Ice of Boston" is the only item of theirs Interscope actually released during their tenure there.
Following the massive underground success of Emergency & I, the band received an even higher profile after being invited to open for the European leg of Pearl Jam's 2000 tour. A co-headlining tour in 2002 with Death Cab for Cutie (cheekily called the "Death and Dismemberment Tour") also worked well to raise both bands' profiles and cross-pollinate their fanbases, as well as forge creative ties between several members. Later that summer and fall the Dismemberment Plan started to debut songs for their follow-up to 2001's Change. In 2002 the band put all the music tracks from their last two albums on their website, encouraging fans to remix the songs. The result was 2003's A People's History of the Dismemberment Plan. On January 19, 2003, however, the band announced on their website that they had decided to break up after a few tours that year. On September 1, 2003, they closed out their career with a sold-out show at the renowned 9:30 Club. Morrison took the post-Change songs with him for further work, and released many of them on his first album, Travistan, released in 2004. Eric Axelson started a band called Maritime with former members of The Promise Ring. They released an album, Glass Floor, in 2004.
Musical style
While drawing heavily from previous Washington-based art-punk acts such as Fugazi and Jawbox, the Dismemberment Plan were significant for incorporating R&B (in stage banter, Morrison often talked of his obsession with Gladys Knight) and hip-hop influences to their sound. Influential indie rock criticism website Pitchfork Media has called them the fathers of the late-1990s/early-2000s dance-punk movement, which in turn fostered the current New Wave revival. Ironic humor was also a major component of the band's aesthetic, as displayed in songs such as "The Dismemberment Plan Gets Rich" (Dismemberment Plan/Juno) and "The Ice of Boston" (...Is Terrified).
Performances
The Dismemberment Plan's live shows were generally high-energy affairs, with Morrison frequently inviting audience members to dance on stage during "The Ice of Boston". One of the band's most famous songs, "Do the Standing Still", mocked indie rock fans for their reluctance to move during even the band's most frenetic performances.
The band toured Japan three times, Europe twice, and most of North America over and over again. It was based in, and very much a natural result of, Washington, D.C.
The last show was September 1, 2003, at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Discography
*"Can We Be Mature?" single (1994)
*! (1995)
*Give Me the Cure compilation (1996)
*Ooh Do I Love You compilation (1996)
*The Dismemberment Plan Is Terrified (1997)
*Fort Reno Benefit compilation (1997)
*"What Do You Want Me to Say?" single (1997)
*The Ice of Boston EP (1998)
*Emergency & I (1999)
*Dismemberment Plan/Juno split EP (2000)
*Change (2001)
*A People's History of the Dismemberment Plan (2003)
Where are they now?
*Eric Axelson (as of 2/1/04) is playing bass in a band called Maritime with Davey and Dan from The Promise Ring. He is also working on other various freelance bass and tour managing jobs, and still lives in Washington, D.C.
*Jason Caddell (as of 11/20/05) can be found at
*Joseph Easley (as of 11/20/05) is in his junior year of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park.
*Travis Morrison (as of 2/1/04) can be found at
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