Dos (band)

Dos
Origin	San Pedro, California, U.S.
Genres	Alternative rock, indie rock, rock
Years active	1985–present
Labels	New Alliance, Kill Rock Stars, Clenchedwrench
Associated acts	The Reactionaries, Minutemen, Firehose, Black Flag
Website	Dos' homepage at Mike Watt's Hoot Page
Members	Mike Watt Kira Roessler

Dos (from the Spanish word for "two") is an American rock group composed of Mike Watt and Kira Roessler, who both sing and play bass guitar. Critic Greg Prato describes their unusual instrumentation as "a haunting yet intriguing and original sound."

Both performers have substantial experience in pioneering punk groups: Watt has been a member of The Reactionaries, Minutemen, Firehose, Banyan and the reunited lineup of The Stooges, while Roessler was in Black Flag for about two years.

Watt and Roessler met not long after Roessler replaced Chuck Dukowski as the bassist of Black Flag in 1983.

The actual origin of Dos came about in the fall of 1985 when Watt and Kira, who were already dating, began improvising two-bass jams in their free time, sometimes recording these results into Watt's four-track recording machine.

The sudden death of Minutemen guitarist and lead singer D. Boon in a van accident on December 22, 1985, led to the end of the Minutemen and left Watt deeply depressed. Kira had parted company with Black Flag not long beforehand and moved to New Haven, Connecticut to attend Yale University. Watt considered abandoning music altogether. But intending to keep him playing after Boon's death, Kira and Watt began collaborating via four-track cassettes sent back and forth in the mail. The activity led to Kira flying back to California for the formal forming of Dos in September 1986.

They recorded their first album, an all-instrumental affair save for Kira's closing track, "Taking Away The Fire", almost immediately, and made their performing debut as Dos opening for ex-Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn's instrumental group Gone that same week. Watt released Dos' eponymous first album, Dos on New Alliance Records, the label he had formed with D. Boon in 1981. Around the same time, Watt formed Firehose; many of the songs on Firehose's first album Ragin', Full-On, are actually Dos songs with lyrics added (by either Watt or Kira) and rearranged for a power trio format.

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