Dwarves (band)

Dwarves
Dwarves show in August 2007
Background information
Origin	Chicago, Illinois, USA
Genres	Punk rock, hardcore punk, garage punk
Labels	Sympathy for the Record Industry, Sub Pop, Epitaph
Associated acts	Mondo Generator, KMFDM, Chthonic Force, Queens of the Stone Age, Drunk Injuns, Royce Cracker, DJ Marz
Website	www.thedwarves.com
Members	Blag Dahlia HeWhoCannotBeNamed Rex Everything Fresh Prince of Darkness Dutch Ovens Nick Oliveri
Past members	Salt Peter Thrusty Otis Wreck Tom Clint Torres Crash Landon Whölley Smökkes Vadge Moore Dylan Weed Gregory Pecker Eric Generic Marky DeSade Sigh Moan Tazzie Bushweed Chip Fracture Dark Shoulders Andy Christ Slambeau Randall Cyr

Dwarves is an American punk rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, as The Suburban Nightmare, in the mid-1980s. They are currently based in San Francisco, California. Formed as a garage punk band, their career subsequently saw them move in a hardcore direction before settling into an eclectic punk rock sound emphasizing intentionally shocking lyrics. They have been described as "one of the last true bastions of punk rock ideology in the contemporary musical age".

The original members of the Dwarves began making music together in the mid-1980s as teenagers in the Chicago garage rock outfit, Suburban Nightmare, which was compared to The Sonics, and which has been described as part of the Paisley Underground scene. This era of the Dwarves is captured on Lick It(the psychedelic years 83-86) a 34 track collection put out by Recess records in 1999.

The band became notorious for self-mutilation, on-stage sex, and taking hard drugs, and their live shows would often only last around fifteen minutes, occasionally cut short due to injury caused by spectators. The band's sound began to evolve beyond its early garage roots with their second (nine-minute long) LP,Toolin' For A Warm Teabag, which saw the band drifting towards a more truculent punk rock sound, influenced by GG Allin. Recess records issued Free Cocaine 86-88 in 1999, a 39 song collection that shows the band's transition to the nihilistic style that took them to the sub pop era. The band released Blood Guts & Pussy on Sub Pop in 1989. By this time the Dwarves had dropped their early psychedelic sensibilities and morphed into a hardcore punk band. The Blood Guts & Pussy LP was followed up by EP Lucifer's Crank released by No.6 Records, as well as another Sub Pop LP, the metal-punk Thank Heaven For Little Girls, both in 1991.

In 1993 the band issued a press release stating their guitarist HeWhoCannotBeNamed had been stabbed to death in Philadelphia. Though this later turned out to be a hoax, the band even went as far as to attach a tribute to the "late" guitarist on their 1993 Sub Pop-released album Sugarfix. Sub Pop did not respond well to the hoax and summarily dropped the band from its label. The Dwarves reformed in 1997, releasing The Dwarves Are Young and Good Looking (described by Adam Bregman of AllMusic as "the beginning of a new Dwarves...one that plays real songs, had a set list, and left the club unbloodied"), and its 2000 followup The Dwarves Come Clean. In the film Me, Myself & Irene, Jim Carrey is seen singing along to Dwarves "Motherfucker", which Dahlia later said he got "tens of thousands of dollars" for. In 2000, the band offered the track "River City Rapist" to George W. Bush as his presidential campaign song.