The Dumdums (formerly stylised as Dum Dums) were a British guitar-pop band. London-based,
they split up in August 2001. The band members were
Josh Doyle
Josh Doyle is a British-American singer-songwriter and musician best known as a solo performer as well as being the frontman of UK punk pop group Dum Dums
In 2012 he signed with CTK management (Dolly Parton) and The Agency Group (Muse, My Che ...
– vocals and guitar, Steve Clarke – bass and vocals, Stuart 'Baxter' Wilkinson – drums and vocals.
In their short but successful career their achievements included reaching the Top 40 in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
with four singles ("Everything", "Can't Get You Out of My Thoughts", "You Do Something To Me" and "Army of Two") and playing at Wembley Stadium with
Bon Jovi and at Hyde Park, London with
Elton John,
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera (; ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Known for her four-octave vocal range and ability to sustain high notes, she has been referred to as the " Voice of ...
and
Destiny's Child. After selling out a final UK tour, they decided to part ways at the peak of their popularity under a shroud of mystery.
Their principal songwriter/lead vocalist Josh Doyle is now resident in
Nashville,
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
. After years in the musical wilderness he emerged in 2012 to make his network TV debut on ''
Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', with his new band and a single "Solarstorms". ''
Billboard'' magazine wrote in their 7 November 2012 issue "615 Spotlight" feature, that Doyle "may well be the Next Big Thing on an international level".
Career
Originally formed in 1997, straight out of school, the band spent their early years gigging in small venues and songwriting. They signed a management contract with Modernwood Management, and then signed to
Wildstar Records in March 1999. In the same month they went on their first UK
tour
Tour or Tours may refer to:
Travel
* Tourism, travel for pleasure
* Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service
* Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus
* Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...
, supporting fellow Modernwood artist,
Nik Kershaw
Nicholas David Kershaw (born 1 March 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer.
Kershaw came to prominence in 1984 as a solo artist. He released eight singles that entered the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart during the ...
. A more extensive tour in September, supporting
My Life Story
My Life Story are an English pop group formed in London, England, in 1993. The group's success peaked in the mid to late 1990s as part of the Britpop era. Fronted by singer/songwriter Jake Shillingford, the group inherited their name from an ear ...
, followed. It was on this tour that the band began to build up their fanbase,
selling a two-track CD known as "The Blue CD" that contained the tracks "Everything" and "Until My Ship Comes In".
Dum Dums' debut single, "Everything", produced by Steve Power was released on 28 February 2000. Accompanied by a
video
Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...
and A-listing on British radio stations, including
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
, it reached 21 in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
The second single, "Can't Get You Out of My Thoughts" was released on 26 June 2000 and reached number 18 in the UK
chart.
On 18 September 2000, their debut album, ''
It Goes Without Saying'', again produced by Power, was released in the UK. It received favourable reviews from the
music press
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...
, with the band being compared to
Green Day,
The Police
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Polic ...
,
Blink-182
Blink-182 (stylized as blink-182) is an American rock band formed in Poway, California in 1992. Their current lineup consists of bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though their sound has ...
,
Elvis Costello and
The Jam
The Jam were an English mod revival/ punk rock band formed in 1972 at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking, Surrey. They released 18 consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in December 1 ...
.
The album comprised eleven listed tracks and an unlisted bonus track, revealed as "Setting Sail" in the
liner notes
Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes.
Origin
Liner notes are desc ...
.
A third single, "You Do Something To Me" was released a week prior to the album, and this reached number 27.
The music video for this song, inspired by
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
's "
I Want to Break Free
"I Want to Break Free" is a song by the British rock band Queen, written by their bassist John Deacon. It appears on the album '' The Works'' (1984), and was released in three versions: album, single and extended. The track became a staple of ...
" promo, featured Doyle and Wilkinson in
drag. The song was used as the theme tune to the
CBBC
CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...
show ''
Xchange XChange or X-Change may refer to:
* XChange (film), ''XChange'' (film), a 2000 Canadian science fiction film
* Xchange (TV series), ''Xchange'' (TV series), was a BBC Children's television programme
* X-Change, a Chinese spin-off from Wife Swap (UK ...
'', and they performed the song on the last episode of the series.
They supported
Bon Jovi at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...
and also performed at
Glastonbury
Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbur ...
,
T in the Park
T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused B ...
,
V2000 and several roadshows and outdoor gigs organised by local radio stations. In October they played 22 shows at arenas around the country supporting
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...
. The year ended with another headline tour, with a final gig at London's
Shepherd's Bush Empire
Shepherd's Bush Empire (currently known as O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the BBC Television Theatre) is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, West London, run by the Academy Music Group. It was originally ...
on 19 December.
There was also TV exposure on shows such as ''
Live & Kicking
''Live & Kicking'' is a British children's television series that originally aired on BBC1 from 2 October 1993 to 15 September 2001. It was the replacement for ''Going Live!'', and took many of its features from it, such as phone-ins, games, c ...
'', ''
The Big Breakfast
''The Big Breakfast'' is a British breakfast light entertainment television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4. Originally presented by Chris Evans and Gaby Roslin, the show was latterly presented by Mo Gilligan and AJ Odudu.
The p ...
'', ''
CD:UK'', and ''
The Pepsi Chart
The Pepsi Chart (previously known as "The Pepsi Network Chart Show") was a networked Sunday afternoon Top 40 countdown on UK radio that started life on 1 August 1993 with Neil 'Doctor' Fox hosting the show live from the Capital Radio studios ...
''. Doyle also appeared as a panellist on the
BBC Two quiz show, ''
Never Mind The Buzzcocks
''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first hos ...
''.
The final single from their debut album, "Army of Two" was released on 5 February 2001. It reached number 27 in the UK Singles Chart; exactly matching the chart placings of both "You Do Something To Me" and ''It Goes Without Saying''.
There were three acoustic performances at
Tower Records
Tower Records is an international retail franchise and online music store that was formerly based in Sacramento, California, United States. From 1960 until 2006, Tower operated retail stores in the United States, which closed when Tower Recor ...
in London,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
and
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
to promote the release. UK gigs in 2001 mainly consisted of appearances at University Summer Balls. The band also travelled to Germany and Japan for tours with
Wheatus
Wheatus are an American rock band from Northport, New York, formed in 1995. They are known principally for their 2000 single " Teenage Dirtbag", which appeared in the films '' Loser'' and ''Bully'', as well as the HBO miniseries '' Generation ...
and The PeteBest. They entered the Japanese
Top 20
A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...
with "Everything".
The band went into the studio on three occasions in 2001, recording demo versions of the songs that would eventually comprise their second album. A session in February resulted in five new tracks being laid down, including "Photographs", which was played many times on tour in 2000. Another session in April saw ten tracks
recorded, and a final session in June, just prior to their Japanese tour, yielded another four tracks.
By mutual agreement the band decided to break up, and announced via their website that their last concert would be at the
Greenbelt Festival
Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown out of an evangelical Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young people into its current form, a more inclusive f ...
in August 2001. The set at the last gig included a new song that had been demoed, called "Travelling at Speed".
Doyle has had a re-emergence as a US-based singer-songwriter whilst Wilkinson and Clarke formed Rogue States.
The band released b-sides under the title Dumdums in May 2018.
Discography
Singles
*2000 – "
Everything
Everything, every-thing, or every thing is all that exists; the opposite of nothing, or its complement. It is the totality of things relevant to some subject matter. Without expressed or implied limits, it may refer to anything. The univers ...
"
*2000 – "
Can't Get You Out of My Thoughts"
*2000 – "
You Do Something to Me"
*2001 – "
Army of Two
''Army of Two'' is a third-person shooter video game series developed by EA Montreal. The first game in the series, ''Army of Two'', was released on March 6, 2008 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. Focusing on cooperative strategies, ...
"
EPs
*2001 – ''Army of Two EP'' (Japan only)
Albums
*2000 – ''
It Goes Without Saying''
References
External links
Band official websiteJosh Doyle's official websiteRogue States official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dum Dums
English rock music groups
English pop music groups
Musical groups established in 1997
Musical groups disestablished in 2001