The Dustdevils (sometimes styled as DustDevils, Dust Devils, or DUSTdevils) were a noise rock band which was based in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
for most of its history. It was active from the 1980s to the mid 1990s, and was among the first artists to be signed to
Matador Records. Its members included bassist
Mark Ibold, who later joined
Pavement and
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...
in 1992 and 2006, respectively. Ibold met the band while working at a restaurant in the East Village and performed on their album ''Struggling Electric and Chemical''.
Sasha Frere-Jones also played guitar in the group for a time.
[
]
History
The band's history first dates back to 1984, when British expat Michael Duane, the band's guitarist, met Jaqi Dulany (also known as Jaqui Delaney and Jacqui Cohen), the band's Australian-born vocalist, in New York City. The band then relocated to Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
from 1986 to 1988, during which time they released several records on Rouska and Keith Gregory of the Wedding Present
The Wedding Present are an English indie rock group originally formed in 1985 in Leeds, England, from the ashes of The Lost Pandas. The band's music has evolved from fast-paced indie rock in the vein of their most obvious influences The Fall, ...
joined the band as their bassist. They released a Kramer-produced 7" entitled "Is Big Leggy" on TeenBeat Records
Teen Beat is an American independent record label, originally based in Arlington, Virginia, now based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was founded by Mark Robinson (of Unrest) in 1984 at Wakefield High School, along with Phil Krauth (of Unrest ...
in 1989, followed by ''Geek Drip'' later that year and ''Struggling Electric and Chemical'' in 1990. The Wharton Tiers
Wharton Tiers (born 1953, in Philadelphia) is an American audio engineer, record producer, drummer and percussionist.
Biography
After receiving a diploma from Villanova University (Radnor Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania), he moved to ...
-produced ''Struggling'' was released jointly by TeenBeat and Matador,Greg Kot
Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...
as "a mind-blowing masterpiece of corrosion and decay." Jaqi and Michael split in 1993, which left Michael to look for replacement vocalists. Also that year, Gerard Cosloy
Gerard Cosloy (born 1964) is an American music industry executive.
Biography
Cosloy was raised in Wayland, Massachusetts, a western suburb of Boston. While he was in high school, he became involved in the local hardcore punk scene, put together m ...
stopped playing with the band as their stand-in bassist.
Discography
*''Seeds In The Spoil''—1987 (Rouska)
*''Rhenyard's Grin''—1987 (Rouska)
*''Mother Shipton''—1987 (Rouska)
*''The Dropping Well''—1987 (Rouska)
*''Gutter Light''—1988 (Rouska)
*''Geek Drip''—1989 (Matador)
*"... Is Big Leggy"—1989 (Teenbeat)
*''Struggling Electric and Chemical''—1990 (Teenbeat/Matador)
*"Extant"—1996 (Matador)
References
{{Authority control
Musical groups from New York City
American noise rock music groups
Musical groups established in 1984
Matador Records artists
Musical groups disestablished in the 1990s
TeenBeat Records artists