Dash Rip Rock

Dash Rip Rock tore out of Baton Rouge in 1984 playing the kind of cowpunk that makes a honky-tonk feel like a mosh pit: punk rock and rockabilly smashed together with hard rock, country and a heavy dose of boogie. Bill Davis founded the band and still fronts it, a songwriter with a guitar style best described as scorched earth.

The early lineup had Ned "Hoaky" Hickel on bass, a stint that stretched until 1999, with F. Clarke Marty on drums in the first year and Fred LeBlanc on board from 1985 to 1989. Records came out on Alternative Tentacles and Mammoth, and the band made its name the old-fashioned way, touring for decades on end. Today Davis is joined by Chance Casteel on bass, Wade Hymel on drums and Brian Broussard.

Irreverence is the other half of the charm. "Let's Go Smoke Some Pot", the rowdy singalong that rock radio listeners have kept coming back to, tells you everything about their sense of humor. In 2012 the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame made it official and inducted them.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.