It’s April 2020. In the big scheme of things, playing music pales in comparison to the pain and challenges the COVID-19 pandemic is causing for people in our hometown, our nation and the world we live in. Still, as friends and bandmates we wanted to find a way to create at least a little music, despite our observance of social distancing.
That was the inspiration for our "Creation in Isolation" Project.
What is it? It's all 6 of us picking a song we love, each of us recording our parts separately at home on a phone, then compiling the recordings into a song. Simple as that.
We hope to do it once a week while social distancing lasts. We're hoping and praying it's only a few songs.
We think Plato would approve.
Who we are ...
Hi folks, this is Trey. I play bass for Dean Drive Five. We are a neighborhood band.
Most bands have some romantic story of how one of us walked into an indie record store, struck up a conversation about Big Star, Velvet Underground or Gram Parsons and moved on to be the torchbearer of some new sub-genre of musically hip bands that proceeded them.
I love those bands – DD5 is not that.
I imagine if you asked the six of us individually to name our top five albums of all time there would be zero crossover. But I also think we all would tell you that in the end there are really only two types of songs – those that make a connection and those that don’t. If it was a popular song from any point over the last 50 years, it's fair game for DD5.
We found each other through unremarkable circumstances – family, schools, and neighborhoods. We discovered the common ground of carpools, day jobs, mortgages and all the other priorities that hit you somewhere in what I reluctantly acknowledge as the midpoint of life.
What was remarkable, however, was chemistry – that elusive, unexplainable pixie dust that just makes some relationships transcend expectations. It's why a song such as “Just Like Heaven” finds its way to a band armed with a mandolin and fiddle – and somehow it works. When that happens, just ride the wave brother, ride the wave.
I am finding too that chemistry extends beyond the six of us in the band. In a big city like Atlanta, a sense of community can be elusive, fleeting, and limited to small circles that rarely overlap. Our shows have allowed us to make connections with all sorts of new friends, and to rally with all our old ones in our ever-expanding neighborhood.
In a world that feels more and more insular with each news cycle, it is thrilling to foster friendships through music. Whether it’s a festival picnic with 8 year olds, or a beer soaked reincarnation of a house party from 1988, our friends old and new are the real secret sauce for Dean Drive Five. The “Dean’s List” keeps growing, and all are truly welcome.
So, that’s it – Dean Drive Five – a neighborhood band. Thanks for checking us out, and tag us any time. Hope to see you around and shake your hand.
