PureVolume

Members: Dusty Sparkles, Rockwell, Buck Rothy, Dell Blackwell

"Had David Bowie seduced Black Sabbath and the coupling been consummated in a waterbed of liquid LSD, the music would sound as epic as Danava's two demo songs." - The Stranger

Formed in 2003, Danava (pronounced DON-UH-VUH) got their start when singer/guitarist Dusty Sparkles and drummer Buck Rothy moved to Portland from Illinois with bassist Dell Blackwood randomly coming from Illinois a little later. From the beginning, the idea for the band was to keep everything very physically present. This harkens back to a time when a rock band let the music speak for itself and not worry about any rock star attitudes. Danava would like to reclaim this sound and thinking by making every instrument the focus. According to Dusty, "Everyone is riding at the front of a boat and it's about to tip over at any moment." This spontaneous equality in the music has lead to marathon live sets that have completely amazed anyone who has witnessed them.

Danava is a record that continues this long-standing tradition of musical respect. Recorded and produced by Danava friend Johnny Jewel, the five songs on Danava capture Jewel's own personal relationship and love for the project. He has taken this triangle core of the music and drawn circles around it. From the ever-expanding soundscape of "Eyes in Disguise" to the immediate fuzz fueled assault in "Long Dance", the listener will be bludgeoned by the eclectic noise overload heard on the record. "By the Mark", which first saw light as one of the standout tracks on Kemado Records' Invaders compilation, has been re-recorded to a more powerful degree. A different version of "Quiet Babies Astray in a Manger" from their limited Summer Tour 12" is also included. The conclusion of the record is the opus "Maudie Shook" which throws the listener into a vortex of dementia only to eventually be brought back down to reality.