Dishwalla is an American alternative rock band from Santa Barbara, California. The band's name comes from a Hindi term for a person providing cable TV to a neighborhood. In a Vox interview, lead guitarist Rodney Browning Cravens claimed the band took the name out of a Wired magazine article. The band is best known for their 1996 hit song "Counting Blue Cars."
In 1996, the single "Counting Blue Cars" from the album Pet Your Friends climbed the charts and was frequently played on the airwaves, bringing the band mainstream success. The track earned them a Billboard Award for "Best Rock Song" for 1996 as well as two ASCAP Awards for "Rock Track Of The Year" in both 1996 and 1997.
Dishwalla have since made other ventures into the limelight. In 1995 the song "Counting Blue Cars" was featured in the movie Empire Records. "Pretty Babies" is on the Blast from the Past soundtrack. In 1998 landed the song "Truth Serum" in The Avengers; in 1999, the song "Stay Awake" was featured in the movie Stir of Echoes' and the song "Find Your Way Back Home" was featured in the movie American Pie. In 2002 the song "Home" was in the movie The Banger Sisters and the The WB series Charmed spotlighted Dishwalla as musical guests in one episode. Other TV shows that have used their songs include Smallville, The OC, and NCIS. They have also been mentioned several times in the show How I Met Your Mother. The band has gone on to release two more studio albums, Opaline and the self-titled Dishwalla, as well as a live album, Live... Greetings From The Flow State.
In 2006, the band decided to take a break only to return to touring in 2008 with a modified lineup of Scot Alexander, Rodney Cravens, Jim Wood and original drummer George Pendergast. The lineup featured long-time friend, Justin Fox, singer of the Santa Barbara band Tripdavon, as a "Special Guest Vocalist". Lead Singer J.R. Richards recorded a debut solo album titled A Beautiful End that was released on May 12, 2009.
On March 15, 2009, Dishwalla was asked to play a benefit concert for "Tea Fire" victims, Lance and Carla Hoffman, who were badly burned in fires which hit Santa Barbara in November 2008. The hugely successful event was put on by coordinated efforts with Santa Barbara City Fire, Santa Barbara County Fire, Montecito Fire, Carpinteria/Summerland Fire departments.
In September 2012, the band announced on their official Facebook page a benefit concert on October 13 to raise money for George Pendergast's "Rockshop Academy", his non-profit youth music program started in 2008. Along with this announcement, Dishwalla quietly let it be known from personal Facebook posts by the members what fans had long speculated: the permanent replacement of original front man J.R. Richards with long-time friend and "Special Guest Vocalist", Justin Fox, from the band Tripdavon.
The reborn Dishwalla continues to tour heavily across the United States and the World. The band has shared the stage with many other notable acts such as Eric Burdon, Collective Soul, Vertical Horizon, Tonic, Stroke 9, and Nine Days just in 2014 alone. Any initial doubts about Justin Fox's ability to take over as front man for such an iconic band have long been extinguished by the outpouring of support by fans worldwide as Dishwalla rides a new wave of popularity
2015 will be the 20th anniversary of Dishwalla's chart topping Pet Your Friends album release which launched their careers. There is much speculation as to when a new Dishwalla album will be released but the band has discussed working on new material and starting pre-production over the past year.
Members
Current
Rodney Browning Cravens - Lead guitar, Songwriter (1993–present)
Scot Alexander - bass, Songwriter (1993–2005, 2008–present)
George Pendergast - drums, Songwriter (1993–1998, 2008–present)
Jim Wood - keyboards, Songwriter (1996–present)
Justin Fox - Lead vocals, Songwriter (2008–present)
Former
Pete Maloney - drums (1998–2007)
J. R. Richards - Lead Singer, Songwriter, Guitar, Keyboards, Programing (1993–2008)
Discography
Studio albums
Year Album Billboard Top 200
1995
Pet Your Friends 89
1998
And You Think You Know What Life's About 164
2002
Opaline 192
2005
Dishwalla
