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Swallowed
by Sharon Hughes
from Eclipse Magazine, September 1998

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Such was the case with all-original rockers New Sense, who burst on the scene in early summer of 1995.  Lead vocalist Dana Victoria and drummer Russ Stanhope went through two separate lineup changes and about six more guitarists before calling a temporary halt to things in late ’97.  After placing numerous ads in local magazines and on music store bulletin boards, the two hooked up with guitarist/midi programmer Dale Welch and bassist Bill Bois.  The band re-emerged as “Swallowed” in March of ’98, and all of a sudden, the potential of New Sense was being fulfilled. The band has a much more polished, modern and edgy sound.  They say people have compared them to a union of Alanis Morissette and Soundgarden; I think they sound a bit like Garbage.

However one categorizes their music, Swallowed has formally re-entered the all-original fray with a vengeance.  They are working to incorporate sequencing into their live show; although gigs have made it difficult for the band to woodshed for any amount of time.  “I think today’s music is going more and more electronic,” Dana said.  “I want to incorporate the keyboard as much as possible because I really think it gives us an edge.”  Once the band is ready, they will record their ten (or so) best songs.  “We’ve got to have something to give people,” Dale said.  Until then, we’ll just have to wait.

Dana is a Sarasota native who always knew she would be a performer in some capacity.  She took ballet for seven years, and then attended Booker’s Visual Performing Arts School, becoming involved in theater and taking voice lessons.  After high school, the temporarily dropped the arts, but success in karaoke contests brought her back.  Although she knew nothing about the music business, Dana put together a couple of cover bands, called “Blind Vision” and “Tickler.”  She constantly gathered information along the way.  “That’s been a big thing; asking a lot of questions, reading a lot of books, talking to people in the industry, trying to talk to people that are a step above me, or several steps above me, and asking “How did you do it?’” Dana said.

It was in Tickler that Dana met Russ, who moved here from Connecticut in 1975.  His first drum hero was Keith Moon of the Who, whom he discovered in a movie about the Monterey Pop Festival.  Russ started on the snare drum at seven, taking jazz lessons from a teacher who told him to give it up, that he had no talent.  After ten years without the drums, Russ bought a kit and began playing with his brother Lee on guitar and a co-worker on bass.  They got their start playing all-instrumental covers tunes for beer in local biker bars.  After working with Dana in Tickler, he decided to stick with her after that band broke up.  “I saw a future there,” he said.

When the two started New Sense, they were originally planning to play both covers and originals, but after less than two months together, they had seven originals under their belts.  “My goal was, when I started doing all of this, was to become a big entertainer and be at the top of the music industry,” Dana explained.  “When I started, I didn’t have any experience in writing music, so it was much easier to do covers because I could just pick out the songs I liked and learn them.  When we started doing originals, it was more because if a record company was going to come around by chance and we’re doing covers, if they said, ‘Yeah, we like your style and everything but do you have anything of your own?’, I couldn’t say no.”  Frequent lineup changes became disheartening to Russ and Dana, who decided to take some time off in late ’97.

Dale, who was born in England but came to the states at an early age, was given the opportunity by his parents to take classical guitar lessons at the age of eight, but refused.  Instead, he played saxophone for eight years, playing and touring at the age of 15 with an Elvis impersonator.  He admired the playing of the guitarist in that band, and decided to learn the instrument.  At 17, he played in a country/Southern rock band called “Southern Comfort,” but got scared when the lifestyle became a bit rough.  After a stint in the Marines in an effort to straighten out, Dale returned to his home in Virginia and joined a classic rock/blues band called “Cat Daddy.”  He moved to Tampa in the late ‘80’s, continuing briefly with Cat Daddy, but then decided to quit playing for a few years.  In 1995, Dale decided to write movie scores, learning about midi technology and sequencing.

Dale met Bill Bois through an ad he put in a local magazine in ’91.  Although the two jammed together, they never played out.  The got back together in 1997, writing and recording techno as the “Lobotomy Brothers.”

Bill, who grew up in Maine, picked up the bass in high school when the jazz band purchased a shiny new electric bass, but had no one to play it.  In college, he played with a classic rock band; when he transferred to Emerson in Boston, he joined a hardcore punk band called Psycho.  The band did fairly well, and even formed their own record label, but Bill found the music repetitive after a while.  He moved down here in 1989, but had difficulty finding musicians of like mind.  In mid-’97, Bill joined a group of co-workers in a band called “Squash!,” playing eighties new wave and nineties alternative dance tunes.  The lead singer in that band was a consultant who would be leaving town at about the same time that Dana and Russ decided to call a halt to New Sense.  Bill saw Dana’s ad, and she performed several times with Squash!.

Bill invited Dana to record vocals with the Lobotomy Brothers.  The three like what they heard; all they needed was a drummer.  After bringing in Russ for a jam session, Swallowed was born.  “These guys are phenomenal to play with; their writing is superb,” Russ said.  “When we all first sat down, we jammed on one tune and after that, I knew we were in.  We didn’t even really have to discuss it.”

Most of what the band plays now is from the past writings of Bill and Dale; only four of the songs on the current songlist are from New Sense’s days.  Just as the music has taken a drastic turn for the better, so has Dana’s showmanship.  “I’ve changed a lot.  The more that I’ve changed, the more I’ve got confidence and feel better about myself,” Dana said.  “When I first started, I didn’t have that.  I was really insecure and really nervous and wasn’t sure of what I was doing.  With every year it just keeps getting better and better.”

The band is working to polish their act musically.  “I love this band; I think we’re great, I think a lot of good things are going to happen for us,” Dale said.  “I just want it to be better.  I want more from it.”  Bill laughed at Dale’s straightforward manner; “Dale is musical perfectionist, which is a good thing.  It’ll make us better in the long run.”    The group feels that with all the talent present in this area right now, they had better shine. They feel that there is a small number of bands that could be signed right now to a national deal; they want to be one of them.