DDS was formed in November, 2004 by Austin, TX musician Dwayne Barnes. The band started as a three-piece with Fernie Renteria on drums and Brandi Dipietro on bass. They started playing out in December, and in March, 2005 they recorded the Fangstick EP. Brandi left the band in May to prioritize her main band Woozyhelmet , and Fernie and Dwayne took a two-month hiatus to find the right people & direction.
In July, 2005 Dwayne selected friends Liz Walton and Elizabeth Meador to join DDS. He wrote parts and taught bass to Liz, and keyboards to Elizabeth. As he suspected, they are natural talents- 28 days later the girls played their first show ever, and Drop Dead Steady played their first show as a four-piece!
Over the next 10 months DDS played 18 local shows and recorded the four songs uploaded to the profile. In that time they developed great chemistry and grew into a solid, energetic live band.
Long story short, Liz quit. Fernie quit. Dwayne & Elizabeth played a few shows as a duo. Then, from October, 2007 off and on through late 2008, Dwayne and Elizabeth traveled as tour manager/sound engineer and merch girl/roadie, respectively, for Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Antibalas & the Budos Band.
Making money and working our asses off taught us to appreciate the joy of playing music again ourselves, even just for free beer. Now, we are back in Austin full-time, and ready to once again rock n roll!
Visit our Website: www.dropdeadsteady.com