Formed in 1992 over Rolling Rocks in a makeshift studio at Sean Carlin's farmhouse in Kent,Ohio, Dink became one of the most successful rock acts to come out of northeast Ohio in the 1990's. What started out as a studio project for Sean, Rob Lightbody, and Jer Herring, turned into a major label recording contract with Capitol Records. Blending industrial, hip-hop, and punk rock styles into a bombastic sound, the band's success was in its intense wall-of-sound, frantic performances, and multimedia live show with strobe lights, and psycho-delic film loops created by local film maker Mark Hughes. Dink's success was the culmination of years of playing in the Kent music scene, the climate of the recording industry at the time, unheard of local radio and media support, lots of hard work by the band, and timing (also known as luck).
The live version of Dink was completed with the thundering rhythm section of former Mannequin Odd bassist Jeff Finn and Dutch drummer Jan Eddy Van der Kuil (Ed), along with visual assault commander Mark Hughes. The band had four self-released cassettes on their own Fuck You I'm Not Sorry label. These included the Angels and Cops Are Baffled cassettes in 1993. The latter contained the breakthrough song Greenmind, which began getting radio play on the former 107.9 the End in Cleveland. What started out as getting Sunday night spins on the local band show - The Inner Sanctum - turned into regular rotation status, which in turn grabbed the attention of the major labels. Dink eventually signed with Capitol Records and released their first self-titled CD in the fall of 1994, with Skinny Puppy member Dave Ogilvie producing. With Greenmind acting as the first single, a video was shot in Akron and Cleveland. It's debut was on MTV's 120 Minutes show,, and was played regularly on the cable music station. It also was featured on MTV's Beavis and Butthead, and as background music in two feature films, Fear and Double Dragon. The song also reached ..1 on the alternative dance charts as Capitol released a 12" vinyl remix record in 1995. Two more songs from the debut release would be released in this manner - Angels and Get On It - both of which would also reach ..1 on the alternative dance charts.
The band toured the country extensively in support of their debut CD, including opening slots on national tours for Pop Will Eat Itself, the Lords of Acid, and KMFDM.
The band recorded a second CD for Capitol Records at a private studio in Akron, Ohio and at Forte Apache Studios in Boston in 1995. It was produced by the team of Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie whose list of production credits included Radiohead and Hole. An EP entitled BLAME IT ON TITO was released in the fall of 1996 which included several tracks from these sessions. They then hooked up with producer Steven Hague in 1997 in Woodstock, NY to record two more songs in the hope of completing the CD for release. The two songs were then mixed by Jer, Sean, and Steven Hague at the RAK Studios in London, England. However, the band was dropped from the label shortly after this as the changing climate of the recording industry in general and Capitol Records in particular took hold. The band broke up less than a year later.
