The DMB Collective
Campfire Draw Alongs
The DMB Collective (Donald Fodness, Michael Bernhardt, and Barry Whittaker) seeks to provide a public service intended to act as a beacon of hope in these troubled times. By drawing on the rich visual and oral traditions of the American West and Southwest, the DMB endeavor to honor, reflect, confuse and resist the romanticized stereotypes of this region through the ubiquitous technologies we now rely on for connection. They will share descriptions of iconic images, suggestive of cowboy poetry spoken by an open campfire, creating an ambiance saturated with the smell of smoke and beans.
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The War on Christmas / Christmas Spam
Q: When do artists make a Christmas album?
A: When they have reached the apex of their career and have nowhere else to go?
Q: When do visual artists with little musical talent make an album?
A:When they live in an echo chamber of support for DMB ideas and lack inhibition out of naiveté for what is sure to please the masses?
'Tis the season to gather your friends, family and enemies around a fire and put on the newest record produced by the DMB Collective: War On Christmas. This distasteful ear worm re-filters our most loved and hated Christmas music through the DMB process that dresses every note of an off key round robin with a sweet midi beat that you won’t forget, but you wish you could.
When it comes to self-publishing major hits, these artists are just warming up—just warming up their vocal chords that is. Their discordant musical attempts embrace the amateur and take seriously the act of conscious absurdity. The resulting form is an auditory palimpsest of crude vocals serving as an uncomfortable joke. DMB’s War On Christmas laughs at the organic stream of absurd bits of data from the world of current events in politics, as well as the self-absorbed nature of social media and beyond. The DMB Collective is already working on their next album of jock rock medleys, Participation Trophy.
The DMB Christmas Album, War On Christmas has been three years in the making, although it sounds like they each sent the first effort to be overlaid on top of a sweet drum beat and cut as an album. Most of the work involved in making this album involved choosing which Christmas songs were both worthy of, and durable enough, to handle the DMB treatment.
About the DMB
The DMB collective is made up of primarily visual artists: Don, Mike and Barry. Don't let your eyes and ears fool you; these artists can do, and have done a lot more than you think. As far as musical backgrounds go, Don played third string clarinet in middle school. Mike was in the high school theatre and likely had to sing for that, and Barry met a person who hung out with a bunch of musicians in Los Angeles.
With an exercycle-powered dance party, an unforgettable acapella ensemble, and "deep discounts," the DMB Collective often enjoys doing things the wrong way. Building on a shared sense of the absurd, these three artists question the value of language and the objects surrounding us. By practicing the most blatant misappropriation and misuse, the DMB explores overlooked opportunities in the commonplace and obsolete objects we live with. The DMB Collective is a collaboration between Donald Fodness, Michael Bernhardt, and Barry Whittaker.
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