Josh Dion Band

Infobox musical artist |
Name = Josh Dion Band


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Background = group_or_band
Origin =
Genre = Rock n' Roll/Americana
Years_active = 2004-Present
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URL = [http://www.joshdionband.com joshdionband.com]
Current_members = Josh Dion
Daniel Hindman
Sarah Versprille
Pat Firth
Brian Killeen
Past_members =

The Josh Dion Band is a musical group based out of New York City led by singing drummer/songwriter Josh Dion. The group is commonly associated with the Rock n' Roll/Americana genres of music.

Personnel

* Josh Dion - Lead Vocals/drums
* Daniel Hindman - Guitar/vocals
* Sarah Versprille - Lead Vocals/percussion
* Pat Firth - keyboards/Vocals
* Brian Killeen - Bass

History

In early 2004, Dion began writing and rehearsing original material with guitarist Daniel Hindman, keyboardist Pat Firth, and bassist Brian Killeen. All members of the band at one point attended William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ. Their first performance date was at the Sarah Street Bar and Grill on February 4th, 2004 in Stoudsburg, PA. At the time, the focus of the group was based loosely on songwriting and heavily on improvisation because of the lack of original material. Early influences of the band included blues, funk, jazz, and rock n' roll, though this sound would become more consolidated as the band progressed.

In July 2004, the JDB (as it is affectionately abbreviated) began performing in New York City at such venues as Suite 16 and The Bitter End. By this point, the band had acquired enough original material to perform a consolidated set focusing now primarily on songwriting. Shortly after, vocalists Sarah Versprille and Justin Wade joined the group to help fill out the missing vocal harmonies in the developing songs of the band.

The band continued to perform in the New York City area as well as travel throughout the East Coast opening for the likes of Buddy Guy, Los Lonely Boys, Eric Johnson, Spyro Gyra, and Cowboy Mouth. During this time they recorded their first album entitled [http://cdbaby.com/cd/joshdioinband 'Give Love'] , which included appearances from guitarist Chuck Loeb and vocalist Will Lee.

Shortly after the release of 'Give Love' in the summer of 2005, Wade left the band due to personal responsibilities. The new five-piece format of the group allowed for a change in the musical direction of the band which included featuring the vocals of Versprille more prominently and the increased output of songwriting from guitar wizard Daniel Hindman.

The 'Give Love' album opened doorways for the group to travel to Spain for their first international tour in May 2006. This tour was dubbed the 'Word Of Mouth' tour simply because the band was an unknown quantity in Europe at the time. The band was received with excellent reviews and attendance at all of its shows. After returning to the United States the group began recording their second album of live material simply entitled [http://cdbaby.com/cd/joshdionband2 'Live'] . The 'Live' album was released on October 7, 2006.

In 2007 the band continued touring heavily with an appearance at the Den Hague Jazz Festival as well as a second tour of Spain and an opening performance slot with the Spin Doctors. Their newest record 'Anthems For The Long Distance' was released on May 2, 2008 at a release show at the Highline Ballroom in New York City.

Discography

External links

* [http://www.joshdionband.com Official Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/joshdionband Official MySpace Page]