More from Maybe4Less
Maybe4Less started out much like a Bryan Singer film…. seemingly harmless but strangely exciting. A friend, who was in need of entertainment for his birthday party, had heard some of the music that guitarist/lead singer Dash Hawkins had recorded and convinced him to perform. Dash recruited bassist Chris “Rollin” Olin, the two played at the party, and Dash got off without having to buy his friend a birthday present. Thus was the beginning of Maybe4Less. It was hardly over.

Expect more
The boys of Maybe4Less are all seventeen, excelling in highschool in LA and beating the odds generating industry interest in a town where young bands are usually eaten for breakfast and spit out for lunch. Already Mandalay entertainment, Fanscape.com and HardRoad.com are looking to help develop the band on and off the Internet. Undaunted by the challenges ahead of them, Dash will tell you, “Trust me, this is going to be big, the music speaks for itself.” After starting their musical lovefest, Dash and Chris quickly recruited a drummer, and the trio began playing all over LA. They played parties and gigs at the Cobalt, and at the KROQ tent in front of the LA Coliseum for the Summer Sanitarium tour (featuring Kid Rock, Korn and Metallica.) Soon after recording their first CD, 7 Humps Ahead, and performing at the Whiskey in December of 2000, Seattle-based Very Juicy Records snapped up the band, punched out a deal and put them in the label’s artist development tank, the Red Room Studio to record their first national release.

Back at the Whiskey
At that same Whiskey show, John Holdridge, a friend of Dash and Chris’ since their childhood, joined them on stage for one song. From that single performance, it was apparent that John added an amazing sonic texture to Maybe4Less’ already distinctive sound, and the trio morphed into a four-piece band. With the departure of their original drummer and subsequent addition of Kyle Berkman on drums, Maybe4Less was finally ready to take that bizarre trip down the path of alt-pop rock stardom.

Inside the Red Room
The band entered the studio in July of 2001 with producer Maurice Jones Jr. to work on their self-titled debut CD. Maybe4Less is truly a collaborative effort. Although Dash takes primary responsibility for writing the lyrics, all four-band members collectively shaped the sound of the eleven songs on the CD. “Maurice looked me in the eye and said you must open up your voice, sing from your whole body. I did and man it’s a whole new vocal flow for me now.” Says Dash about his lead vocals.

Coming From Everywhere
Though many have insisted that Maybe4Less could be the second coming of such great bands as Third Eye Blind, the band has diverse musical influences that include 311, Jamiroquai, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden/Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron, The Beatles, Stone Temple Pilots, and Smashing Pumpkins. With all this in their heads, it’s no wonder that the band has a sound that defines the essence of pop and alternative rock. Maybe4Less opens with a straight- up rocker, “Immaculate Misconception,” and sustains that same energy with “Poker Face,” which matches strong vocal harmonies with – according to bassist Chris Olin– a “frenetic” melody line. Dash’s lyrical insights into the complex nature of relationships are evident on songs such as “When She Loses It All” and “Get Off The Phone.” “I Digress” opens with noticeably sustained power in the bass and drums. The song soars into an equally strong melodic line when the guitars come in, and then takes listeners to another place altogether in the breakdown. The band’s sense of pop finesse shines on tracks such as “Seven-Four Lazy J” and “April Fools,” while the rock anthem ballad “She’s Alright” again conveys its own conflicted emotions through musical contrast. “The verse is slower and more dense, which represents the smothering, going-through- the-motions time when a relationship is about to crash and burn, and the chorus, which is much more open with less of a higher energy rhythm, symbolizes the freedom that both partners feel once it’s finally over,” says wiser- than- his- age -suggests Chris. “Point of View” and the totally mellow “Valley Girl” showcase show even more depth. The CD finally concludes with “Make Him Bleed,” a song lead singer Dash Hawkins explains is about meeting an ex-girlfriend’s new love. “I used the contrast of a mellow, melodic verse with a screaming, aggressive guitar chorus to capture the frustration and anger of teen-age romance. Not mine of course, but other people’s”

The Plan to Conquer the World
Now that they’ve finished recording and are back in LA, Maybe4Less is clearly on a mission to build their core fan base, book the band everywhere and give their newly indoctrinated fans their first taste of something more. Over the next 12 months, expect more shows at such LA clubs as the Whiskey, Genghis Cohen, and the Martini Lounge and Northwest Clubs including I Spy, Graceland, the Crocodile and the EMP. Most of the boys come from entertainment industry royalty, with Dash’s Dad Rick Hawkins a major television writer, John’s Dad being the prominent film composer Lee Holdridge and Chris’s Dad having run the business affairs of A&M records for well ever a decade until he became the COO of the controversial Napster file sharing site. From this perspective, the boys know what they have to do. “We will keep touring, touch every chat room and web site in cyberspace and build the Maybe4Less army. We will never take no for answer, says emphatic guitarist John Holdridge. “The chance Very Juicy Records and our parents are giving us to live this ultimate teen rock and roll dream is incredible. Every day in the studio we could not get these big grins off our faces!” says drummer and newest member Kyle Berkman.

Dash Hawkins on lead guitars and lead vocals, Chris Olin on bass and vocals, John Holdridge, Guitars and vocals, and Kyle Berkman on drums and vocals are Maybe4Less.