MySpace.com - Dina Gathe - Chatsworth, California - Indie / Alternative / Rock

It's No Bother At All

"Last week, another phenomenal Indie Pop artist sent me her album, and once again I am at a loss to explain how commercial radio hasn't latched onto this thing like a corporate Remora.

Dina Gathe is her name, and she's been rocking L.A.'s classic venues for so long, it's kinda strange I haven't run into her before. I mean, even considering that I don't go out anymore. Well, no matter -- I've got her new album Bother Me now, and if you want my copy, then you'll have to have Chuck Heston pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

Bother Me is a huge album, both in content and ambition. There are 15 tracks, and each song is a work of high quality."

Cutting Edge Voices CD Reviews

"...Her voice at times is reminiscent of a younger Pat Benatar during her 80's heyday or Chrissie Hynde's vocals (Solid Ground) from her time with the Pretenders. As you might guess with the above comparisons I very much enjoyed the CD as a whole and even after several complete run throughs I don't think that there is a weak track among the 15 songs offered on this CD.

Dina does not simply sing/perform her songs in a manner that is similar to the above artists instead she stamps them indelibly with her own personality and style while bringing to mind the strong female vocalists that were mentioned previously. It is a great thing for an artist to be compared to such well know performers but in the end Dina's music is strictly her own and performed with a sense of who she is and what she wants the music to communicate to her listeners and she succeeds on both levels...

"...It is always refreshing to listen to a female rocker who is not afraid to let it out both in how she plays the guitar but in also allowing her vocals to project the emotions that are needed to bring out the feeling contained in her lyrics. For a great example of Dina letting go on guitar check out her licks on the song called Holiday and tell me this girl can't wail with the best of them....Dina Gathe has a rocking future ahead of her in the music business and she had better get used to the idea of success."

"Gathe's fiesty lead guitar, edgy vocals -- think Chrissie Hynde --and a ton of conviction make her the fuel that powers these songs...

...Gathe is an exceptional artist who relates well with her audience. Her versatility and willingness to explore what lies below life's surface is impressive and refreshing. Well beyond songwriting 101, Dina Gathe could be poised for a long and meaningful career."

DINA GATHE BIOGRAPHY

With her razor-sharp guitars, vocals that reach straight for your heart and impressive song craft, Dina Gathe fuses a wealth of influences into a singular modern rock sound that is both unique and accessible at the same time. Think No Doubt/Pretenders meet The Motels and Evanescence.

On her debut CD, “Bother Me”, she invites you to experience songs that are thought-provoking, energetic, fun, funky and edgy. Dina’s straight-to-the-point lyrics and vocal moods shift playfully between straight-up in-yo-face rock, sarcastic life observations, and a fun, childlike sense of wonder as her guitar guides you musically through the journey.

“I guess my musical influences are a bit of a melting pot,” says Dina. “I definitely love groove and rhythm. I think that comes from my marching band experience growing up - we had a grooving rhythm section and that established my sense of timing early on. I can relate to AC/DC, The Clash, 70’s soul music -- most styles really – as long as the song is there. The song rules for me. At the end of the day, the writing has to be good. And then if you can add your own personal flavor to the recording, that’s when it really starts to get interesting."

Growing up in Los Angeles in a cross-cultural clan with a Latina mother and a Cajun father, Dina's extended family included guitar-playing cousins who shared their knowledge of the instrument with her. "The first lessons I had were on piano, but I always wanted to rock," she recalls. When she asked for a guitar, instead of the gleaming electric she envisioned, her father purchased an acoustic - more suitable for folk than funk. Undeterred, Dina applied her rock zeal to the wooden instrument. Eventually, she graduated to electric guitar.

Meanwhile, the music resonated everywhere - Depeche Mode, The Cars and The Pretenders. "Chrissie Hynde was a huge influence," she remembers, "someone who wasn't afraid to say what she wanted, and who could rock, with depth in her lyrics." As a member of the all female band, "Table Talk", Dina herself was soon rocking the house at staple Los Angeles venues such as Madame Wong's and Club Lingerie.

Although a stint working in corporate America paid lucrative dividends and offered up lessons in marketing and branding, Dina knew what was missing. Forsaking the power suit and expense account, she founded Soundstruck Music in 2001 with partner Patricia (PK) Koprowski, and began recording and producing new material. Dina has two songs on the "Females on Fire" compilation CD (www.femalesonfire.com) while another tune, "Solid Ground" has recently been tapped as the opening and closing theme for Charter cable's weekly series, The Rustam Report, hosted by Denise Ames.

Co-produced with indie-artist-extraordinaire, Gilli Moon, and mixed and engineered by Matt Thorne (The Eels, TRAPT, Plastilina Mosh), "Bother Me" is an assertive debut that delivers the musical soul of Dina Gathe in a high-quality production mastered by Leon Zervos at renowned Sterling Sound in New York, and featuring a host of top-notch musicians. Its songs reflect the complex demands of modern romance, the dreams of the disenchanted, and the liberating power of self-determination. "If there's something I want to do I can't see anything else," she says. With "Bother Me", Dina lays claim to a self-defined musical territory. "I wanted to do a record with no regrets and no compromises. It's like jumping off a cliff."

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