In the mid-’90s, Tripping Daisy went through major growing pains after Island Records released the quirky-poppy “I Got a Girl” as its first big single.
True, the song helped catapult the Dallas group on to Late Night With Conan O’Brien and MTV’s 120 Minutes. But frontman Tim DeLaughter was bummed to find Daisy being pigeonholed as a jokey alt-pop act after it made its name in Deep Ellum as a bold psychedelic punk band.
“We got sucked into that environment where it was all about record sales,” he told The Dallas Morning News at the time. “We became what we despised.”
Thirty years later, free from commercial pressures, Tripping Daisy is reclaiming its anything-goes spirit on its first national tour since the ’90s.
It’ll kick off the 21-city jaunt June 21 at the Bomb Factory, a Deep Ellum venue it played in ’92 not long after forming. ing DeLaughter are original Daisy bassist Mark Pirro and drummer Bryan Wakeland — who both followed their singer into the Polyphonic Spree after Daisy split in 1999. Former guitarist Philip Karnats has reed the group, which also includes Nick Earl (guitar). Multi-instrumentalist Dylan Silvers will flesh out the band’s sound onstage.
In addition to playing ’95’s I Am an Elastic Firecracker from start to stop, the group hopes to improvise new material onstage — just like the old days when the band would “write songs, literally in front of the audience, unbeknownst to them,” DeLaughter says.
Details
With opening acts Jumprope and Julian Maas, 8 p.m., Saturday, June 21, at the Bomb Factory, 2713 Canton St., Dallas. $43 and up. Axs.com.
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