Houston Calling

The Dimes forced to change their name under threat of lawsuit

December 12th, 2007 · 3 Comments

I was recently forwarded an email press release from a friend who asked if the band pumped in the release (The Dimes) was the Houston-based band of the same name. I quickly scanned it, saw it not most definitely not, and responded–and also forwarded to the guys in The Dimes, who unfortunately are well aware of the Portland-based band mentioned in the press release (which follows in edited form).

My name is Ryan Wines, and I run a label called Pet Marmoset. I’d like to introduce to you one of our bands, The Dimes. They’re hometown favorites here in Portland, Oregon, and they’re really starting to gather a buzz nationwide. They’re definitely born of the same Northwest family tree as The Decemberists, The Shins, and Ben Gibbard’s work.

Here is some what some folks are saying about the record:

“Melodic sweet guitars over gorgeous voices and phenomenal lyrics define The Dimes. From Portland Oregon, this band has made quite the impact with their latest release The Silent Generation. If I have to say so myself, it’s going on my top 10 and currently is in high rotation in my iPod.” -Seattle’s KEXP

“Interesting, semi-pastoral ambitious pop that’s nostalgically inclined lyrically — detailed scenarios from past eras that capture your interest.” -USA Today

“…Beach Boys harmonies, pop storytelling…and an opening track containing enough whimsy that you’ve got to assume it was recorded after a screening of Wes Anderson movies. …grabs the listener by the hand to declare its place in the world.” -The Tripwire (BLOG)

“The Silent Generation is a gorgeous album. The record is a concise but diverse statement on guitar pop, something akin to Death Cab for Cutie if their reputation didn’t precede them, and with less emoting. At all times the performances are spot on, and everything on here is tight, without any over production or heaviness.” -30 Music (BLOG)…

According to Cley Miller of the Houston Dimes:

“Yeah, about that. Their label is going to sue us if we don’t change our name within the next two weeks. We’ve been expecting this for quite some time. A new name has been one of the foremost things on our mind for the past month or so. We have a few that seem to be pretty good, but it’s just so hard to settle on one. What instigated the whole suing frenzy was a botched press release in Sacramento where one of the local papers featured photos of Jose and me in a write-up about the Portland Dimes, they even named Jose and me as members of their band. We found the incident to be pretty funny, but the P. Dimes and their management weren’t laughing at all, and felt the need to get legal over the name. We’ll sorely miss having the dimes as a name, but there’s really nothing we can do to keep it. The odds just aren’t in our favor. They had it first by like two years, toured all over the country (even some international), and more than likely put out some kind of recording before we did. Besides threatening legal action the P. Dimes have been relatively nice to us and kind of sympathetic about the whole situation, but they’re definitely not backing off their threat of taking us to court over the name.”

I have been a fan of The Dimes (the Houston-based one) since I first saw them at a benefit show at Mary Jane’s several years ago. Surely you’ve seen them live by now… It sucks they’re having to deal with it but hopefully all goes smoothly and they make it out relatively unscathed.

Check out a great video of The Dimes’ “Delilah” on YouTube.

Tags: Miscellaneous · Music

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