Ryan Dahle
Ryan Dahle is a Canadian musician, best known for his contributions to the bands
Age of Electric and
Limblifter, each of which have scored several minor radio hits.
Age of Electric was a band founded in
1989 that consisted of two sets of brothers, Ryan and
Kurt Dahle, and
Todd and John Kerns. Originally named just
"Electric", the band got their start by playing LA
glam rock-era covers.
In
1994,
Electric released the 'Ugly' EP, which sold well independently. The group gave Cargo Records the rights to distribute the EP, and its title track debuted on the Canadian Album Charts at #73. Invasion Group Management helped with the promtion of the album, and got 'Ugly' video airplay on
Muchmusic. No major label deal was in sight, so the group decided to continue and release an independent LP called
Untitled.
After performing at Music West in Vancouver in 1995, the group got signed to
Mercury records, and re-released 'Untitled' as "The Age of Electric". They won a Canadian Rock Award for 'Best West Coast Independent Artist'.
In 1996, Ryan, Kurt and bassist
Ian Somers formed Limblifter as a side project, and released a self-titled debut album, which spawned three Canadian top-40 hits, "Tinfoil", "Vicious" and "Screwed Up". The project would be put on hiatus soon thereafter, and the brothers once again began to focus on their original group.
In
1997, Age of Electric released their album
Make a Pest a Pet, which would be the band's best-selling record. The song
Remote Control gained heavy airplay on both radio and television outlets. In March 1998, Age of Electric was (somewhat inappropriately) nominated for "Best New Group" at the
Juno Awards. However, tension within the band was mounting, and the group would disband after their
1999 tour as the opening act for countrymen
Our Lady Peace.
The Dahles once again focused on Limblifter (still with member Ian Somers), and released their second album
Bellaclava in 2000. Although the album didn't have the commercial success of the band's first album, it did spawn two popular radio singles, "Ariel vs. Lotus" and "Wake Up To The Sun". However, the band didn't have a chance to follow up on their success, as Kurt left the band to concentrate on the celebrated independent band
The New Pornographers. Ian Somers would soon move on to form and provide vocals for a new band,
Brundlefly, who released an album entitled "By The Way" in the early part of the 21st century.
Faced with financial shortages, Ryan Dahle lay dormant for a while before recruiting former
Matthew Good Band drummer Ian Browne and a few other musicians for a short-lived, but highly anticipated band named
Alarm Bell. The group never released any albums or singles.
Ryan would return to his major project, Limblifter, and recruited a new group of musicians, including acclaimed blogger
Meegee Bradfield, Dave Patterson, and another of
Matthew Good's percussionists, studio drummer
Pat Steward. The band released its third album,
I/O in 2004, and toured across Canada as openers for Matthew Good's solo act, during the
Put Out Your Lights tour.
