Gary Governale
Nov 15, 2025
Exploring the stories and southern spirit that shaped Dash Rip Rock’s newest chapter.
Legendary Louisiana cowpunk band Dash Rip Rock is finishing up their set with a powerful cover of an old Minutemen song. Bassist Izzy Grisoli bounces and grooves to the beat, while drummer Wade Hymel pounds out the rhythm. Meanwhile, band founder and leader Bill Davis sits quietly in the corner, shredding on guitar like only he can. This isn’t the end of a beer-soaked set at an edge-of-town roadhouse; it’s actually Izzy’s living room in the Broadmoor area of New Orleans. It marks the last song of a more than two-hour rehearsal as Dash prepares to close out 2025 with a series of shows, culminating in the release of a brand-new album.
It’s been a long and winding journey for Davis. He started the band in the mid-1980s while attending Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, using it as a way to earn some extra money on the side. Let’s dive into who Dash Rip Rock is today and where they are headed.
Bill: I love Punk Rock and New Wave, and there weren't that many punk rock and new wave bands in Baton Rouge. But the LSU fraternities were hiring punk and new wave to play their fraternity parties. So, I kind of just put the band together to make a little extra side money and then to write songs and start doing kind of a creative punk thing. The guys in the band were just sort of like newbie musicians, just like me, and we were mostly in school. We were at school at LSU, going to classes, and then we formed a band in the summertime, and it just took off. Yeah, we instantly started doing really well and drawing crowds, and then transferred over into New Orleans, and then it just took off from there.
MaM: Did you intend on going into “Cowpunk” necessarily, or was it more punk at first?
Bill: It wasn't called “Cowpunk”, but you know, we were calling it “Country Punk”. There were bands like Rank and File, The Long Ryders, Jason and the Scorchers, The Beat Farmers…They all came through Baton Rouge. It was kind of a good stop off for touring bands. And so, you had a great college radio station there, KLSU, and so all these bands stopped in, and when they did, I instantly went out there and made buddies, made friends with them, got drunk with them, brought them to the house, and made a gumbo. We just befriended all these cool Cowpunk bands. But it wasn't really called “Cowpunk”; it was “Country Punk.”
MaM: But it stuck, and you obviously embraced it.
Bill: Yeah, I mean, I've embraced it because it's fun. It's just a fun thing to say, like, “Yacht Rock”, you know? It's “Cowpunk!" Like Mojo Nixon used to say, “There are more bands than fans in Cowpunk. Everybody loves playing Cowpunk, but nobody goes to see it!” You know, it's like empty audiences.
(laughs)
Izzy: And it's not really true. They do turn up.
Bill: Like outlaw country, the cruise and the radio station have all sorts of lifted Cowpunk up recently, but it has been a rough slog. But it's been fun because Cowpunk is a blast. It's a blast to play. It's fast, and it’s country!
In fact, the current lineup of Dash Rip Rock seems determined to stretch beyond Cowpunk. The band, at heart, has always embraced its Southern roots. Influenced by Georgia bands like R.E.M. and Guadalcanal Diary, Dash followed in their footsteps: finding inspiration in Southern Gothic literature, poetry, and atmosphere. Creating fresh new music isn’t always easy for long-established bands, but Davis has found the solution: creating the most collaborative and creative version of Dash Rip Rock yet.
Bill: I would say this band is beyond Cowpunk. I mean, we made a record called “Cowpunk” several years ago. But this band is something else, right? The record label has been sort of digging around for something else to call us, because as much as we love playing Punk Rock and Country, this is just a different band. It's something else. It's better, you know? A million times better. Really, you're not going to pigeonhole this band by saying we're Cowpunk, because we are. But we're looser and more fun… like the members in this band, Wade, Bill, and Izzy, we have something that extends past Cowpunk.
Wade: Yeah, it is a melting pot.
MaM: You have a lot of different influences that go into it and a lot of various kinds of vibes that I guess you bring to the band.
Bill: Absolutely. I've had several people pass through the ranks of Dash Rip Rock, as you know. I had a lot of cool guys come through and play in the band, but this one has been the one that seems more creative, most creative, most outgoing, and ambitious. We try a lot of different stuff that the old guys would not have done. So, we're more experimental. The rehearsal we just had, you know, we were messing around and a lot of stuff came to be… I was saying, “No, that's too much, we can't do it!”. And they were like, "Let's try it… it’s practice!” And then all of a sudden, it happened, and it was just brilliant. So, it's good. Everybody's chipping in.
Izzy: Yeah, it's supposed to be like rootsy, rock, and punk… let's try it. And Wade's like, “Jam! Let's try it!” And then it just comes together in this power trio kind of way where we can achieve these fucking prog rock feats.
Bill: Wade brings Jam and Prog to the project, and then Izzy brings a lot of punk, and then me, whatever I've been doing my whole life, which is Country and Punk. Yeah, it just blends really well, and we enjoy playing together. It's always an adventure and really, really fun.
Wade: It is. It is. We have a lot of natural chemistry, and we also practice a lot. We're pretty diligent about getting together regularly for rehearsal when we can. So, the combination of those two things makes it really potent.
Izzy: But everybody listens really well to each other while we play. That's why we're so tight. We’re constantly listening to each other, looking at each other. I fit in pretty easily because everybody’s so focused on the song, and so am I. So, it just works.
MaM: I think part of the magic of Dash was always a certain level of improvisation, too. I mean, there's a lot of that.
Bill: A lot of that. Yeah. And that's the adventure part because it's fun. You know, we could play our songs backwards and forwards perfectly, but we enjoy getting there and just messing them up, you know? Taking the puzzle pieces and throwing them in the air, and then they all come back down differently.
Taking all those ideas and influences, the band has poured plenty of energy and excitement into their upcoming new album, A Song in Everyone. Recorded in Water Valley, Mississippi, with Matt Patton of Drive-By Truckers, the new album features the expected rockin’ riffs and humor that make Dash a Southern institution. But the album also expands on and builds the trio’s efforts to broaden the sound, creating something fresh and interesting.
Bill: Matt Patton, who's the bass player for Drive-By Truckers, bought the old Fat Possum studio. The minute he asked us to make this record, I was like, "Fat Possum, say no more!” Because I would love to cut anything up in that old studio. There’s a lot of great music that came out of there. You already picture how it's gonna sound. So, we jumped at the chance and we're basically on his record label. It's just a bunch of really cool rock songs, and we're very excited about it. These guys get to sing a couple, and it's a real team effort. It's an amazing record.
MaM: Would you say that's the most team effort you've had as far as crafting an album?
Bill: Yeah, I would say that. You know, in the history of Dash Rip Rock, it's always been sort of just me putting all the albums and records together. And it's better ever since Wade joined. He's been a good partner in recording and getting studio stuff done … just more imagination, you know. Dash used to be “just stick to your style, stick to your genre.” Now it’s “let's just go outer space with it”. And we do, and it's a freaking awesome one. It's great.
MAM: How many songs are you going to have on it?
Bill: Ten.
MAM: All brand-new original music?
Bill: We’re doing a cover of 'Mean Mister Mustard' by the Beatles. And it's a New Orleans style Huey Smith intro, and Wade plays piano on it. So, it's a New Orleans, James Booker, Huey Smith, Fats Domino version of 'Mean Mister Mustard.' It's really awesome. And then the rest are just songs that we've all written and cowritten.
Izzy: It was cool to get to play on the new record, you know. Since joining the band, I didn't know whether I'd get to play on the record. Bill told me that not all the bass players play on the record; sometimes they stay in Baton Rouge.
Bill: I played bass on a lot of Dash records! I mean, we had interesting people working with us. We had Henry Barbe. His dad is Dave Barbe, and he recorded all the Drive-By Truckers. He teaches music at the University of Georgia, and he was in the band Sugar with Bob Mould from Hüsker Dü. So, Dave Barbe's son engineered our first session, and then Clay Jones came, and he worked with Modest Mouse and R.L. Burnside. He was a monster. And then Jim Diamond, mastered it. He worked on a bunch really cool garage music, like the White Stripes.
Izzy: We trusted him (producer Matt Patton) a lot on this record. We really trusted his say.
Wade: He’s so warm and relatable. He jumps into the stream, and you can follow his vision. He's just very easy to work with. And so, we fell into a natural chemistry.
Bill: Matt just feels it. It's not like he's even listening. He feels it. He's using some spiritual guidance to make things happen. And then he would pop in and make these suggestions that were out in left field, and we would go, “Really?” And then we'd do it and we'd go, "Fuck, yeah, that was great!”
Izzy: Dudes got the coolest vibe and coolest accent, and he'd be like, “I don't know, man. That one, if you don't say something about Rush Limbaugh, you ain't got no hair on your nuts or something.”
(laughter)
Wade: Well, yeah, that's the other thing… Even with his criticism, he's very gentle. My favorite thing would be like, if I had an idea and I came in and tried to play something, he'd go, “It's too intelligent”. Which was his way of saying, “Take most of those notes out. You’ve got a good idea but simplify it.”
Izzy: Yeah, and he hates pedals.
Bill: Yeah, he has a lot of vintage gear, and everything goes direct. And you never use a guitar pedal. If I say anything else about the record, I want to say that.
Wade: It gives the record a really classic, timeless sound.
Bill: Well, they have an incredible way of engineering and producing things there, and it's almost like it's a secret. I can't even tell you what they do, but it's insane. And when they did it, I go, "Are you serious? Are you really gonna do that to the music?” And they're like, "Yeah, we do this on every record”. And they did it. Holy shit, that sounds awesome! I can't even tell you what they did. I mean, this would be a whole different interview about their production techniques, but it just made the record sound a million times better.
Experiencing a live Dash Rip Rock show is always a whiskey-fueled celebration. The concert features classic hits from the band, such as 'DMZ,' 'Bumf**Egypt,' 'Shake That Girl,' and 'Pack Your Bags,' as well as memorable covers of Dead Kennedys and ZZ Top songs. Even now, the band continues to introduce fresh music into their setlist, including Bill's current favorite, 'Pain Pills Never Expire,' which is playing on SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country station. Like much of Dash's discography, the new songs are characterized by barroom swagger, Southern storytelling, and the band's signature humor.
The new album from Dash Rip Rock, A Song in Everyone, was recorded at Dial Back Sound in Water Valley, Mississippi, and will be released January 30, 2026, on the Dial Back Sound record label. Be sure to add it to your list of upcoming releases to check out.
Track Listing:
1. Taking You On II
2. Dangerous Ways
3. 2 Much 2 Do
4. I Don’t Want to be a Whore
5. Shakin’ Out The Days
6. Pain Pills Never Expire
7. Mean Mr Mustard
8. Water Valley Throwdown
9. River
10. Hell & Back
*All photos by Gary Governale
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