Artful Dodger (Rock)
Artful Dodger was a hard rock/power pop band from Virginia that doggedly recorded and toured without ever making a real mark in America. The band continue to be held in high esteem by the power pop cognoscenti, who regard their albums, a mix of no-frills 70s guitar rock and tough-but-tasty pop à la the Raspberries, as unheralded classics. The first seeds of the band were sown when Gary Cox (b. 17 January 1953; guitar/vocals), Steve Brigida (b. September 1952; drums) and Gary Herrewig (b. 22 December 1951, Heidelberg, Germany; guitar) met in high school in Fairfax, Virginia. Steve Cooper (b. September 1952; bass) and Billy Paliselli (vocals) were cousins who lived nearby. Around 1970, Cox, Herrewig, and Cooper started playing together in a band called Homestead. Brigida and Paliselli were in another local band, Badge. After both groups broke up, Herrewig, Paliselli, and Brigida began playing together in a band that by 1973 was called Brat, and included Cooper and Cox. Soon Brat were en route to New York City, presenting a self-pressed single ("Not Quite Right"/"Long Time Away') to New York Dolls managers David Krebs and Steve Leber, who were impressed enough to sign them on the spot. By 1975, Brat had a deal with CBS Records, but they had to change their name to Artful Dodger owing to a conflict with another band. Bob Ezrin protégé Jack Douglas produced Artful Dodger, which was recorded in a monastery in Pennsylvania. The album sold poorly, despite critical plaudits. Though most of the band's songs were written by lead vocalist Paliselli with Herrewig, a CBS executive wanted a soft ballad written and sung by Cox to be the album's first single. This was the beginning of a rift between Cox, a self-contained singer-songwriter whose Beatles-influenced ballads stood out amid the straight-up Cheap Trick-like rockers, and the rest of the band, that eventually led to his departure. As a compromise, the song was re-recorded with a Paliselli lead vocal and female backing vocals. Both CBS and the band were unhappy with the results, and the single predictably flopped. Honor Among Thieves was released in 1976, but the band was disappointed with the album's production. Once again, Artful Dodger received good reviews but suffered poor sales. They toured throughout that summer with Kiss, who were at their peak of popularity. Edward Leonetti produced 1977's Babes On Broadway, but the band felt uncomfortable without the involvement of Douglas, and the sessions suffered. It was at this time that Cox's conflict with the rest of the band came to a head, and he left after the Babes On Broadway tour. The band decided to start afresh with new manager Hank LoConti, who signed them to Ariola/Arista Records. Keyboardist Peter Bonta joined the band for 1980"s Rave On, which came closest to achieving their pure power pop vision. Touring with Bonta, the band sounded better than ever on stage, but the lack of commercial success began to take its toll, and Paliselli left to spend more time with his family. Artful Dodger soldiered on for a while, but by 1982 had fallen apart. Bonta went on to play with Mary-Chapin Carpenter and with country-rockers the Rosslyn Mountain Boys. Cox recorded some material intended for a solo album with Billy Joel's band, but nothing ever materialized. Paliselli's plans for a solo career met a similar fate. Brigida remained a working musician, but Cox and Herrewig retired from the music business altogether. All of the original band members (plus Bonta) got together again for two early-90s reunion shows at Hank LoConti's Agora club in Cleveland, Ohio. They played some new material and made a strong impression on audiences, but Paliselli's unwillingness to pursue the rock 'n' roll lifestyle again made any further plans unworkable.
DISCOGRAPHY: Artful Dodger (Columbia 1975)****, Honor Among Thieves (Columbia 1976)***, Babes On Broadway (Columbia 1977)***, Rave On (Ariola 1980)****.
