The Dahlmanns: Making Beautiful Music Together
GUEST POST: Josh Rutledge
To kick off the new year, I’m sharing an exclusive excerpt from Remember The Lightning: A Guitar Pop Journal, Volume 4, written by Josh Rutledge of Faster and Louder blog and the Born Too Late podcast. Josh is one of my main sources for new power pop, garage rock, and punk music, so it was a real thrill to feature his excellent article about The Dahlmanns in our latest print and ebook collection. —S.W. Lauden
The Dahlmanns: Making Beautiful Music Together
How A Fun Family Project Became A Beloved Power Pop Band
By Josh Rutledge
It wouldn't be right to refer to what’s been going on in power pop music over the past decade and a half as a revival.
That would imply that this sort of music at some point went into decline or even disappeared from the face of the earth. Anyone reading this knows that nothing could be further from the truth. But the years 2010 to present (or thereabouts) have most definitely distinguished themselves as a remarkable era for that magnificent branch of the rock and roll tree we broadly define as power pop.
We are living through a thriving time for melody-driven, hook-laden, punched-up guitar pop. Never in history have we seen a greater quality and quantity of bands from all over the world making this kind of music. If I'm lucky enough to live a few more decades, I'll be able to look back at the power pop scene of the 2010s and early 2020s and think to myself, “Those were the days!” And when I do, Norway's The Dahlmanns will likely be the first band that comes to mind.
It makes perfect sense that this would be a great moment to be into guitar pop (or any other type of new music, for that matter). We live in a time when technology enables an international power pop community that's super-passionate and knowledgeable. Through a network of streaming sites, blogs, online publications, podcasts, internet radio shows, social media platforms, and the mighty YouTube, the gospel of power pop is spread far and wide. A vast musical universe is literally at our fingertips.
I discovered most of my favorite present-day power pop bands and artists on my laptop, not at clubs or in record shops. Yet my personal story with The Dahlmanns has a slightly more traditional origin: I heard them on the radio.
It was early summer 2011.
I was three-and-a-half years into my music writing “retirement,” which I was casually contemplating ending. One day I was in my bedroom folding laundry, listening to Little Steven's Underground Garage on my portable XM radio (remember those?), when The Coolest Song in the World came on. It was The Dahlmanns' rendition of the Andy Shernoff–written “I Love You Baby (But I Hate Your Friends),” which had previously been recorded by the fantastic New York City punk rock band The Kowalskis.
I was absolutely floored and instantly compelled to find out everything I could about The Dahlmanns. The track was quintessential power pop, yet it also had the feel of the first wave punk rock that was so near and dear to my heart. I quickly discovered that The Dahlmanns were husband and wife Andre and Line Dahlmann—and that Andre had previously played in The Twistaroos and The Yum Yums (the latter having been my primary gateway to modern power pop). I procured the full EP from Pop Detective Records and was happy to discover that the original songs “Candypants” and “Smash You” were every bit as good as The Kowalskis cover.
I've always been a sucker for punk rock bands that write perfect pop songs and pop bands that capture the spirit of punk rock. I couldn't quite decide which of those two The Dahlmanns were, but I absolutely had a “Where has this band been all my life?” moment. Here was a band that reminded me so much of the ‘70s punk rock and power pop that comprised the majority of my record collection, yet still found a way to sound like they belonged to a new era. That was exciting to me.
My return to music reviewing became a lot more serious when I started the Faster and Louder blog. This led to discovering everyone from Kurt Baker, Gentleman Jesse, Radio Days, Nick Piunti and Brad Marino to Extra Arms, The Speedways, The Whiffs, Natalie Sweet, The Reflectors, The Chelsea Curve, and Friends of Cesar Romero.
I reviewed The Dahlmanns on the very first day.
To my ears, The Dahlmanns sounded like a band poised to take over the power pop world. They were a proverbial hit machine, but their beginnings were surprisingly humble. Andre Dahlmann, it seems, just wanted to make music with his wife.
“I had played for many years in other bands,” Andre said. “I knew Line could sing. So, I made a plan to trick her into going into the studio. I wrote a song and found three other songs that I thought might work. This was never intended to become a band. It was more like a fun project for Line and me. I wanted this to be ‘our’ project without any input from others I had worked with in the past.”
Andre enlisted the help of producer Christian Jacobsen and a couple of musician friends to record those four songs with Line. The entire EP was recorded in one day and mixed the next. The original song was called “I Want You Around”; the covers were Amy Rigby's “Dancing with Joey Ramone,” Lindsey Buckingham's iconic “Holiday Road,” and the Hitmen's “Didn't Tell the Man.” Andre decided to send the songs out to some of his contacts and Pop Detective Records immediately wanted to release the EP. The rest, as they say, is history.
“Holiday Road” was a huge hit on the Underground Garage and ended up as its 2010 Coolest Song of the Year. This band—that was never supposed to be a band—was now known and enjoyed worldwide. “After that there was a lot of attention from concert organizers and record companies, and then the ball really started rolling,” Andre said.
What hit me almost instantly about The Dahlmanns is they didn't sound quite like any other band. They may have lived at the intersection of punk and pop, but they weren’t necessarily “pop punk.” They loved the Ramones, but they weren't trying to be the Ramones.
“My religion is the Ramones,” Andre said. “So that was my starting point. But I wanted to be able to create something that was outside the traditional power pop/pop punk bubble. We are super fans of Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, ‘60s girl groups, soul, ‘80s pop, and good music in general, so I wanted to include elements of all that in our music. That's something that has become more and more clear as we have recorded new tracks. I just wanted The Dahlmanns to be a product that both Line and I stood for and enjoyed ourselves. If others also like it, that's a super bonus.”
And sure enough, others liked it—a lot.
Between 2010 and 2017, the Dahlmanns released 12 singles and EPs in addition to their superb 2011 full-length album All Dahled Up. They worked with top independent labels like Beluga Records, Ghost Highway Recordings, Surfin' Ki Records, Waterslide Records, and Lindsay Hutton’s legendary The Next Big Thing. They did a split release with Nikki Corvette and collaborated with the likes of the Nomads and Andy Shernoff. It was a great time to be a Dahlmann!
With standout 7-inch releases such as 2014’s “He's a Drag,” 2015’s “Girl Band,” and 2016’s “Play It (On Repeat),” The Dahlmanns established themselves as a preeminent singles band in the indie pop world.
As The Dahlmanns released one incredible single after another, one thing became perfectly clear: they were going to record great pop songs regardless of who wrote them. They quickly became known for putting their signature on brilliant but somewhat lesser-known pop songs from the ‘70s and ‘80s. Covers of Men Without Hats’ “Pop Goes the World,” Katrina and the Waves’ “Do You Want Crying,” Rachel Sweet’s “Party Girl,” and ABBA’s “Ring Ring” were all B-sides on singles and turned out to be some of the best power pop tracks of the decade.
The band also recorded original songs penned by some of the most talented songwriters in the underground pop universe including Francis MacDonald, Kurt Baker, and Michael Chaney from the New Trocaderos. The Dahlmanns weren’t about to let ego get in the way of making great records.
In this respect, they were very reminiscent of a band from the ‘60s. Of course, they could write great tunes, but they also had the vocal and musical talents to take any song and make it sound as if they could have written it.
It's such a cliché to talk about vocalists who could get away with singing the phonebook, but that’s undeniably true of Line Dahlmann.
Her voice is not just lovely but also capable of evoking a full range of emotions. Whether she’s singing a bubbly pop song, a snarky punk tune, or a tear‐jerker ballad, you’re gonna feel every word. Andre excels at a melodic style of guitar playing, and he brings a master’s touch to crafting pop songs in the studio. Put these two talents together, and you get husband-and-wife chemistry that’s pretty magical.
Even as The Dahlmanns have become known for their powers of interpretation, Andre admits that this was not necessarily intentional from the start. “Basically, I'm not fond of bands doing cover songs,” Andre said. “I know that's strange since we have done so many covers ourselves. But when I hear a song that I know fits Line’s voice and I hear how the guitars can sound, there is no going back. It must be done. It’s hard to explain exactly what the triggering factor is. It’s just a feeling I get (as it is with music). I also use cover songs to be able to experiment in the studio with sound effects, different amps, etc. which I can make use of again for my own songs. Plus, a cover song fits perfectly as a B-side on a single!”
Following the release of their American Heartbeat mini-album in 2018, The Dahlmanns were largely inactive for a number of years but made a triumphant return in the spring of 2024 with the single “Lucky.” Having missed The Dahlmanns so much for the previous six years, I was overjoyed to hear the band back and sounding better than ever. It was like running into an old friend and picking back up like no time had passed.
“Lucky” is a magnificent slice of hard candy power pop that combines heartbreaking lyrics with absolutely intoxicating vocals and melodies. The track was recently released on vinyl by the popular Madrid-based label Snap!! Records, and it’s backed by wonderful covers of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ “A Thing About You” and Fleetwood Mac’s “Blue Letter.” This release affirms that The Dahlmanns are still as good as it gets when it comes to modern-day power pop.
While that old Dahlmanns magic has not been lost, Andre admits that making new music again was far from effortless. And this next phase of the band’s career will be no mere repeat of the previous one.
“Releasing new music after a number of years was scary, to be honest,” Andre said. “We started by playing songs we had had in our live set before working on some new material. This created a nice bridge between the old songs and the new ones that we have since written. A lot can happen with songwriting in six years, so the new songs bear the stamp of that. We are working on a new LP now. For this album, I have drawn even more inspiration from what Line and I listen to on a daily basis: Tom Petty, Neil Young, Thåstrøm, West Coast, country, etc.”
The Dahlmanns had a big year in 2024. In January, Beluga Records reissued All Dahled Up on double LP with 13 extra tracks culled from various singles. It's the perfect one-stop shop for anyone looking to get caught up on the band’s initial run of pop greatness. And now with the release of “Lucky,” the Dahlmanns look to be starting another remarkable string of top quality releases. The band is expecting its second album to release in late 2025 with more singles arriving in advance of that.
Much has changed in the world of music and the world in general since 2018, but The Dahlmanns still sound like a band that belongs to these times—great vocals, great guitar playing, and great songs are timeless in rock and roll. Whatever the secret to crafting a perfect pop song may be, Andre and Line Dahlmann know it and live it. And in an underground music scene that seems to have infinitely more ways to reach people now than it did a decade and a half ago, their talents will not go unappreciated.
It’s safe to say that I will not be the last person to hear the Dahlmanns on the radio and instantly have a new favorite band.
Josh Rutledge published the fanzine Now Wave Magazine in the ‘90s and 2000s. Today his blog Faster and Louder champions new music in the punk rock/power pop/underground rock and roll universe. He also co-hosts the podcast Born Too Late.
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