The Dum Dums were a UK band, formed in April 1997 and splitting up finally in August 2001 at the Greenbelt Festival. They consisted of Josh Doyle (vocals and guitars), Steve Clarke (bass and backing vocals) and Stuart Wilkinson (drums and backing vocals).
The band had four Top 40 singles. Everything was released on February 28 2000 on Good Behaviour, a department of Wildstar and reached number 21 in the charts. This was followed by Can't Get You Out of My Thoughts on June 26 2000, reaching number 18 without being playlisted by Radio 1. You Do Something To Me reached number 27 after release on 11 September 2000. This was followed a week later by the album, It Goes Without Saying, which reached 27 in the UK album chart. The last single was Army of Two, released on February 5 2001.
Josh grew up in Ashford, Kent, and has since moved to Nashville, Tennessee where he has had a baby with his wife and is creating waves with major label interest in the band. Steve is from Birmingham and is now playing with Clarkesville, his brother's band signed to Wildstar Records. Stuart is from Horley, near Gatwick, and is currently building a home studio.
Their original manifesto was as follows:
Dum Dums: Created to be a reaction against the faceless, colourless, soulless pop that is around today. Oven-ready boy bands/girl groups/boy-girl groups brought together by record companies, created according to the dictates of demographic studies and focus groups, miming to electronically made backing tracks singing brainless words with a vacuous smile.
We are three friends who came together to make music that moves us, something that we could believe in, something that would give us a "buzz". Our songs are about having morals about yourself and others, about questioning the things you are led to believe and ultimately about trying to find a way to not make the same mistakes that landed our parents' generation with divorces and addictions. We sing about boredom and restlessness, the frustration and heart-breaking aimlessness of life after school, "grown-ups" that don't get "it" and how money, work and other materialistic crap aren't important in the big scheme of things.
Not sacrificing good melody for coolness or making guitar pop for a miserable, shoe-gazing elite only to understand. We want to be for everyone. To be on radios in factories, on stolen car stereos in council estates, in stagnant Fleet Street offices, on top of the pops in middle class living rooms.
We want to let kids know that they can aim as high as they like and they don't need to believe the put-downs teachers give them at school. We're saying that "It's okay if you don't join the family business or surrender your dreams to factory work". It's worth trying to do the right thing and standing for what you believe.
We want to bring it to the attention of a world where everyone's seen it all, that life is full of wonder.
Sadly, the atrocious Busted are now often compared to this remarkable band who cared about their fans and stay in touch with them even now, four years after they have split up. Yet another band who are gone, but not forgotten.