The Short Version

1981

Dits founded by Scott Lucas and Brian Keys, two Illinois State University students looking to explore sound. By end of year, Pink Bob, John Dickison, and a stream of others contribute as guest improvisers on their frequent and unusual home-recorded cassettes.

1982

Recording continues. Sibling band Shmaz is formed in the summer by Scott Lucas and John Dickison in order to provide a performance-based musical outlet. Brian Keys, Jeff Michel and Pink Bob each join up in turn to expand Shmaz into a quintet by the end of the year. The Dits also meet Steve Rubin, a completely untrained non-musician who initially avoids playing with the band but, strangely, enjoys listening to them.

1983

Recording continues. Shmaz disbands by the end of the summer due to John Dickison's moving to Chicago. Unease with the loss of their performance outlet causes healthy irritation for most of the remaining core Dits members and guests. If anything, recording frequency increases and many new combinations of improvising musicians are briefly formed and recorded. Steve Rubin begins to join in with joyous abandon.

1984

Steve Rubin decides to form a local indie cassette label called Home Recordings. Scott Lucas and Pink Bob plow through hundreds of hours of recorded Dits to come up with the C-60 "The Wonderful World of The Dits" cassette (Home Recordings, HR-005, out of print). Recording continues. Pink Bob and Brian Keys form The Sediments as a new studio vehicle designed to explore multitrack recording.

1985

Recording continues, though less frequently due to the fact that everyone was busy with many new bands, Home Recording projects, and, in some cases, dealing with the real world after college. Shmaz reunites for a single performance and a bit of studio recording.

1986

Recording continues, nearly all of it multitracked. Many tracks are recorded by the classic Lucas/Keys duo, and one noteworthy session of considerable length by Lucas/Keys/Pink Bob is also captured. Brian moves to Champaign (an hour's drive away) and the trio session is shelved, unmixed. Steve Rubin founds Fot Records with the release of the first "Passed Normal" compilation on vinyl.

1987

Very little recording, but the trio session from the previous year is finally mixed in a very active (and time-consuming) manner.

1988

Almost no recording takes place, but the material recorded in 1986 is finally mastered and assembled (with the few things from 1987) into what would become "File Under 'Populist'". By this point, however, Home Recordings had quietly faded away and the project was too long to release on LP. Fot wasn't releasing CDs yet (though they were about to!), so the finished project was shelved.

1989-90

A great deal of multi-track recording is done by the Lucas/Keys duo. Jeff Michel occasionally joins in. This material is also shelved for lack of an outlet. Brian retires from music at the end of this period and begins to liquidate his instrument, LP, and CD collections before leaving town.

1991

Eager to raise money for a slate of Fot releases, Steve Rubin begins releasing cassettes again in small quantities, knowing he can sell a couple of dozen to the old HR faithful. "File Under 'Populist'" is dusted off and released under the old Home Recordings name. A total of about 50 copies are made.

1992-1993

Nothing to report. The Dits seem to have run their course.

1994

A very sad year that sees the deaths of both Brian and Steve.

1995-1999

Nothing to report except that Pink meets another local oddball named Matt Seniff. By 1998 they're recording together and reviving The Sediments. They also create a couple of improv offshoot bands for kicks.

2000

Over the week of July 4, Scott Lucas, Pink Bob and Matt Seniff (with occasional guest Tom Sparrow from The Sediments) begin making stereo digital recordings of pure, free improv under the moniker DITS 2000. In September, they begin a series of monthly concerts with many guests in tow, bringing The Dits to the live stage for the first time. The average audience response: "Don't quit your day jobs!" A slew of Double CD-R releases on the old Home Recordings label--the name of which Pink owned the rights to--documents all of this fevered activity. Additional identities such as The Modern Dits Quintet were created as needed, and by the end of the year the trio and parade of guest musicians were back to calling themselves, simply, The Dits.

2001

Recording continues. The band can't resist using the name DITS 2001 for some of it. By summer they had amassed enough releases to outdo 2000 as the most prolific year for The Dits yet...

Long version of THE HISTORY coming soon!