The Dambuilders are coming back to the neighborhood that made them. The violin-driven indie-rock band is set to play two shows at the Burren in Somerville on Nov. 20 and 21, marking its first Boston-area performances in nearly 30 years.
According to the Boston Globe, the reunion brings together Dave Derby and Kevin March, two members of a band that emerged in Boston in the early 1990s and became known as an indie-rock band featuring violin. The Burren shows will take place at 247 Elm St. in Somerville.
From Honolulu to Boston's Indie Scene
The band's roots trace back to Honolulu, Hawaii, where it began in 1989 before relocating to Boston, according to the group's official Bandcamp page. Derby himself moved to Boston from Honolulu in 1990, per the Globe's account.
By 1992, the lineup had solidified around Derby, Eric Masunaga, violinist Joan Wasser, and March. The band went on to release “Encendedor” in 1994, along with four additional studio LPs, various singles, an EP, and a compilation of songs named for U.S. states.
A Final Album and a Decade's End
By 1997, the Dambuilders were shifting their sound. A review from that era in Metro Silicon Valley described their latest album, “Against the Stars,” as angling away from the dissonance that had marked earlier work. The 1997 album was the band's final studio release; the band stepped away from recording after it.
The band toured alongside acts breaking through to the mainstream, including Weezer and Better Than Ezra, even as its own fortunes stayed static. By the decade's end, the band had petered out, done in by the grind of life on the road and the pull of other projects. Bandcamp lists the breakup year as 1998, while the Globe frames the fade-out more broadly as happening by the end of the 1990s.
Where the Members Landed
The members scattered into other musical lives. Joan Wasser went on to start Joan As Police Woman, while Kevin March has played with Guided by Voices. Derby's projects have included Gramercy Arms, Brilliantine, and Lloyd Cole and the Negatives.
Derby has said he kept making music with March over the years largely because March played on almost every record he released. The two restarted the band a few years before the Globe's report, and the group played gigs in New York with guitarist Sean Eden and violinist Claudia Chopek rounding out the lineup, according to the Globe.
New Songs, a Podcast, and No Firm Plans
Outside the Boston reunion, the band has kept busy. Ghost Cult Magazine reports that 2025 saw the band's reformation with reunion shows at Dromfest and NYC Berlin, where it performed its 1989 debut album in its entirety. The outlet also describes the new single “Shrine 2026” as the band's first release in decades.
Derby and March have been writing new songs together, though they have not made plans to release anything yet, the Globe notes. Derby has said the pair are testing the waters and taking their time while trying to enjoy performing. March, for his part, has said the band's touring exhaustion and opening slots for a rising act took a real toll on the musicians back in the 90s.
Derby is also preparing a new documentary with filmmaker Bruno Corbo, a friend from the band's early days. Titled “I Used to Be Different,” the documentary chronicles the Dambuilders' origins and history. For now, the band's immediate focus is Somerville, where the Burren will host the band on Nov. 20 and 21.
