The Dexter Lake Club Band is the only New York City area cover band to be featured in a New York Times cover story. We are honored to share this feature article on the band from The New York Times Sunday Styles.

“If you are an American, there is coded somewhere in your DNA the desire to be young and onstage with a guitar; to count in the song by clacking the drumsticks; to sullenly pump out the bass line; to hold the mike out to the crowd and hear them roar. The Dexter Lake Club Band does this every weekend.” - The New York Times 

After hearing us play at a party for GQ magazine, journalist Brett Martin came up with an idea for an article: what if there was a wedding band, playing covers, that was actually a great band? A real rock band, not an agency or loose group of musicians looking for work to fill the gaps. “Weddings, of course, have been the secret sustainer of the music world since time immemorial. But for just as long, wedding bands have been a source of embarrassment for those forced to play in them. The Dexter Lake Club Band has neatly subverted this construction by the simple expediency of creating a band that actually rocks. In the process, they’ve become one of New York’s premier wedding bands for people who would never dream of hiring a wedding band.”

Brett embedded himself with The Dexter Lake Club Band. He wanted direct and unfettered access to the sights, sounds, and smells of New York City’s coolest wedding band.  Brett rode with us in the van to gigs in Washington D.C. and Vermont, watched us load in, came to sound check, was a fly-on-the-wall for a few weddings where we provided the music, and tagged along to an the after party we played in Vermont where there was a mechanical bull (true story).

The result was this fantastic profile of the band published in The New York Times entitled, “Say ‘I Do’ To Rock!”

Here are some of our favorite quotes from The New York Times profile:

“The Dexter Lake Club Band exudes a cool respectability on the wedding scene (that's right!), whipping receptions into a rock 'n' roll frenzy around New York.”  

“This wasn’t some band doing sterile imitations; this was a rock band.”

“Like all great rock ’n’ roll bands, the Dexter Lake Club Band exhibits a classic tension between commercialism and rebellion, virtuosity and feeling, head and heart.”

But what we love most about the piece is that it highlights what we do best and what we love to do most: playing music together and creating a memorable night for our clients, “This is it: the great, dreamed-of rock ’n’ roll communion — between band member and band member, and band and audience. Say what you will about art versus commerce, there are far more ignoble compromises than making this many people this happy, ever.”

If you are looking for music for your wedding, private party, or corporate event and you want a real band not a wedding agency, hit us up at info@dexterlakeclubband.com or call us at 917-848-2145. We’ll get you a quote, song list, talk music suggestions, and answer any questions you may have.

The New York Times sent the amazing photographer Andrew Hetherington to a wedding we played at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, D.C. Check out some of the awesome wedding photos below. Or go to The New York Times webpage to see more photos and a video of the Dexter Lake Club Band performing live.