Bio

DyMyR made his mark establishing and fronting The Newcranes, a UK band that performed very successfully through the 1990's prior to DyMyR moving to Australia. The Newcranes as a band were energetic and inspiring, leaving a reputation for exciting the crowd with their heady mix of Slavonic tinged thrash folk punk sound.

Along the way, The Newcranes tasted chart success, did headline tours, festivals and shared the bill with such luminaries as Bob Dylan, The Pogues, Skunk Anansie, and Rolf Harris (With whom DyMyR shares the same birthday!!). Fast-forward to 1999 and Wol (the name he went by in the UK), not yet DyMyR, decided to shut up shop and head for a slightly larger land called Australia. With this shift in space, came the natural change in his approach to music.

In Australia, he spent the first few years travelling and writing songs and doing solo shows up and down the East coast from Canberra in the (almost) south, to Cape Tribulation in the very Far North. He travelled with the aid of his trusted 1982 Mitsubishi Sigma, which is still going strong.

He got hijacked by one of the natives in Townsville (also up North) and travelling south to the central east cost of Australia they made Newcastle their home at the beginning of the Millennium. It was in Newcastle, that Wol changed his music name to DyMyR. It is significant because it is a derivative of his first name Wolodymyr, and signalled a step in another direction in his music. High-energy music was replaced with mature acoustics and powerful lyrics.

As DyMyR he became a solo performer. Yet, his song writing partnership was maintained with long time friend and ex Newcranes collaborator and songwriter in his own right Ray Buckley from Liverpool/Derby U.K.. Together they embarked on a transatlantic splurge and came up with the songs that DyMyR recorded for his self titled solo acoustic album in 2001. He was launched at the Canberra National Folk festival in April 2001 and was accompanied by Damian White on guitar and Bernadette Lannen on vocals.

During the album promotion, DyMyR struck a collaborative partnership with Bernadette Lannen and together they formed the Lavender Hour, blending their distinctive voices with 6 strings, they created a unique sound which culminated with them winning an award at the 1233 Newcastle ABC Music Radio awards where they took out the finalist trophy in the Adult contemporary category with their composition To See Me. (Click here for a write-up and taste of their music at the awards)

The Lavender Hour gave their parting performance at the Civic theatre in Newcastle as part of a War Child benefit August 2003, and it was there that a chance meeting with fellow songwriter Rendall Wagner and now great friend, inspired DyMyR to look at getting a band together to embellish the sounds in his head which had started to incorporate a lot of piano based material.

The beginning of 2004 was spent introducing the right musicians and personalities that would blend and bring out the best in the new songs. Good friend Nate Downie on Violin and Saxophone, Tim McCartney on Electric and Double Bass, and Ben McIlroy on drums and percussion joined together with Rendall on Electric/Acoustic Guitar and Sax. Bring in DyMyR's haunting lyrics and piano, and DyMyR the band was founded.

The band worked hard and played well to an exceptionally high standard. The focus was on getting the right sound and vibe for live performances. There were a couple of highlights, one being the big gig at Salarium (see review), as well as the launch of the DyMyR Album OPEN CITY, which was unofficially launched at an Amnesty International gig with Vanessa Amorosi in Nov 2004 at the Civic Theatre Newcastle. Its official launch was again at the spectacular Salarium in December of the same year.

It's now 2005 and DyMyR has moved to Melbourne. It's the music capital of Australia and he has been laying low and taking in the city vibes and culture, which is tremendous.
He's planning on upping the ante shortly with a few gigs in his new city. 'Til then he is writing lyrics and new music. Keep posted to the website for updates.