The need for weeds

>> Dan-D-Lyons pay homage to Meat Loaf
and imaginary wrestlers

by LORRAINE CARPENTER

“We imagined a guy in a green body suit with, like, a lion’s mane around him,” says Mike Paterson, describing fantasy wrestler Dan D. Lyons, his band’s namesake. “But he’d always be up against the Crushinator or something, and Dan D. Lyons would just get killed in a minute.”

Anyone who’s seen Paterson’s stand-up act knows that he’s a son of a wrestler, but the biggest influence on Paterson and his bandmate Tim Rabnett is their other act, the lip-synch sensation Never Surrender. With Ryan Wilner, who’s also a stand-up comedian, they’ve mouthed and mimed their way into the hearts of Montrealers at the Fringe and Just for Laughs festivals since 2004. Never Surrender fans should know that the trio is still going strong, and even though Paterson and Rabnett have temporarily traded their air instruments for real ones, their tunes are steeped in the spirit of the ’70s and ’80s anthems that fill Never Surrender’s set lists. One of their original songs, for example, is called “Meat Loaf’s Your Love Is Breaking My Heart.”

“Tim is a really good songwriter, and we understand what it takes to make a hit,” says Paterson. “We just think, ‘What would Meat Loaf do? What would Aerosmith do? What would Chris De Burgh do?’”

For the past six months, Dan-D-Lyons have held down an ongoing Tuesday-night residency at Brutopia, honing their singing, playing and handling of real instruments in sets that have lasted as long as five hours. And now, they’ve perfected a greatest-hits set to launch their debut album, Syrupy Kisses, at la Sala Rossa this weekend. But don’t expect Paterson and Rabnett to be there. In their place will be Michael Lyons and Tim Danderson, two nice fellas from Dan D. Lyons’ spiritual home, Witchita, Kansas.

“We moved to Montreal ’cause it’s such a huge indie rock scene,” says Lyons. “We read Spin magazine last year and we were like, ‘Let’s save up our money for six months, quit our jobs at the bowling alley and see if we can make it big as musicians.’”

With the Comedy Rocks live band,
Massimo and host Ryan Wilner
at la Sala Rossa tonight,
Thursday, Feb. 22, 8 p.m., $10>