‘Lucky So Far’ has been just that

By Catherine Amos

Published: May 30, 2008

Despite a waning music scene in Culpeper and the surrounding areas, Warrenton-based rockers Lucky So Far continue to encourage local musicians to pursue their talents through pursuing their own.

Led by lead singer Dan Bales, 26, Lucky So Far recently released its fourth record, a full-length album entitled, “Fashionista.” In addition to Bales, band members include Josh Warren on drums, Matt Klima on bass and Dave Bales on guitar.

“We used to just be primarily a punk band,” Dan Bales said. “Now, I like to call it high-octane rock and roll. We don’t want the label of a punk band, but it’s fast and it’s got guts to it.”

Mark Reiter, 35, of the Rude Rock Family engineered the album and Dana Green, 19, of Narcoma records released “Fashionista” in April. The band spent a year writing and nearly two years recording, mixing and mastering the final product.

“I’m really proud of them,” Reiter said. “I’m proud of the record, too. It’s the best record they’ve done and the amount of ground artistically and creatively that they gained from the last record to this one is vast. Those guys have sort of stretched the art form into new places.”

But even after making advances of their own, Lucky So Far debuted “Fashionista” in Culpeper earlier this month to a thin crowd. Bales attributed the dwindling support for local rock to the saturation of the market with easily accessible music. Even so, Fashionista will soon be available on iTunes and other sites, as well as on the band’s MySpace page.

“The sound’s really matured and has that real dark, folksy sound that I think is really unique in comparison to the modern punk,” Green said. “They have a distinctive flair to it.”

Catherine Amos can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 138 or .