Bother Me by Dina Gathe

On her debut CD, "Bother Me", she invites you to experience songs that are thought-provoking, energetic, fun, funky and edgy. Dina's straight-to-the-point lyrics and vocal moods shift playfully between straight-up in-yo-face rock, sarcastic life observations, and a fun, childlike sense of wonder as her guitar guides you musically through the journey.

"I guess my musical influences are a bit of a melting pot," says Dina. "I definitely love groove and rhythm. I think that comes from my marching band experience growing up - we had a grooving rhythm section and that established my sense of timing early on. I can relate to AC/DC, The Clash, 70's soul music -- most styles really -- as long as the song is there. The song rules for me. At the end of the day, the writing has to be good. And then if you can add your own personal flavor to the recording, that's when it really starts to get interesting."

Growing up in Los Angeles in a cross-cultural clan with a Latina mother and a Cajun father, Dina's extended family included guitar-playing cousins who shared their knowledge of the instrument with her. "The first lessons I had were on piano, but I always wanted to rock," she recalls. When she asked for a guitar, instead of the gleaming electric she envisioned, her father purchased an acoustic - more suitable for folk than funk. Undeterred, Dina applied her rock zeal to the wooden instrument. Eventually, she graduated to electric guitar.

Meanwhile, the music resonated everywhere - Depeche Mode, The Cars and The Pretenders. "Chrissie Hynde was a huge influence," she remembers, "someone who wasn't afraid to say what she wanted, and who could rock, with depth to her lyrics." As a member of the all female band, "Table Talk", Dina herself was soon rocking the house at staple Los Angeles venues such as Madame Wong's and Club Lingerie.

Although a stint working in corporate America paid lucrative dividends and offered up lessons in marketing and branding, Dina knew what was missing. Forsaking the power suit and expense account, she founded Soundstruck Music in 2001 with partner Patricia (PK) Koprowski, and began recording and producing new material. Dina has two songs on the "Females on Fire" compilation CD (www.femalesonfire.com) while another tune, "Solid Ground" has recently been tapped as the opening and closing theme for Charter cable's weekly series, The Rustam Report, hosted by Denise Ames.

Co-produced with indie-artist-extraordinaire, Gilli Moon, and mixed and engineered by Matt Thorne (The Eels, TRAPT, Plastilina Mosh), "Bother Me" is an assertive debut that delivers the musical soul of Dina Gathe in a high-quality production mastered by Leon Zervos at renowned Sterling Sound in New York, and featuring a host of top-notch musicians. Its songs reflect the complex demands of modern romance, the dreams of the disenchanted, and the liberating power of self-determination. "If there's something I want to do I can't see anything else," she says. With "Bother Me", Dina lays claim to a self-defined musical territory. "I wanted to do a record with no regrets and no compromises. It's like jumping off a cliff."

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