Dry Reef Plays TLA, Plans Big for Summer

By Leann Pettit

Upper Dublin-based band, Dry Reef, played one of their biggest venues recently.

The band, comprised mostly of Upper Dublin and Germantown Academy graduates, played the Theatre of the Living Arts in Philadelphia on June 15, headlining a show of up and coming local bands.

Eric Luttmann said this was the band's first time headlining a show. However, in April 2012 they opened for Stone Throw in the upstairs venue of World Cafe Live and this year opened for the same band in the larger downstairs venue.

The band has been playing together since 2009, when the friends asked Patrick Gillian to learn to play the bass guitar, the missing component.

After that, they began playing parties and graduation gigs until 2011, when they won the Upper Dublin Battle of the Bands. Their prize was a recording session, the first time the guys had really recorded original music.

When band members graduated and went off to college, they didn't stop playing together, in fact, the name Dry Reef spread like wildfire. Gillen said the "EP blew up." They started handing out stickers, selling T-shirts and their name spread even more.

Luttmann said his father, who played in a band is who really got him into music and has been the band's "biggest fan" and "biggest influence."

Dry Reef will be playing along the shore this summer, with gigs already booked in Avalon, N.J. A full schedule can be found on their Facebook page.

This fall, they are planning a tour of the college towns and are working toward a release of a full-length CD this summer.

Learn more about Dry Reef on their Web site and check them out on YouTube.