F resh off its victory in AV’s debut BOOM (Battle Of Original Music) contest, Buffalo power pop band Dali’s Ghost is chasing that most elusive of dreams: becoming rock stars. The release of their debut, self-titled album is the first step in the right direction. We caught up with the band, made up of Justin John Smith, Tyler Skelton, Ken Riley and Ian Belknap at the band house on the upper West Side to see how the star-studded life finds them.

Artvoice: How did Dali’s Ghost get its start?

JJS: When I was 15 years old, I started hanging out with our guitar player, Tyler. He had a guitar and I had a guitar, and he knew a little bit more than me. We started this little garage band, which his parents hated. We were loud, obnoxious and had tons of fun.

But I went to Florida to go to school for recording arts, and then I moved to NYC to try and find a job at a big studio. That was kind of difficult, though, so I moved back to Buffalo. It just so happened that all my roommates that started living with me were musicians, so we started playing together again.

KR: I’m in Buffalo for no good reason besides the band. Well, I guess that’s a good reason.

AV: How did you find Buffalo’s music scene upon your return?

JJS: I was actually really surprised when I moved back out here, because I didn’t really know what the music scene was all about. The only thing I knew was like the Goo Goo Dolls and Ani DiFranco—the normal big-timers. But all the little bands that were popping up all over, I had no idea about; I’d never heard of any of them before. The first place I went to see live music was Broadway Joe’s, who had an open mic. That’s where I first met Curt, from Anal Pudding. He introduced me to a lot of people. That’s also where I first played out two years ago. That was kind of exciting, even though it was such a small open mic thing. But for me I’d never played out before so it was kind of cool.

AV: What’s the band up to these days?

What we’re doing now with the band is working on expanding our press kit and sending it out to as many people as possible to get bigger and better shows. We want to get shows that will get us a little more respect throughout the city, and that kind of ties into the kind of response you get from people who live in Buffalo.

AV: Local bands aren’t getting respect? How can that be changed?

TS: I think the music scene could be better if more people would show up to shows and start supporting music rather than just listening to whatever is on the radio.

JJS: More bands need to unite like Transformer (gestures like a robot coming together), and come together and build a beast (indicating Transformer cannon on his shoulder). That’s really the only way that a city is going to get recognized by other big cities. One band most likely isn’t going to do it. [Case in point: Goo Goo Dolls. —eds] When you create something, and many create one thing, that’s when you create strength.

When you’re at, say, a house party, people are looking at you with different eyes. It’s a different perspective on the band, I think, than at local venues. The reason for that is because there are more people there who see you more raw, more real. It’s just really about the band promoting itself. As far as venues, though, we’ve had good shows at Nietzsche’s and Showplace Theatre.

The key is to network people and make a lot of CDs. Take any show you can, because you never know who’s going to hear you. If you can’t get people in Buffalo to listen to you, you’re not going to get anyone else to.

AV: What would you tell anyone who doesn’t already know Dali’s Ghost?

KR: To anyone who doesn’t know who we are? They should know who we are, because we’re good. And we’re getting better every day.

Catch Dali’s Ghost at Mohawk Place on June 1 at 9pm, with Constant Climax and Anal Pudding.