On November 1 it's time to say goodbye to one of the Triangle's most singular bands of the last decade. Dante High, the band fronted by Ari Picker, formerly of Lost In The Trees, is taking a bow with one final blowout show at Cat's Cradle.
When Picker started Dante High in 2018, a lot of people were surprised by what they heard. Lost In The Trees was known for lush, orchestrally arranged pop music and Dante High sounded more like the soundtrack to an 1980s horror film.
"I wanted to do something different and shed all my musical habits from that period," Picker said. "I was listening to more rock and roll and working man's music at the time. I think Huey Lewis meets The Misfits has always been my favorite way to describe what we're doing with Dante High."
Since forming in 2018 Dante High put out two full-length records, "Dante High," and "Dante High II." Their live shows were few and far between, but when they happened, they were electric.
Most of them took place at non-traditional venues like skating rinks and bike shops. On Halloween weekend 2021, they threw a weekend-long party at Shakori Hills called "Horror In The Hills." That event was a celebration of their second record and featured performances from other local favorites like Skylar Gudasz and Shirlette Ammons, plus carnival rides, and a "Drive-In" horror movie extravaganza.
For the final show, billed as "Dante's Dead," Picker says they're going to give it all they've got. "We've got a set piece and we're planning on bringing lots of lights and smoke machines. We'll have props and maybe some skits and some guest performances."
Picker said that it felt like a good time to wrap things up with the band and end on a high note.
"Having a band is such a specific, fairly inflexible way to do an art project," he said. "It feels good to just chop its head off every five to six years and do something different."
As for what's next creatively for Picker, he says he's not entirely sure. One thing he is excited about at the moment is Artificial Intelligence. "I know it freaks a lot of people out, but the thought that maybe in 10 years, I can make a little movie in my bedroom, or flesh out my symphony that I wrote 10 years ago with an arrangement, you know, I'm just excited to see what AI can do and try to figure out those tools and to see where that leads me."
Picker says that he'd also be up for writing songs for other people, but after Saturday's show he's probably done singing and performing himself. The studio he built in Pittsboro is now filled with vintage arcade and pinball machines.
"It's part of this compound that I'm working on out here, which also has a championship disc golf course," he said.
The disc golf course is called Coyote Cut. Picker says that sports, specifically disc golf, is taking up most of his interest these days.
"I never was a sports person, but now I'm feeling like the arc and storytelling of sports ticks all my boxes," he said.
Dante High plays their final show at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro on November 1 with Cage Bird Fancier.
