From the United States, L.A.S.E. and Jenniffer Cornejo make a comeback with "Panoramic Blast", an exceptional new album. The foursome will be playing here in Lima in January.

Dasher, Jenniffer Cornejo and L.A.S.E.'s new band, have just released "Panoramic Blast" from their exile in New York -- a revealing and intense album that surpasses the promise of their mythical Electro-Z debut, and confronts us with the sparkling maturity of the most important and creative duo of the local independent rock scene of the end of the last decade.

"In 2001 L.A.S.E., Christian Vargas (who is today in the band Abrelatas), and I moved to the United States. We already had songs that we had begun working on in Lima," recalls Jeni. "A year later I went back to Lima for 7 months and did nothing but write songs while L.A.S.E. stayed in the US taking audio engineer courses and also writing songs on his own. We would send one another demos via the internet."

Christian eventually went back to Lima where he formed Abrelatas, but before leaving he managed to record drums on a few of the songs. "When I came back to the U.S., L.A.S.E. and I were a duo once more, with a half-finished album and no band-mates." relates Jeni, the protagonist of some of the most intense songs on "Panoramic Blast".

LUCES: How, when, and why is it that you formed this disconcerting yet luminous sound-monster called Dasher?

L.A.S.E.: Out of necessity.

Jeni: We went through a few years of changes and uncertainty. All that energy helped create what Dasher is today.
(On January of 2004, Dasher was formed with Ben Arons, Bob Donlon, Jenniffer and L.A.S.E.).

L.A.S.E.: This whole time we have been learning a lot in general, which is why I find myself more confused than ever (laughs)....

LUCES: Where does the name Dasher come from?

Jeni: Dasher was the title of one of L.A.S.E.'s songs. One morning I woke up from a dream in which I had seen the cover of our album and on the cover in big letters read, DASHER, so I told the guys about it and we changed it right then and there. The name change from Electro-Z was inevitable anyway because we were already another band in every sense except the name. We believed that this new phase deserved a completely new beginning.

LUCES: Has Electro-Z died?

Jeni: No. Electro-Z is still with us.

L.A.S.E.: We don’t close off any possibilities. Besides, the songs that were going to be on the second Electro-Z album are still there but only half done. Maybe someday we’ll work on them.

LUCES: We know that your bass player Bob Donlon once played with the great Freedy Johnston . . . but what else can you say about the other members of the band? How did you get in touch with them?

Jeni: We put out several ads. We found our drummer Ben Arons pretty fast -- he had been trying out for other bands during that time -- he loved our songs and stuck around. We found Bob after having tried several other bassists out. As soon as he played the first five seconds of “Milligrams of Tin”, we knew he was the one.

LUCES: Bob and Ben, what are your musical backgrounds?

Bob: I think growing up in The Bronx had a major impact on my musical "construction" as I was exposed to just about everything. The Bronx is the roughest borough of New York City, but also one of the most ethnically diverse, multi-cultural spots in the world. Over the years I played in Salsa, Rock, Reggae, Klezmer (Jewish folk music), Traditional Irish, and Jazz bands, as well as classical music ensembles and orchestras. One of the things I love the most about Dasher is that we're "interdimentional” from both a nationality and musical perspective.

Ben: I started playing piano at the age of 7 and drums at 11. As a teenager I listened to The Police, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Miles Davis, and Beethoven. I spent my university years studying classical music theory and history at the University of Rochester and the Eastman school of music, then spent the following years playing jazz, producing folk music, and doing sound design for theatre productions before turning to rock and roll.

LUCES: Electro-Z was always linked to the “indie” aesthetic that was so popular during the nineties. The Dasher sound is much more expansive: hi-fi, “big” in the utmost sense of the word. How did this change come to be?

L.A.S.E.: It just happened. We always imagined the songs “big”, always aiming high. I guess that, like everything, the more you learn the more you are able to focus your energy the best way you can on what impassions you.