by Alan K. Stout
alanks@leader.net

Many fans of regionally produced music probably thought they’d never hear another album by Dakota. Now, the band – one of the most successful original projects from this region – has released its second album in only two years.

“Little Victories,” the band’s fifth album, is available now and serves as a follow-up to 1998’s “The Last Standing Man.” That CD, you may recall, marked the group’s return after a 12-year absence and, in essence, the reemergence of one of the area’s most storied musical outfits.

“When I committed to do ‘The Last Standing Man,’ I committed to not only do that, but – if I got any kind of response that was positive – to do another one,” says Dakota vocalist and bassist Jerry Hludzik. “And, no matter what it took to do it, I decided I would get this done. It was something I felt – as soon as I threw my hat in the ring – that as long as there was someone that had an ear to listen, I was not going to turn my back on that.”

The long history of Dakota can be traced back to The Buoys, who scored a national hit in 1971 with the song “Timothy.” Hludzik and vocalist Bill Kelly were members of the group but left in 1978 and released the Jerry-Kelly album for CBS/Epic Records. In 1980, the band changed its name to Dakota and later earned the opening-act spot on Queen’s U.S. tour, which included three sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden.

In 1984, the group released “Runaway” on MCA Records, but by 1986, ongoing struggles with record labels and internal feuding led the group to disband. “The Lost Tracks,” an independently released album featuring previously unreleased material, came out in 1987.

In the mid-‘90s, when Hludzik learned the band was still selling albums overseas in places such as Europe and Japan, he began considering recording again with a new and recharged Dakota. Former keyboardist Rick Manwiller was enlisted, as were new guitarist Jon Lorance and Hludzik’s son, Eli, on drums. The result has been two new studio albums, and Manwiller says the band has no plans for stopping for now.

“As long as it’s financially feasible,” he says. “I hate to break it down to dollars and cents, but unfortunately, that’s the way it is. We don’t have any illusions that we’re going to get rich off of Dakota albums, but there’s a big resurgence of melodic rock right now, and we’re in a position to be right at the forefront of that in a world market. That could do really well for us, but we’d be happy to break even with the record and have a lot of people own it.”

Manwiller says rock fans overseas ten to be not as trendy as those in the United States and that the music business is not as strictly fueled by the 18-25-year-old demographic. Thus, the melodic rock style of Dakota is still highly popular outside the United States, even among younger music fans – many of whom buy music over the Internet.

“We’re so thankful that we are able to do this,” he says. “The Internet has really provided us with a means of selling records.”

“There is a market over there,” adds Hludzik. “If you go to our Web site, you’ll see fans from Japan to South America saying they can’t believe we’re back, and they’re happy to have us back. I’ll get e-mail from kids that you wouldn’t think would be fans of this type of music.”

Manwiller and Hludzik say that because of fashion-free ideals that Dakota’s audience holds, they’re free to write and record the type of music that is most dear to them.

Such is again the case with, “Little Victories.”

“If you were to say, ‘Is this who I am?’ the answer is, ‘Yes, this is who I am.’” says Hludzik. “The band was very much involved in the actual putting together of the songs to make it their own, but as far as what I actually brought to the table, I didn’t sit down and say ‘This won’t fit in the U.S. market,’ or, ‘This would be good over there,’ or ‘ This is a little too dated. I’ve got to shine it up a little bit.’ I didn’t do that, and I don’t think I ever have…

"I don’t really sit around saying what I do is going to revolutionize the world. I do sit around sometimes saying this is the best I can do, and yes, I like it.”