In MKE Music Rewind we revisit notable Milwaukee music that was released before Milwaukee Record became a thing in April 2014. In this installment: The Championship’s 2005 album Dance Casador!
“This is how it begins.”
That’s the first line and the name of the first song on the debut album by The Championship. Fittingly, that lyric, song name, and sentiment on the spacey, futuristically folk-y, and compelling opening track of the band’s first release was a signal of what was to come, both on that album—the outstanding Dance Casador!—and in the group’s output thereafter.
Before announcing its arrival with that release in the fall of 2005, The Championship quietly came to life in 2004 when guitarist, singer, and founding member Joe Crockett recorded some demos while, as he told Steven Hyden in a 2006 interview, he was immersed in listening to Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska. Crockett enlisted a full band to help flesh out his masterfully minimalist material, and Dance Casador! was recorded in May 2005.
Though both Hyden and Crockett claimed the homespun record was unheralded in Milwaukee at the time of its release, it was a means of helping the new band to put together tours, land some local festival appearances, and nab the occasional support slot opportunity playing ahead of out-of-town talent. Local listeners found their way to the album eventually, and for good reason. The 10-song, 37-minute effort puts a sonically sprawling modern shine on stripped-down and emotive AM radio-caliber numbers.
“A Change” and “Liar Liar” are driving indie-tinged Americana offerings that are carried by Crockett’s distinct velvety vocal warble. “Hurricane” and to a slightly lesser extent “Motor Car” as well as “The Raincoat” are uptempo songs that allow the rest of the band—consisting drummer Travis Doar, Joe’s brother and bassist John Crockett, and then-guitarist Jordan Burich—adequate space to show their musical chops through intricate solos and lively rhythmic flourishes.
Still, the bread and butter of Dance Cassador! is in Crockett’s undeniable songwriting acumen and his understated-yet-evocative voice, especially on standouts like the desperation-laced “Don’t Give Up On Me Now” and the warm, downright beautiful “Sympathy.” The barren, acoustic and Johnny Cash-nodding “The Ballad Of Maxwell Simmons” that somberly draws the record to a close is just the icing on the cake.
Since hearing Dance Cassador! after seeing The Championship at Cranky Pat’s in Neenah as an underage kid (my dad brought me to the show and bought the CD) more than 20 years ago, it has endured as an album I still regularly revisit and continue to enjoy today. For what it’s worth, when I interviewed Hyden in 2015, he called Dance Cassador! one of the best records to ever come out of Milwaukee.
After the impressive introduction, The Championship would record and release two more albums and an EP. Along the way, they’d follow a trajectory of many-a-band before and after them. There were lineup changes. Their sound evolved and augmented. Members got married, had kids, got new jobs, and started other projects. Shows slowed and eventually stopped altogether. Despite officially breaking up sometime in the mid-2010s, Crockett told us in 2017 that a reunion show from The Championship wasn’t out of the question.
In fact, the band got back together to play a Flannel Fest Pre-Party concert in 2019. They reunited again for a benefit show for Lee Olson (I love you and miss you, Lee!) in 2023. And following a July 11 Door County show, The Championship will be taking the stage two more times next month, including an August 14 outing at Titletown Sky Lounge and a hometown reunion at X-Ray Arcade in nearby Cudahy on August 15.
The Championship might’ve initially set the tone with a Dance Casador! opener called “This Is How It Begins,” but we’re not sure how it ends and that makes me very happy.