Dance Gavin Dance

The Sacramento, California, post-hardcore quintet Dance Gavin Dance hasn't had it easy. Since forming in 2005, the band has cycled through a half-dozen ex-members, including a particularly nasty dismissal of first vocalist Jonny Craig in 2007. (Craig, who is currently making a name for himself fronting Rise Records labelmates Emarosa, has since squashed the beef with DGD; the two bands even toured together last fall.) But out of turmoil comes creativity: DGD has released an album a year since 2007, with plans to hit the studio once again this spring. If the result is along the lines of 2009's topnotch Happiness, we'll be, well, happy. In the meantime, catch the band live, if only to watch guitarist Will Swan play some particularly head-spinning riffs with relative ease.