Blag Dahlia

Paul Cafaro (born May 8, 1966),^[1] known professionally as Blag Dahlia, is an American singer and record producer, best known as the vocalist for punk band Dwarves.^[2][3]

Blag Dahlia
Blag Dahlia in 2006
Background information
Birth name	Paul Cafaro
Also known as	Captain Blag Dahlia Blag Jesus Blag Stallion Blag the Ripper Gentleman Blag Earl Lee Grace Julius Seizure Kip Kasper Junior High Dominator Astro Boy Ralph Champagne
Born	(1966-05-08) May 8, 1966 (age 59) Highland Park, Illinois, U.S.
Genres	Punk rock, hardcore punk, garage punk, acoustic rock, bluegrass
Occupations	Singer producer author
Labels	Thick Syrup Records, SubPop, Sympathy for the Record Industry, Epitaph
Member of	Dwarves
Formerly of	Suburban Nightmare Penetration Moon Candy Now! The Desert Sessions

Career

Music

Dahlia is best known as the frontman of Dwarves, a punk rock band,^[4] which he founded^[5] while attending Highland Park High School in suburban Chicago in the mid-1980s. With the Dwarves, he has written and produced nearly a dozen studio records over a span of over 30 years. He has produced albums by Mondo Generator,^[6] Dwarves,^[7] F.Y.P, Jon Cougar Concentration Camp, Swingin' Utters, and The God Awfuls.^[8] He also released solo material as Blag Dahlia and under one of his other aliases, Earl Lee Grace. Blackgrass (1995), a 13-song LP of bluegrass songs,^[2][9] was released on the Sympathy for the Record Industry label using a backing band of real bluegrass musicians. He started an acoustic duo with Nick Oliveri, The Uncontrollable. He narrated the opening score on Last Day of School by Autopsy Boys. In 1999, he sang "Doing the Sponge" in the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "The Chaperone". In 2022, Dahlia released an outlaw country album titled, Introducing Ralph Champagne.^[10]

Films

Two songs recorded by Dahlia were on the soundtrack to A.W. Feidler's short film The Job (1997).^[11] In 2001, Dahlia performed "Zine-O-Phobia Music" for the Ghost World soundtrack.^[12] Dahlia appears in a mock snuff film entitled Misogynist: The Movie (2003). The Dwarves song "Massacre", which Dahlia wrote, was on the soundtrack to the 2006 film Hostel.^[13] He also narrated Chris Fuller's 2007 independent film Loren Cass.

Writing

Dahlia has authored three novels; Armed to the Teeth with Lipstick (1998), Nina (2006), and Highland Falls (2022).^[2][14][15]

Controversy

In 2004, Dahlia was involved in an altercation with Josh Homme at a Los Angeles club, after which Homme was arrested for assault. Upon pleading no contest, Homme was ordered to remain at least 100 yards (91.44 meters) away from Dahlia and the club, was sentenced to three years' probation with community service, and was forced to enter a rehab program for 60 days.^[16]

Solo discography

• "Let's Take a Ride" / "Lord of the Road" 7" (1994), Sympathy for the Record Industry
• Venus With Arms CD (1995), Atavistic
• Blackgrass CD album (1995), Sympathy for the Record Industry – released under the name Earl Lee Grace
• "Haunt Me" / "Let's Take a Ride" 7" (1996), Man's Ruin^[17]
• "Doing the Sponge" (2000), SpongeBob SquarePants
• Introducing Ralph Champagne (2022), Greedy Media