It started on a patio in downtown Fort Worth. Aaron and Paul were watching a crowd lose their minds over 80s covers and had a simple thought: we should do that with 90s music. Over a decade later, The Dick Beldings have become one of DFW's most beloved live acts. Five guys who genuinely love these songs, playing them the way you remember them. Songs that make you spit out your beer and yell: "I love that song!"
There's something that happens in a Dick Beldings crowd that you can't manufacture. Someone recognizes the first four notes of a song and loses it. Then the person next to them loses it. Then the whole room is singing something they haven't thought about since high school and absolutely cannot stop smiling. That's what over a decade of playing these songs with genuine love looks like from the stage.
Aaron and Paul were watching a Spasmatic show in downtown Fort Worth when it clicked. The crowd was losing it over 80s covers. The thought was immediate: we should do that with 90s music. Ben Dunlap was there too. By the end of the night, the Dick Beldings existed in concept. Within weeks, they were practicing in Jenna's living room.
Michael Harper came aboard through a mutual connection. Aaron's roommate Jenna worked with Michael's wife Rachel. They crammed into Jenna's living room and ran through Death Cab for Cutie, Spin Doctors, Jimmy Eat World, and whatever else felt right. Paul and Ben had history too. They'd played together years earlier in a high school punk band doing Blink-182 covers. The bones were already there.
Their first show was a Sunday warm-up at Spencer's Corner near Ridgemar Mall, a legendary Fort Worth dive with $0.25 whiskey Cokes, a checkerboard dance floor, and an unforgettable cast of regulars. The official first booked show followed at The Aardvark. Spencer's became home base. Those Sunday nights started with just friends in the crowd and kept growing until the place eventually closed (reportedly due to tax issues, hard to profit on $0.25 drinks).
From Spencer's, the Beldings moved through Fort Worth's best rooms. The Wild Rooster, Uptown Tavern, O'Shea's, Queen City Music Hall. Each step up brought bigger crowds and longer nights. The Rooster had its own lore: Ben met Stephanie there, proposed at the Rooster too. By the time they hit Texas Live in Arlington for All-Star Game residencies, the Beldings were one of DFW's most recognizable live acts.
The Dick Beldings are still playing. Still making rooms react the way they always have. Vaseline into Two Princes into What I Got. Songs you know by heart, played by guys who mean every note. Over a decade of shows and the setlist keeps getting sharper.
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