The first show after the accident was difficult but ultimately provided a temporary relief from the pain, says Rebecca Crawford of the Chicago-based band The Dials, who are signed to Milwaukee's Latest Flame label.

Crawford's husband, John Glick, a member of The Returnables, and her bandmate drummer Douglas Meis were killed this summer in Skokie, Ill., when a vehicle driven by an allegedly suicidal woman crashed into their car. The 23-year-old former model, has been charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery in the July 14 crash that also killed Silkworm drummer Michael Dahlquist.

In an article in the Chicago Tribune after the accident, Crawford spoke of the impact the men had on people: "The three of them created an enormous amount of laughter and happiness in others' lives. They had a certain exuberance about life that is really hard to come by."

The Dials played their first show after the accident in late August at the Empty Bottle in Chicago with Chad Romanski assisting on drums -- and lending a hand in another important way.

Says Crawford: "All he said was, 'If I can help you be normal for five seconds, I can do that. I wasn't supposed to be here. Doug was.' It meant a lot to us.

"It was a wonderful experience, but part of me was like, 'I don't want to be here.' But it felt good. We had a very good support network."

Crawford, who plays bass, guitar and sings, formed The Dials in 2003 with guitarist Patti Gran, a Miami transplant. Farfisa player Emily Denninson joined soon after, and Meis, who Crawford had played with in The Puta-pons, came aboard in 2004. Romanski has since become the band's full-time drummer.

After getting positive feedback for the EP release "Sick Time," The Dials went into Greg Norman's (Andrew Bird, Guided By Voices) Chicago studio last winter to record their full-length debut. The resulting product, "Flex Time," was released in early November on Latest Flame.

The album is a delightfully catchy and charged mix of punk, '60s girl groups and garage rock that has sass and energy to spare, especially in Crawford's Chrissie-Hynde-taunts-tattooed-love-boys vocals.

Several songs don't even reach the two-minute mark, but The Dials are not all seek and destroy. Crawford and Gran offer interesting angular guitar interplay and call and response vocals, Denninson delivers cool grooves and weird noises and Meis' sturdy drumming keeps it all together.

Various reviews of the album have compared The Dials to the Ramones. The similarity is perhaps best heard on "Bye Bye Bye Bye Baby," which begins with a 1-2-3-4 count off before slipping into a perfectly fuzzed out new wave/Ronettes fusion.

Crawford, who lists "High Tide" and the title track as personal favorites, says the songs on "Flex Time" went in a different direction from the band's earlier, less complex songs.

"We listened to (the recordings), and were like, 'Wow, that's really weird. That's not us,'" she says. "We let someone else hear it and they said, 'No, it sounds exactly like you guys.'"

Crawford says the band has played in Milwaukee more frequently since joining Latest Flame. The Dials are slated to play Feb. 11 at Mad Planet.

"I like Milwaukee a lot. It's such a close city, so it's really easy to play there," she says. "I think it has a very enthusiastic music scene."

The Dials have kept playing in an effort to honor Meis, who they believe would have wanted the band to continue, Crawford says.

"Doug was so excited to get the album out," she says. "Now that's out there and with everything that's happened, it's very bittersweet."

The Dials' Web site is thedials.us.