Photo: Brandon Jernigan

The year 2016 officially turned dreadful with the death of David Bowie, but the world’s shared grief temporarily provided a Band-Aid. In San Francisco, Popscene commemorated the icon with a tribute show. One of the bands on that bill was Dangermaker, which played a terrific cover of “Ashes to Ashes.” The song went over so well that the band has been playing it all year.

Today, RIFF is debuting the studio recording of “Ashes to Ashes,” which Dangermaker recorded for the Thin White Duke’s 70th birthday on Jan. 8. The song was recorded at Different Fur Studios with engineer Grace Coleman.

“I can’t recall a year in recent memory where we lost quite so many trailblazing artists too soon, but losing David Bowie really came out of nowhere and shocked everyone I know who loved him,” vocalist-guitarist Adam Burnett said. “He’s been a big influence on me, and Dangermaker were very honored to be asked to perform and pay tribute with other Bay Area artists at Popscene last February.

“Of the songs we played, ‘Ashes to Ashes‘ really became a favorite and has become a staple in our set. Even though we rarely play covers, it’s taken on a life of its own. We hope he likes it.”