Calif. punk-rock bassist charged with Phila. rape

A member of a California punk-rock band was arrested Friday and charged after he allegedly admitted in an e-mail that he had raped a woman while on tour in Philadelphia.

Dominic Davi, 30, the bass player of Love Equals Death, is being held on charges of rape, aggravated assault, and related crimes, and is awaiting extradition from Fullerton, Calif., to Philadelphia, police said yesterday. Davi was a member of the band Tsunami Bomb before he left the group in 2003.

According to police, a 19-year-old woman from Fairfax, Va., met Davi at the Barbary Club at 951 Frankford Ave. in June 2006. The two, who police describe as acquaintances, left the club together on foot. Davi then allegedly raped the woman behind a factory near the 1100 block of North Delaware Avenue in the Fishtown section of the city.

The woman then returned to Virginia, police said. She contacted Davi by e-mail, and he wrote her back in January 2007 admitting what happened. She met with the Fairfax police, who then called Philadelphia police.

A warrant was issued for Davi's arrest on Thursday.

Philadelphia detectives looked at the band's Web site to learn where the group was performing, and contacted Fullerton police, who arrested Davi at the Alley, a club where they were to play Friday night.

Love Equals Death was founded on Halloween night 2003. The band's Web site says the group just performed in California, Washington, Oregon and Nevada.

The band, which recently released its debut, full-length CD, Nightmerica, was described as an "up-and-coming punk band with a classic sound and a dream for something new" by the Eureka Times Standard newspaper in California. The band has been opening for other acts such as AFI and NOFX.

Corey Apar, writing on the Web site Allmusic.com, called the group's new recording "a breath of fresh air among the ironic screamo bands of the world."