Dream Syndicate
Encyclopedia
The Dream Syndicate was an alternative rock
band from Los Angeles, California
active from 1981 to 1989. The band was associated with the Paisley Underground
music movement.
, Steve Wynn
and Kendra Smith
played together (with future True West
members Russ Tolman and Gavin Blair) in the Suspects. Moving back home to Los Angeles, Wynn recorded a single called "15 Minutes" (as in 15 minutes of fame
) as his intended farewell to music. Instead, while rehearsing in a band called Goat Deity, Wynn met Karl Precoda, who had answered an ad for a bass player, and the two joined to form a new group, with Precoda switching to guitar. Smith came to play bass, and brought in drummer Dennis Duck, who had played in the locally successful Pasadena-based Human Hands.
Duck suggested the name "The Dream Syndicate" in reference to Tony Conrad
's early 1960s New York experimental ensemble (better known as the Theater of Eternal Music), whose members included John Cale
.
On February 23, 1982, the Dream Syndicate performed its first show at Club Lingerie in Hollywood. A four-song EP
was recorded at the home of Tom Mehren in Pasadena (not in Wynn's basement as has been rumored) with Paul B. Cutler (guitarist for 45 Grave
and The Consumers) engineering and producing and released on Wynn's Down There label, and the band quickly achieved local attention for its often aggressively long, feedback
-soaked improvisations. Obvious sources were The Velvet Underground
(the Dream Syndicate could be called early VU revivalists) and Television
, but echoes of the Quicksilver Messenger Service
and Creedence Clearwater Revival
could also be discerned. "It was an overnight thing," Wynn recalled of their success. "There was no dues paying. It was very weird, and it screwed us up in some ways."
The band was signed to Slash Records
, whose subsidiary Ruby Records
released its debut and by far best-known album, The Days of Wine and Roses
, in 1982. The next year saw the UK (Rough Trade Records
) release of the album's anthemic lead track, "Tell Me When It's Over," as the A-side of an EP which also included a live cover of Neil Young
's "Mr. Soul."
Kendra Smith left the band and joined David Roback
, formerly of the band Rain Parade
, to form Opal
. She was replaced in the Dream Syndicate by David Provost.
The Medicine Show was recorded in 1984 in San Francisco with producer Sandy Pearlman
(Blue Öyster Cult
, The Clash
). The commercial failure of the album contributed towards the group's temporary breakup. They opened tours for R.E.M.
and U2
and released the 5-song EP This Is Not the New Dream Syndicate Album - Live (1984), the last record to feature Karl Precoda on guitar (who soon after left to pursue a career in screenwriting) and the first appearance of bassist Mark Walton. The band left A&M after the label rejected its demo for "Slide Away", later released on the semi-official It's Too Late to Stop Now.
In 1985, Wynn and Dan Stuart
of Green on Red
wrote 10 songs together which were recorded with Dennis Duck, among others, and released by A&M as Danny and Dusty: The Lost Weekend.
After a brief hiatus, Wynn, Duck and Walton joined with Paul B. Cutler (of the proto-Goth
45 Grave
) to form the final version of The Dream Syndicate; they recorded two more studio albums, Out of the Grey (1986), produced by Cutler, and Ghost Stories (1988), produced by Elliot Mazer (producer also of several Neil Young
albums, including Harvest and Time Fades Away
). A live album, Live at Raji's, was recorded (also by Mazer) before Ghost Stories but released afterward.
Posthumous releases include 3½; The Lost Tapes 1985–1988, a collection of unreleased studio sessions including cuts produced by Vitus Matare (of L.A.s Paisley Underground heroes The Last
and later Trotsky Icepick
,) and The Day Before Wine and Roses, a live radio performance recorded just prior to the release of the band's first album.
Steve Wynn
has continued on as a solo artist. Mark Walton went on to play with the Continental Drifters
.
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band from Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
active from 1981 to 1989. The band was associated with the Paisley Underground
Paisley Underground
Paisley Underground is an early genre of alternative rock, based primarily in Los Angeles, California, which was at its most popular in the mid-1980s.- History :...
music movement.
History
While attending the University of California, DavisUniversity of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
, Steve Wynn
Steve Wynn (songwriter)
Steve Wynn is a songwriter based in New York . He led the band the Dream Syndicate from 1981 to 1989 and afterward began a solo career.- Career in bands :...
and Kendra Smith
Kendra Smith
Kendra Smith is an American musician who was a founding member of Dream Syndicate, a member of Opal, and later recorded as a solo artist.-Biography:...
played together (with future True West
True West (band)
True West were a guitar band, often considered part of The Paisley Underground. Singer Gavin Blair and guitarists Richard McGrath and Russ Tolman were the nucleus of the group.- History :...
members Russ Tolman and Gavin Blair) in the Suspects. Moving back home to Los Angeles, Wynn recorded a single called "15 Minutes" (as in 15 minutes of fame
15 minutes of fame
15 minutes of fame is short-lived, often ephemeral, media publicity or celebrity of an individual or phenomenon. The expression was coined by Andy Warhol, who said in 1968 that "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." The phenomenon is often used in reference to...
) as his intended farewell to music. Instead, while rehearsing in a band called Goat Deity, Wynn met Karl Precoda, who had answered an ad for a bass player, and the two joined to form a new group, with Precoda switching to guitar. Smith came to play bass, and brought in drummer Dennis Duck, who had played in the locally successful Pasadena-based Human Hands.
Duck suggested the name "The Dream Syndicate" in reference to Tony Conrad
Tony Conrad
Tony Conrad is an American avant-garde video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician/composer, sound artist, teacher and writer...
's early 1960s New York experimental ensemble (better known as the Theater of Eternal Music), whose members included John Cale
John Cale
John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
.
On February 23, 1982, the Dream Syndicate performed its first show at Club Lingerie in Hollywood. A four-song EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
was recorded at the home of Tom Mehren in Pasadena (not in Wynn's basement as has been rumored) with Paul B. Cutler (guitarist for 45 Grave
45 Grave
45 Grave are an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California formed in 1979. The original group broke up in 1985 but vocalist Dinah Cancer subsequently revived the band. 45 Grave are noted as one of the first bands to mix punk rock with horror-themed lyrics, thereby positioning them as...
and The Consumers) engineering and producing and released on Wynn's Down There label, and the band quickly achieved local attention for its often aggressively long, feedback
Audio feedback
Audio feedback is a special kind of positive feedback which occurs when a sound loop exists between an audio input and an audio output...
-soaked improvisations. Obvious sources were The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
(the Dream Syndicate could be called early VU revivalists) and Television
Television (band)
Television was an American rock band, formed in New York City in 1973. They are best known for the album Marquee Moon and widely regarded as one of the founders of "punk" and New Wave music. Television was part of the early 1970s New York underground rock scene, along with bands like the Patti...
, but echoes of the Quicksilver Messenger Service
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band, formed in 1965 in San Francisco.-Introduction:Quicksilver Messenger Service gained wide popularity in the Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe and several of their albums ranked...
and Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....
could also be discerned. "It was an overnight thing," Wynn recalled of their success. "There was no dues paying. It was very weird, and it screwed us up in some ways."
The band was signed to Slash Records
Slash Records
Slash Records is a record label in Los Angeles, originally specializing in local and punk rock bands.The label was formed in 1978 by Bob Biggs as an outgrowth of the Los Angeles-based fanzine, Slash. Biggs, a painter, initiated the label with a seven-inch single from The Germs in 1978. A full album...
, whose subsidiary Ruby Records
Ruby Records
Ruby Records was a record label subsidiary of Slash Records, started in 1981.Ruby was distributed through the same independent distributors that handled its corporate parent, Slash. When Warner Bros...
released its debut and by far best-known album, The Days of Wine and Roses
The Days of Wine and Roses
The Days of Wine and Roses was the second album and the debut full-length album by American alternative rock band Dream Syndicate. Produced by Chris D. , it was recorded in Los Angeles in September 1982 and released later that year on Chris D.'s Ruby Records, which was a division of Slash Records...
, in 1982. The next year saw the UK (Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...
) release of the album's anthemic lead track, "Tell Me When It's Over," as the A-side of an EP which also included a live cover of Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
's "Mr. Soul."
Kendra Smith left the band and joined David Roback
David Roback
David Roback is a guitarist and songwriter best known as a member of the duo Mazzy Star.Roback grew up in Los Angeles and attended Palisades High School, graduating in 1975. He was a classmate and neighbor of John Hoffs, the brother of Susanna Hoffs, who would eventually become the lead singer of...
, formerly of the band Rain Parade
Rain Parade
The Rain Parade was a band active in the Paisley Underground scene in Los Angeles in the 1980s.-History:The band was founded by college roommates Matt Piucci and David Roback in 1981, originally as The Moving Sidewalks. David's brother Steven Roback joined the band shortly thereafter...
, to form Opal
Opal (band)
Opal were an American alternative/psychedelic band in the 1980s. They were part of the Paisley Underground musical style.The group formed in the mid-'80s under the name Clay Allison, featuring guitarist David Roback , bassist Kendra Smith and drummer Keith Mitchell...
. She was replaced in the Dream Syndicate by David Provost.
The Medicine Show was recorded in 1984 in San Francisco with producer Sandy Pearlman
Sandy Pearlman
Sandy Pearlman is an American music producer, artist manager, professor, poet, songwriter, and once was a record company executive...
(Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult, often abbreviated BÖC, is an American rock band, most of whose members first came together in Long Island, NY in 1967 as the band Soft White Underbelly...
, The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
). The commercial failure of the album contributed towards the group's temporary breakup. They opened tours for R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
and U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
and released the 5-song EP This Is Not the New Dream Syndicate Album - Live (1984), the last record to feature Karl Precoda on guitar (who soon after left to pursue a career in screenwriting) and the first appearance of bassist Mark Walton. The band left A&M after the label rejected its demo for "Slide Away", later released on the semi-official It's Too Late to Stop Now.
In 1985, Wynn and Dan Stuart
Dan Stuart
Dan Stuart is an American musician best known as the leader/singer/songwriter of 80's post punk, alt-country rock band, Green On Red , and for his teaming with Steve Wynn as Danny & Dusty.-History:Raised in Tucson, Arizona, Dan Stuart founded punk band The Serfers in 1979...
of Green on Red
Green on Red
Green on Red was an American rock band, formed in the Tucson, Arizona punk scene, but based for most of its career in Los Angeles, California, where it was loosely associated with the Paisley Underground...
wrote 10 songs together which were recorded with Dennis Duck, among others, and released by A&M as Danny and Dusty: The Lost Weekend.
After a brief hiatus, Wynn, Duck and Walton joined with Paul B. Cutler (of the proto-Goth
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
45 Grave
45 Grave
45 Grave are an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California formed in 1979. The original group broke up in 1985 but vocalist Dinah Cancer subsequently revived the band. 45 Grave are noted as one of the first bands to mix punk rock with horror-themed lyrics, thereby positioning them as...
) to form the final version of The Dream Syndicate; they recorded two more studio albums, Out of the Grey (1986), produced by Cutler, and Ghost Stories (1988), produced by Elliot Mazer (producer also of several Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
albums, including Harvest and Time Fades Away
Time Fades Away
Time Fades Away is a 1973 live album by Neil Young, consisting of previously unreleased material. It was recorded with The Stray Gators on the tour following 1972's highly successful Harvest and has not been reissued on CD due to Young's dissatisfaction with that particular series of concerts...
). A live album, Live at Raji's, was recorded (also by Mazer) before Ghost Stories but released afterward.
Posthumous releases include 3½; The Lost Tapes 1985–1988, a collection of unreleased studio sessions including cuts produced by Vitus Matare (of L.A.s Paisley Underground heroes The Last
The Last
The Last is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is part of the "Divergent Universe" saga which continued until The Next Life.-Plot:...
and later Trotsky Icepick
Trotsky Icepick
Trotsky Icepick were an American Indie rock band. Their active period was 1983 through 1991. During that time they released six records, all on SST Records. Members included alumni from LA indie groups The Last, Urinals Middle Class and Leaving Trains.-Trivia:*The band name refers to the type of...
,) and The Day Before Wine and Roses, a live radio performance recorded just prior to the release of the band's first album.
Steve Wynn
Steve Wynn (songwriter)
Steve Wynn is a songwriter based in New York . He led the band the Dream Syndicate from 1981 to 1989 and afterward began a solo career.- Career in bands :...
has continued on as a solo artist. Mark Walton went on to play with the Continental Drifters
Continental Drifters
The Continental Drifters was an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1991 and dissolved in New Orleans, Louisiana about a decade later...
.
Albums
- The Dream Syndicate EP (1982)
- The Days of Wine and RosesThe Days of Wine and RosesThe Days of Wine and Roses was the second album and the debut full-length album by American alternative rock band Dream Syndicate. Produced by Chris D. , it was recorded in Los Angeles in September 1982 and released later that year on Chris D.'s Ruby Records, which was a division of Slash Records...
- Ruby RecordsRuby RecordsRuby Records was a record label subsidiary of Slash Records, started in 1981.Ruby was distributed through the same independent distributors that handled its corporate parent, Slash. When Warner Bros...
/Slash RecordsSlash RecordsSlash Records is a record label in Los Angeles, originally specializing in local and punk rock bands.The label was formed in 1978 by Bob Biggs as an outgrowth of the Los Angeles-based fanzine, Slash. Biggs, a painter, initiated the label with a seven-inch single from The Germs in 1978. A full album...
(1982) - Medicine ShowMedicine Show (album)Medicine Show is the second album by The Dream Syndicate released in 1984.The Dream Syndicate, one of the pioneers of American indie rock, left Slash Records, small company that released the band's popular and highly influential first album The Days of Wine and Roses and signed new contract with...
(1984) - This Is Not the New Dream Syndicate Album......Live! (1984)
- Out of the Grey (1986)
- Ghost Stories (1988)
- Live at Raji's (1989)
- 3½; The Lost Tapes 1985–1988 (1993)
- The Day Before Wine and Roses (1995)
External links
- Steve Wynn Site: The Dream Syndicate
- Dream Syndicate collection at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
's live music archive - Former keyboard player Tommy Zvoncheck's Website