California Dreaming

Rip It Up, Issue 113, 1 December 1986, Page 4

California Dreaming

In December the Dream Syndicate’s medicine show travels through! Auckland. Growing out of LA in 1981 they were one of the USA’s guitar original “guitar bands.”

“I’ve been a rock ‘n’ roll fan since I was three years old when I heard Elvis for the first time,” recalls singer/songwriter/guitarist Steve Wynn from somewhere in Holland."! started the band in 1981 because back them nobody was playing the kind of music I liked. Back then the music scene in America was so boring and lacking in passion.”

And Dream Syndicate has helped add some passion? “I hope so. In the last five years American rock ‘ n ’ roll has got a better name for itself. I think we played a part in turning things round.” Although the Dream Syndicate share the same back-to-basics beliefs as bands like REM and the Long Ryders, their roots lie in urban not country music. Listening to their Medicine Show album in particular, Wynn’s nasal drawl and

paced guitar attack are very reminiscent of Lou Reed and Iggy Pop respectively: "Yeah, both have been big influences. Most of the people who’ve influenced us have had very urban music, either Iggy from Detroit, or the blues from Chicago or the Velvets or Bob Dylan.

“I'm from LA which is a kind of urban environment but it’s a strange city because it’s so sprawled out and it has a laid-back feel to it, it hasn't an intense city feeling. It had the reputation of being the city of the Eagles and Jackson Browne, luckily it’s shifted to being the city of bands like the Long Ryders. It got the image of lazy cocaine rock stars and it’s not quite like that.” Do you feel any affinity with the other guitar bands? "I like REM and the bands from LA and we share the same ideas

about music like the passion is more important than the technique and that rock ‘n’ roll should be brought back to the people, but

what we’re doing is different from the other bands. We’re more the ugly hard rock step-brother of the others. I’d rather put on a Led Zeppelin record than a Byrds’ album.” To date the bands' recorded output stands at three albums and an EP. Their first LP Days of Wine and Roses, is reckoned by many to be their best:

“It’s a lot more of a rough garage type record, all three have different styles,” says Wynn. The Medicine Show is their best album if we’re talking about unity, tension and tough guitar playing: “A lot of the songs were about people who get pushed one time too many and then turn ugly. Every time I pick up a newspaper I seem to read about mass murderers or someone who went crazy and did in his family.

“Of the whole album I like the title track and ‘Merrittville’ the best. Overall I think it’s the best songwriting LP we’ve done.” Sandy Pearlman, of Blue Oyster

Cult and Clash Give Em Enough Rope notoriety, produced the album:

“We were in New Jersey opening for U2 in 1983 and we had fired our sound man the night before so we rode into town wondering what we were going to do for a sound man when Sandy showed up at about seven in the evening and he agreed to do our sound. But he hasn’t worked with us since The Medicine Show."

The Dream Syndicate’s new album Out Of The Grey, is a disappointing escape from the scrambled heads of The Medicine Show. Only ‘Boston’ and ‘Now I Ride Alone’ retain the taut obsessiveness that made their previous album a cut above the routine guitar approach. Now they could be the Rain Parade and it’s a bad time to drop standards because there’s a few hacks out there waiting to slash into these once-fancied guitar bands. David Quantick’s review in NME (S July, ’B6) is a vitriolic case in point:

‘Tm not aware of it. A lot of these magazines base their opinions on things other than the records. Maybe they thought we were due for a fall or maybe we’d done something to upset them. And often it depends on the kinda music you like.

“The new album is more of a straight guitar band record. The songs are shorter and there’s less improvisation. It’s a more diverse record although ‘Boston’ and ‘Now I Ride Alone’ are more in with our past. But I think the album’s a good step.” Ultimately the real test of a band’s worth is in a live performance and the word is that the Dream Syndicate shake some action:

“I think it’s our best place, live is where we’re best and each night we’re different as we move with the feeling of the audience. Playing to people face to face is the important thing.” George Kay