Gaylord was an American rock band active from late 1995 until 2010.

History

Gaylord was founded in 1995 in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, by guitarist/ singer/songwriter Core Atoms (

Arcadea Arcadea is an American synth-metal supergroup from Atlanta, formed in 2015 by Mastodon drummer Brann Dailor, Zruda guitarist Core Atoms, and guitarist Raheem Amlani. Arcadea's self-titled album was released in June 2017 via Relapse Records. Hi ...

, Zruda) and bassist/singer/songwriter Jeff Steverson. In 1996, Gaylord released their first recording ''Sparkling Cool'', following the addition of drummer Brann Dailor.Lamb, Gordon "Gaylord: Not as Popular as Beethoven", '' Flagpole'', Athens: Georgia, July 16, 2008, vol.22 no. 28, p. 22. After Dailor, Gaylord would play with two other drummers before the addition of percussionist/singer Drew Verstraete (Big Hair, Zruda) in late 1998 After the addition of Verstraete, Gaylord went on to release several recordings including the full length self-released, ''Drop a Bomb on a Town of Fried Bologna'' (2001), ''Tsunami'' (2004) and ''Resplendent Locution'' (2007). In 2007, Gaylord recorded ''Resplendent Locution'' with Doug White at

Watchmen Recording Studios Watchmen Recording Studios is a music recording facility owned and operated by Doug White, located in Lockport, New York, U.S. The studio opened to the public in 1995, and as of 2013 over 4,000 bands and artists have recorded at the location. The ...

before relocating to Atlanta, Georgia. In March 2008, a month before Gaylord left for Atlanta, they recorded a one-hour live performance for the WXXI television series ''On Stage''. In December 2009, Gaylord disbanded, and Atoms and Verstraete founded the progressive metal band Zruda with Guitarist Bryan Aiken and bassist Sean Peiffer of the Athens, Georgia-based prog-metal band

Lazer Wulf Lazer/Wulf is an American progressive metal trio formed in Athens, Georgia, United States. The band's music is noted for being mostly instrumental, while combining the avant-garde elements of progressive rock and jazz with heavy metal and math ...

. In 2016, Atoms and Dailor reunited to create the Progressive Synth Metal band

, releasing their self-entitled debut in June 2017 on

Relapse Records Relapse Records is an American independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990. The label features many grindcore, death metal, metalcore and sludge metal artists. History The label was ...

Musical style and influences

Gaylord embraced an eclectic mix of styles which one reviewer described as, "a raucous blend of

prog Prog may refer to: Music * Progressive music ** Progressive music (disambiguation) ** Progressive rock, a subgenre of rock music also known as “prog” *** Progressive rock (radio format) * Prog (magazine), a magazine dedicated to progressive ...

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

, and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

with heavy traces of classical." In an interview for the newspaper '' Flagpole'', Core Atoms accredited Gaylord's sound to a shared, "love of everything from metal to classical to

and bluegrass." Their distinct sound was further aided by Atoms' unconventional style of playing a right-handed guitar, left-handed—essentially backwards and upside-down, and Steverson's complex style of bass playing, which combined slapping, strumming, plucking, and tapping. In a 2017 interview for '' Revolver Magazine'', Dailor said:

"Gaylord's bass player, Jeff teversonwas crazy too. I thought they were super talented, and it was different from what I was doing at the time...Gaylord were playing weird funk, also influenced by
Mr. Bungle Mr. Bungle is an American experimental rock band formed in Eureka, California in 1985. Having gone through many incarnations throughout their career, the band is best known for music created during their most experimental era. During this time, ...
. We had all this different music wrapped up in this one really bizarre package. Core's guitar playing was just different, and that's what I always look for: something artistic and weird."

Discography

*''Sparkling Cool'' (1996) *''Rootbeer & Mayonnaise'' (1998) *''Drop a Bomb on a Town of Fried Bologna'' (2000) *''The Password'' (2002) *''Tsunami'' (2004) *''Gayest Hits'' (2006) *''Resplendent Locution'' (2007)

References

{{reflist American funk metal musical groups Progressive rock musical groups from New York (state)