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 in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

, by guitarist/ singer/songwriter Core Atoms ( Arcadea, Zruda) and bassist/singer/songwriter Jeff Steverson. In 1996, Gaylord released their first recording ''Sparkling Cool'', following the addition of drummer

Brann Dailor Brann Timothy Dailor (born March 19, 1975) is an American musician, best known as a member of heavy metal band Mastodon, in which he is the drummer and one of three vocalists. Career Dailor first started playing in a band called Eviscerati ...

.Lamb, Gordon "Gaylord: Not as Popular as Beethoven", ''

Flagpole A flagpole, flagmast, flagstaff, or staff is a pole designed to support a flag. If it is taller than can be easily reached to raise the flag, a cord is used, looping around a pulley at the top of the pole with the ends tied at the bottom. The fla ...

'', 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 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 Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral ...

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 Arcadea, releasing their self-entitled debut in June 2017 on Relapse Records.

Musical style and influences

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

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 with heavy traces of classical." In an interview for the newspaper ''

'', Core Atoms accredited Gaylord's sound to a shared, "love of everything from metal to classical to funk 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 ''Revolver'' is a heavy metal music and hard rock magazine, published in North America. It has been in print since 2000, and is about both established acts and up-and-comers in heavy music. In the fall of 2017, ''Revolver'' underwent a brand re ...

'', 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. 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)