The Dream Syndicate is an American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band from

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, originally active from 1981 to 1989, and reunited since 2012. The band is associated with

neo-psychedelia Neo-psychedelia is a diverse genre of psychedelic music that draws inspiration from the sounds of 1960s psychedelia, either updating or copying the approaches from that era. Originating in the 1970s, it has occasionally seen mainstream pop su ...

and the Paisley Underground music movement; of the bands in that movement, according to the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', the Dream Syndicate "rocked with the highest degree of unbridled passion and conviction." Though never commercially successful, the band met with considerable acclaim, especially for its songwriting and guitar playing. Bandleader

Steve Wynn Stephen Alan Wynn (''né'' Weinberg; born January 27, 1942) is an American real estate developer and art collector. He is known for his involvement in the American luxury casino and hotel industry. Early in his career he oversaw the construction ...

reformed the band in 2012, and a fifth studio album was released in February 2017.

History

Formation and early years (1981–1983)

While attending the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

and

Kendra Smith Kendra Smith (born March 14, 1960)Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, is an American musician who was a founding member of The Dream Syndicate, a member of Opal, and later recorded as a solo artist. Biography Afte ...

played together (with future True West members

Russ Tolman Russ Tolman (born August 15, 1956) is a singer-songwriter who came to international attention in the 1980s as guitarist, songwriter, and producer of True West, a band associated with the Paisley Underground. Early life and career Tolman wa ...

and Gavin Blair) in a band called the Suspects, regarded as the first new wave-influenced band in the

Davis, California Davis is the most populous city in Yolo County, California. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 66,850 in 2020, not including the on-campus population of the University of California, Da ...

, music scene. Wynn also recorded a 1981 single with a trio that he called 15 Minutes, which included members of

Alternate Learning Alternate Learning (or ALRN) was a power pop/ new wave band from 1977 to 1982, based in Davis, California and fronted by Scott Miller, a singer-songwriter later known for his work as leader of the 1980s band Game Theory and 1990s band the Loud F ...

. After Wynn moved back to Los Angeles, while rehearsing in a band called Goat Deity (with future

Wednesday Week "Wednesday Week" is the seventh single released by the Undertones. The song was written in December 1979 by the band's rhythm guitarist and principal songwriter, John O' Neill, during a Christmas break the band had taken while recording their ...

sisters Kelly and Kristi Callan), Wynn met Karl Precoda, who had answered an ad for a bass player, and the two formed a new group, with Precoda switching to guitar. Smith joined on bass and brought in drummer Dennis Duck (Mehaffey), who had played in the locally successful Pasadena-based band Human Hands. Duck suggested the name "the Dream Syndicate" in reference to

La Monte Young La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music. He is best kno ...

's early 1960s New York experimental ensemble (better known as the

Theatre of Eternal Music The Theatre of Eternal Music (later sometimes called The Dream Syndicate) was an avant-garde musical group formed by La Monte Young in New York City in 1962. The core of the group consisted of Young (voice, saxophone), Tony Conrad (violin), ...

), whose members included

John Cale John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various styl ...

and

Tony Conrad Anthony Schmalz Conrad (March 7, 1940 – April 9, 2016) was an American video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician, composer, sound artist, teacher, and writer. Active in a variety of media since the early 1960s, he was a pioneer of both ...

. 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 ''Sound RIDER!'' began as a monthly online magazine about motorcycling in the Pacific Northwest. It was founded by publisher Tom Mehren in 1999.AMA 2012 The magazine features editorial about people, places and events associated with motorcycling in ...

in Pasadena, with

Paul B. Cutler Paul B. Cutler is an American producer and guitarist, best known for his work with the Dream Syndicate and 45 Grave. Career Cutler's first band, the Consumers, were the first punk rock band from Phoenix, Arizona. In 1979, he founded the punk an ...

engineering and producing, and released on Wynn's Down There label. The band quickly achieved local attention for its often aggressively long,

feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...

-soaked improvisations. Influences on the band, which was soon deemed "a seminal force in the city's '80s underground rock evolution", were

the Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise w ...

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

and

Television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

. The band signed to

Slash Records Slash Records was an American record label originally specializing in local punk rock bands, active from 1978 to 2000. It was notable as one of the first and most successful independent record labels in alternative rock, alternative music, befor ...

, whose subsidiary

Ruby Records Ruby Records is an American record label, founded predominantly as a rock music label subsidiary of Slash Records. The original version of the label released seven albums in 1981 and 1982. Ruby was distributed through the same independent distr ...

released its debut and by far best-known album, ''

The Days of Wine and Roses ''The Days of Wine and Roses'' is the second record and the debut full-length album by American alternative rock band the Dream Syndicate. Produced by Chris D. (of the Flesh Eaters/ Divine Horsemen), it was recorded in Los Angeles in September 1 ...

'', in 1982. ''Days of Wine and Roses'' "sent shockwaves through the American underground in the early 1980s," but

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

favored a different kind of music.

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pun ...

released the album's lead track, "Tell Me When It's Over", in early 1983 as the

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

of a UK EP which also included a live cover of Neil Young's "

Mr. Soul "Mr. Soul" is a song recorded by the Canadian-American rock band Buffalo Springfield in 1967. It was released June 15, 1967, as the B-side to their fourth single "Bluebird" and later included on the group's second album ''Buffalo Springfield Agai ...

". Subsequently, Smith left the band and joined

David Roback David Edward Roback (April 4, 1958 – February 24, 2020) was an American guitarist, songwriter and producer, best known as a founding member of the alternative rock band Mazzy Star. Early life Roback was born on April 4, 1958 and raised in Los ...

(formerly of

Rain Parade The Rain Parade is a band that was originally active in the Paisley Underground scene in Los Angeles in the 1980s, and that reunited and resumed touring in 2012. History Rain Parade in the 1980s (1981–86) Originally called the Sidewalks, the b ...

) to form

Opal Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3 to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6 and 10%. Due to its amorphous property, it is classified as a mineraloid, unlike crystalline forms ...

. She was replaced in the Dream Syndicate by David Provost.

Post-Kendra Smith years (1984–1989)

Medicine Show Medicine shows were touring acts (traveling by truck, horse, or wagon teams) that peddled "miracle cure" patent medicines and other products between various entertainments. They developed from European Charlatan, mountebank shows and were common i ...

'' was recorded in 1984 in San Francisco with producer

Sandy Pearlman Samuel Clarke "Sandy" Pearlman (August 5, 1943 – July 26, 2016) was an American music producer, artist manager, music journalist and critic, professor, poet, songwriter, and record company executive. He was best known for founding, writing for, ...

and released that year by

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

. The band opened tours for

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...

and U2 and released the five-song live EP, ''This Is Not The New Dream Syndicate Album... Live!,'' the last record to feature Precoda on guitar (he left soon afterward to pursue a career in screenwriting) and the first appearance of bassist Mark Walton. The EP's commercial failure contributed to the group's temporary breakup, The band was dropped by 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, during the band's temporary retirement, Wynn and Dan Stuart of

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. Earlier records have the wide-screen psy ...

wrote 10 songs together that were recorded with Duck, among others, and released by A&M as the album '' The Lost Weekend'' under the name Danny & Dusty. After a brief hiatus (and, as one reviewer said, having taken "a trip through the major-label meat grinder"), Wynn, Duck and Walton joined with

(who had produced the group's first EP and played guitar in the proto-

goth A Goth is a member of the Goths, a group of East Germanic tribes. Two major political entities of the Goths were: *Visigoths, prominent in Spanish history *Ostrogoths, prominent in Italian history Goth or Goths may also refer to: * Goth (surname) ...

45 Grave 45 Grave is an American rock band from Los Angeles formed in 1979. The original group broke up in 1985, but vocalist Dinah Cancer subsequently revived the band. History The band was founded during the punk rock movement by Paul B. Cutler in ...

) to form the next version of the Dream Syndicate. They recorded two more studio albums, ''

Out of the Grey Out of the Grey is a husband-and-wife Contemporary Christian music project consisting of Scott and Christine Denté. Christine provides lead vocals, while Scott plays guitars and sings background, along with the occasional lead vocals. They have ...

'' (1986,

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Ag ...

), produced by Cutler, and ''

Ghost Stories A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. ...

'' (1988,

Enigma Records Enigma Records (also known as Enigma Entertainment Corporation) was a popular rock and alternative American record label in the 1980s. History Enigma Records launched as a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music importer/dis ...

), produced by

Elliot Mazer Elliot Mazer (September 5, 1941February 7, 2021) was an American audio engineer and record producer. He was best known for his work with Linda Ronstadt, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Band, and Janis Joplin. In addition, he worked on film and telev ...

. A live album, '' Live at Raji's'', was recorded in 1988 (also by Mazer) before ''Ghost Stories'', but released afterward. 1992 also featured a free release in cooperation with the band by the label Opdtapes. A free tape called "Live i Bergen" contained recordings from the band's concert in Bergen, Norway on 15th of Oct 1988 (Opdtapes 002). After breaking up in 1989, the band's posthumous releases included ''3½ (The Lost Tapes: 1985-1988)'', a collection of unreleased studio sessions, and ''The Day Before Wine and Roses'', a live

KPFK KPFK (90.7 FM) is a listener-sponsored radio station based in North Hollywood, California, United States, which serves Southern California, and also streams 24 hours a day via the Internet. It was the second of five stations in the non-commerci ...

radio performance recorded just before the release of the band's first album. Wynn continued as a solo artist, and Walton went on to play with the

Continental Drifters The Continental Drifters were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1991 and dissolved in New Orleans, Louisiana about a decade later. Though the line-up changed several times, at one point the band comprised a kind of colleg ...

Reunion (2012–present)

Wynn reformed the Dream Syndicate for a festival performance on September 21, 2012, at Festival BAM in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Spain. The reformed band included Wynn, Walton, Duck and Jason Victor, Wynn's longtime lead guitarist in the Miracle 3. On December 5–6, 2013, the Dream Syndicate played two shows with three other reunited Paisley Underground bands —

the Bangles The Bangles are an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1981. The band recorded several singles that reached the U.S. top 10 during the 1980s, including "Manic Monday" (1986), "Walk Like an Egyptian" (1986), " Hazy Shade ...

the Three O'Clock The Three O'Clock is an American alternative rock group associated with the Los Angeles 1980s Paisley Underground scene. Lead singer and bassist Michael Quercio is credited with coining the term "Paisley Underground" to describe a subset of the ...

and Rain Parade — at

the Fillmore The Fillmore is a historic music venue in San Francisco, California. Built in 1912 and originally named the Majestic Hall, it became the Fillmore Auditorium in 1954. It is in Western Addition, on the edge of the Fillmore District and Upper Fil ...

in San Francisco on the first night, then at a benefit concert at

the Fonda Theatre The Fonda Theatre (formerly Music Box Theatre, Guild Theatre, Fox Theatre, and Pix Theatre) is a concert venue located on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. Designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival Style, the theater has hosted l ...

in Los Angeles the next night. On September 26–27, 2014, the Dream Syndicate played at

The EARL ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

East Atlanta East Atlanta is a neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, United States The name East Atlanta Village primarily refers to the neighborhood's commercial district. Geography East Atlanta lies entirely within DeKalb County and is bounde ...

; they were the band's first shows in the South since 1988, and included

Savage Republic Savage Republic (originally named Africa Corps) is an American, Los Angeles-based post-punk band, formed in the early 1980s. The group reformed in 2002 and remains active with a different lineup. They are known for lengthy songs with an emphasis ...

as the opening act. The September 26 show featured a complete performance of ''The Days of Wine and Roses'', while the following show featured their second album, ''The Medicine Show''. , the group had played more than 50 shows since reuniting. In February 2017, Wynn announced that a forthcoming fifth studio album had been recorded at Montrose Studios in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, and mixed at Water Music in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

. The personnel included himself, Walton, Duck and Victor, joined on keyboards by Chris Cacavas. Wynn noted that the album's final track, titled "Kendra's Dream", included vocals from Smith, the band's original bass player, who also wrote the song's lyrics. The album, ''

How Did I Find Myself Here? ''How Did I Find Myself Here?'' is the fifth studio album by American alternative rock band the Dream Syndicate. It was released on September 8, 2017, almost 30 years after the band's last album, and after three years of touring. The recording ba ...

'', was released on September 8, 2017, on the Anti- label. In November 2018, three new recordings by The Dream Syndicate were released as part of a compilation album called ''3 × 4'', which also included

The Bangles The Bangles are an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1981. The band recorded several singles that reached the U.S. top 10 during the 1980s, including "Manic Monday" (1986), "Walk Like an Egyptian" (1986), " Hazy Shade ...

The Three O'Clock The Three O'Clock is an American alternative rock group associated with the Los Angeles 1980s Paisley Underground scene. Lead singer and bassist Michael Quercio is credited with coining the term "Paisley Underground" to describe a subset of the ...

, and

, with each of the four bands covering songs by the other bands. Following the initial Record Store Day First release as a

double album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...

on "psychedelic swirl" purple

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

Yep Roc Records Yep Roc Records is an American independent record label based in Hillsborough, North Carolina, and owned by Redeye Distribution. Since 1997, the label has released albums from North Carolina and international artists, including Nick Lowe, Paul W ...

released the album on LP, CD, and digital in February 2019. On May 10, 2019, ''These Times'', the second album from the re-formed band was released on Anti-. Produced by John Agnello and The Dream Syndicate. The album was recorded again at Montrose Studios in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. On February 26, 2019, the Dream Syndicate announced that a new studio album, ''The Universe Inside'', was to be released on April 10, 2020, on Anti-. The band shared the first “single” “The Regulator” and its video, a 20-minute “psychedelic journey through New York City, equal parts panoramic, psychedelic, somnambulistic and political”.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

'' (1982,

) - #7 UK Independent Charts * ''

'' (1984,

) - #171

Billboard Top 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artis ...

* ''

'' (1986,

Big Time Records Big Time Records was an independent record label based in Sydney, Australia. The label was owned by Lance Reynolds and Fred Bestall, who managed Air Supply in their early days, among others. From 1979 until 1981, Big Time was distributed by Wi ...

) * ''

'' (1988,

) * ''

'' (2017, Anti-) - #32 Billboard Independent Albums * '' These Times'' (2019, Anti-) - #34 Billboard Independent Albums * '' The Universe Inside'' (2020, Anti-) * '' Ultraviolet Battle Hymns and True Confessions'' (2022, ''Fire Records (UK)'')

EPs

* ''The Dream Syndicate'' (1982, Down There Records) - #25

UK Independent Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...

s * ''Tell Me When It's Over'' (1983,

) - #11 UK Independent Charts * ''How We Found Ourselves...Everywhere!'' (2018, Anti-)

Live albums

* ''This Is Not the New Dream Syndicate Album... Live!'' (1984,

) * '' Live at Raji's'' (1989,

) * ''The Day Before Wine and Roses'' (1994, Normal)

Compilation albums

* ''It's Too Late to Stop Now... Isn't It?'' (1988, self-released) * ''It's Too Late to Stop Now'' (1989, Another Cowboy Recordings) * ''Tell Me When It's Over: The Best of the Dream Syndicate 1982-1988'' (1992,

Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

) * ''3½ (The Lost Tapes: 1985-1988)'' (1993, Normal) * ''3 × 4'' (2018,

Yep Roc Yep Roc Records is an American independent record label based in Hillsborough, North Carolina, and owned by Redeye Distribution. Since 1997, the label has released albums from North Carolina and international artists, including Nick Lowe, Paul W ...

) - #27 Billboard Independent Albums

DVDs

* ''Weathered and Torn'' (1992, Atavistic Video)

References

External links

*
Steve Wynn , The Dream SyndicateDream Syndicate collection
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

's live music archive *
Dream Syndicate at Fire Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dream Syndicate 1989 disestablishments in California Alternative rock groups from California Musical groups established in 1981 Musical groups disestablished in 1991 Musical groups from Los Angeles Neo-psychedelia groups Psychedelic rock music groups from California Jangle pop groups American post-punk music groups A&M Records artists Chrysalis Records artists Rough Trade Records artists Anti- (record label) artists Restless Records artists Fire Records (UK) artists