English BiographySteve Wynn born in Los Angeles on February 21, 1960 and grow in LA that will be the base for all his works in the following years. He attended the University of California at Davis, where he graduated. But the most important thing for his future in the music world is that there he knows Russ Tolman, Kendra Smith and Scott Miller (Miller would stay in the area with Game Theory, and Tolman would form True West). It 's the time when punk-rock and new wave explode, and Steve in 1979 form the Suspects, a New Wave band that will only last one year and will publish only a single, Iy's Up To You / Talking Loud (1979) , that is very rare and is material for collectors.
In addition to Steve on vocals and guitar, the group members were the already mentioned Kendra Smith on vocals, Steve Suchil on bass, guitar Russ Tolman on guitar and Gavin Blair on drums.
If they set-up this band today, we would call them a 'super-group ', looking to the future careers of the quintet; Kendra and Steve formed the Dream Syndicate and Russ and Gavin came in the True West.
In addition to the single there’re some live recordings, containing several songs including Alle Morgen Parties, a German version of All Tomorrows Parties by the Velvet Underground, reflecting the influence of the New York group on the music of Steve and his companions.
It seems that Steve wanted to retract all the copies of the single to destroy them, not considering them at the level of the prospectives of the group.
A surprise in 2005, during a radio session in Davis, Steve Davis played Talking Loud.
As mentioned earlier, Steve Wynn and Kendra Smith finished the university moved from Davis to Los Angeles where, after a little time with the group '15 Minutes' and only one single released (That's What You Alway Say / Last Chance For You (1981 )) formed in 1982 with guitarist Karl Precoda and drummer Dennis Duck The Dream Syndicate.
The band's name refers to that of an experimental band where the composer LaMonte Young was joined by John Cale in the period before the birth of the Velvet Underground.
Despite the 80s will be dominated by pop and disco music, in California there was a revival of guitar rock in the underground music scene, fueled by groups such as REM and the Replacements.
Wynn takes a further step forward (or backward depending on interpretation) and dusts off a rock sound full of feedback that takes clear inspiration from the Velvet Underground.
The Dream Syndicate become the group leader of the so-called 'paisley underground', a musical movement located mainly in Los Angeles, clearly inspired by the '60s, which also includes bands like Green On Red, Bangles and Three O'Clock.
Among these bands the Dream Syndicate are those who get some fame outside of Los Angeles, due also to their great live performances with long jam sessions.
Their debut album, THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES (Ruby, 1982), preceded by the EP DREAM SYNDICATE, is praised by critics and immediately brings them some reputation and is still remembered today, even outside of the area of of Steve Wynn supporters.
The album has a sound nervous, full of feedback, with Precoda guitar in evidence, fast rhythms and dark lyrics, very real, that can be feel inspired by artists like Bob Dylan and Lou Reed.
To confirm this, on the group's debut EP there’s a cover of Dylan's Otlaw Blues; the LP is opened by "Tell Me When It's Over”, a ballad where the sweetness is still broken by rough sounds and continues with the fast rhythm of Definitely Clean followed by That's What You Always Say, a song with a sound raw and distorted, which leads to Then She Remembers that combines all the punk influences of the group and Steve is in fact an Iggy Pop clone; in this song also Steve voice is different and listening to the song without knowing who’s singing, you’d really think of listening to Iggy & The Stooges.
After the punk ride come back Precoda acid and distorted sounds for a song that make immediately the history of the group: Halloween; maybe the singing is less raw than in other songs like That's What You Always Say or Definitely Clean just to name a few, but the music inevitably recalls to mind the sound of bands like the Velvet Underground.
Then, still the raw singing, like the songs were "demos".
Too Litte Too Late is the only track of the album sung by Kendra, a song very soft, almost a lullaby.
The disc ends with the title track which contains all the features of the album: punk rhythms, distorted guitars and very real lyrics.
A fantastic album, a must have!
The following year there is a change in the band, Kendra leave the band and it’s replaced by Dave Provost
The Dream Syndicate do not waste time and release THE MEDICINE SHOW (1983), another Wynn / Precoda masterpiece, that the hardcore fans of the group considere a bit like the Lou Reed / John Cale of the 80s.
The sound of the album is a bit less acid than its predecessor, but it is pure rock with Steve singing lyrics always hard and real (see the title tack and Merrittville) and Karl rides into long solos and jam sessions that have their peak in JOHN COLTRANE STEREO BLUES.
The album starts with Steve singing the impotence in front of lost love that will not come back (STILL HOLDING ON TO YOU), and continues fast in Daddy's girl. The tension is broken with the beautiful ballad BURN, a song almost perfect. Then ARMED WITH AN EMPTY GUN, whose verses tell stories that have as their common point to find yourself unable to do anything because you have a gun unloaded, and BULLET WITH MY NAME ON IT, where the man speaks with another person (maybe a girl) who has a bullet intended for him.
Now is the time of the masterpieces that come in the form of a trio of songs such as THE MEDICINE SHOW, JOHN COLTRANE STEREO BLUES e MERRITVILLE. The first two have inspired lyrics combined with an unique sound with Precoda unleashed in lengthy solos. Legendary are the live performances of John Coltrane Stereo Blues with long jam sessions.
Merrittville closes the album with narrative lyrics and the bridge sang together by more voices.
A wonderful album, you might say unique, but Steve has always been able to give us great satisfaction.
At this point there is a new line-up change, with Precoda that left the band replaced by Paul B. Cutler while Mark Walton replaces Provost already during the live tour following the release of The Medicine Show, documented by the live 'THIS IS NOT THE DREAM SYNDICATE NEW ALBUM' (1984), just to clarify to customers that it is not a studio album. The live faithfully documented the sound and characteristics of the first Dream Syndicate, a band in a state of grace, with dirty sounds, high load, jams, and the piano of Tom Zvondchek that was not on the record.
Without Precoda and his acid solos the group turns a little bit towards a pop/rock sound a little bit more commercial but still very good and valuable.
But before, Steve takes a break from the band and recorded along with Dan Stuart of Green On Red the album THE LOST WEEKEND, under the name of Danny & Dusty (1985). The songs, written in part by Dan and in part by Steve, were "in accordance to the legend” recorded in a single weekend session in which they closed in the recording studio equipped with groceries and alcohol, to get out only at the end of the weekend with the album finished. The band was composed, in addition to Steve and Dan, by SID GRIFFIN, STEPHEN MCCARTHY, CHRIS CACAVAS, TOM STEVENS and DENNIS DUCK.
Definitely a great album, that sounds dirty, not hard, more folk than electric, with acoustic guitars in evidence. They didnt a tour, but only a few concerts. Danny & Dusty disc is populated by various characters, such losers, dreamers, gamblers and drunks and will remain the only, at least until 2007.
In 1986 come back the Dream Syndicate with OUT OF THE GREY, which has the merit of increasing the group's popularity due to increased radio broadcasts. The album contains songs like NOW I RIDE ALONE, FOREST FOR THE TREES, the title track, SLIDE AWAY, but moreover BOSTON, one of the most beautiful songs written by Steve, still highly requested from the fans at the concerts. In this album you can clearly see the skills of Steve as a songwriter, his ability to create melodies, even catchy, but spontaneous and not banal, a gift that few have. The album is promoted for the first time by an european tour which also touch Italy.
GHOST STORIES and released in 1988 and although hasn’t the masterpieces of the first two albums, the level of the songs is really good; highlights are THE SIDE I’LL NEVER SHOW, LOVING THE SINNER HATING THE SIN and the cover SEE THAT MY GRAVE IS KEPT CLEAN. The album feature Chris Cacavas on keyboards, Robert Lloyd on piano and Johnette Napolitano on backing vocals.
In 1989 the Dream Syndicate break up; one last document of the band remains; it’s the LIVE AT RAJIS, documenting the concert held January 31, 1989 in a small club in Hollywood, the Rajis. It 's a great live, although very different from its predecessor (This Is Not The New Dream Syndicate Album ... Live) and the living testimony of what they were capable of Steve Wynn, Dennis Duck, Mark Walton and Paul B. Cutler, the more lasting of the Dream Syndicate lineups. In 2004 it’s been re-released in the complete full version.
After the breakup the band has however not been forgotten and during the years have been released many records as Best Of, live and compilation of outtakes. To list briefly, already in 1989 it comes IT'S TOO LATE TO STOP NOW, a compilation of live tracks, while in 1992, when Steve has already started his solo career it’s released TELL ME WHEN IT'S OVER-THE BEST OF and the video WEATHERED AND TORN (reprinted in 2004 in DVD) filmed during the band's last tour, which documents a concert and some interviews; in 1993 come out THE LOST TAPES 3 ½, a compilation of outtakes, and in 1994 it’s released BEFORE THE DAY WINE AND ROSES, that documents a radio performance in September 1982, before the release of the first album. It's a live EXTRAORDINARY, which also contains a version of John Coltrane Stereo Blues, at the time named OPEN HOUR.
After the break up of the Dream Syndicate Steve began a solo career in 1990 with the release of KEROSENE MAN, which combines raw rock sounds (TEARS WILL NOT HELP, Younger, ANTHEM) and softer tracks like UNDER THE WEATHER and CONSPIRACY OF THE HEART . A fabulous mix for a great album!
Also in 1990 it comes STRAIGHT TO THE SWAPMENT, a live, a sort of official bootleg that contains also some covers as GRAVEYARD TRAIN and THE GROM'S STILL WAITING AT THE ALTAR.
1992 is the year of DAZZLING DISPLAY that follows the sound of the previous one, always with a high mean quality of the songs, a peculiarity of Steve records, who “maybe” may have not reached the peaks of other artists from whom he was certainly influenced such as Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Lou Reed, but as good quality of all the records he has nothing to envy to anyone.
The themes expressed by Steve are pretty pessimistic, but held out to an hope of salvation, which, however, can be reached only through pain.
Dazzling Display is followed by a record almost acoustic, with a sound pop, folk and soul.
Fluorescence is a pleasant album, containing songs such as COLLISION COURSE, CARELESSLY, WEDDING BELLS, THAT’S WHY I WEAR BLACK, FOLLOW ME, while the plug is inserted in only a couple of pieces (OLDER, LOOK BOTH WAYS).
In 1994, sees the light TAKE YOUR FLUNKY AND DANGLE, a collection of unreleased songs from the '87-93 era, especially from the fluorescent sessions. Many of these songs were also placed in the re-edition of fluorescence.
Meanwhile, in 1993 Steve started a side project together with STEPHEN MCCARTHY, BRIAN HARVEY, JOHNNY HOTT, ARMISTEAD WELDFORD: the Gutterball.
The genre where you can classify the band is a mixture of garage rock and melodic sounds. The first self-titled album is definitely solid, although in my opinion of not so easy listening, especially the first times. Steve Wynn has never made the so-called fun songs, and so in this case, where several listening are required to get in tune with the band. Certainly the predominant instruments are the guitars, though not particularly "noisy" and somehow "moderated. " The sound is 'dirty', and so is the Wynn singing.
Meanwhile, Steve leaves Los Angeles to New York.
In 1995 it’s released a disc of outtakes of the first Gutterball album (TURNYOR EDINKOV) with songs in really rough version, and the second disc of the band, WEASEL. This disc opens with a couple of fast songs where even the guitars are more noisy (TRANSPARENCY, YOUR BEST FRIEND), and in fact it seems that the quintet has grown. Lyrics are good and so the songs like FIREFLY, MARIA, ONE-EYED DOG and OVER 40.
In 1995 Steve release a new solo album, that unlike the previous (Fluorescent) is electric, with distorted guitars, along with the usual "grieving" lyrics.
For one time I have to agree with Italian music critic Scaruffi when he writes that Steve is one of the few artists who know how to make bleed the lines of his songs.
The disc opens with WHY, and then SHELLEY'S BLUES, WHAT WE CALL LOVE, DRIZZLE, THE ANGELS, EPILOGUE, SILENCE IS YOUR ONLY FRIEND, STARE IT DOWN, SMOOTH, FOR ALL I CARE, THE WAY YOU PUNISH ME, DOWN, and at the end the title track where the guitars explode and it seems to blend into the darkness.
‘I love the way you punish me’ sings Steve in one of the songs on the album, but listening MELTING IN THE DARK is anything but a punishment.
1997 is the year of Sweetness and Light, an album with lots of guitars and as usual many good songs.
In 1998 Steve release a limited edition CD featuring covers, unreleased and alternate versions of tracks from the other disks. THE SUITCASE SESSION, although is one of those disc from where not much is expected because is not a real 'new album', it’s listenable with pleasure. In October of this year it’s also releasedn the compilation ADVERTISEMENT FROM MYSELF, a sort of anthology of the career of Steve Wynn in limited with a biography included.
In 1999, after the release of a disc of outtakes of 1996/99 years (PICK OF THE LITTER), Steve release a new album, MY MIDNIGHT, that is one of his best albums that combine inspired lyrics with a rock guitar sound, but with assistance of organ and horns.
At the beginning NOTHING BUT THE SHELL says it all; on all the tracks outstand 500 GIRL Mornings that close the record. In 2000, Wynn is working with the Spanish pop group AUSTRALIAN BLONDE, for an album entitled MOMENTO, which shows the pop of the Spanish group contaminated with Wynn guitars; Steve has contributed both for lyrics and music, and sing guitars in many songs
The WEB increase is importance and Steve decided to release for download a track every month; these twelve singles form THE EMUSIC SINGLE COLLECTION (2001).
But 2001 is the year of HERE COMES THE MIRACLES! Miracles happen here, and that's it! Steve together with a new band, the Miracle 3 (Jason Victor, Linda Pitmon, Dave De Castro) produces a true masterpiece.
Follow the review that you can find in italian at this link
Question: Is it still possible to produce something that still sounds fresh, vigorous and genuine with an electric guitar and a rock band?
Although this tool and this genre have been extensively explored and drained, the answer is yes, strongly yes if you have the opportunity to hear the latest album by Steve Wynn, "Here come the miracles." Miracle, precisely, because who had expected a double album of that value? Who did imagine so much determination, technique and shivers?
Sure, the writing and the talent of Steve Wynn has never been questioned and even the sound of the "Paisley Underground" which over the years has become more and more his own. It seemed that the best was come from the years of furious Dream Syndicate to continue with mixed results with Gutterball and his solo records. Instead Steve Wynn comes out with an album that is a masterpiece, not because it contains something new, but because it gives us the depth and firmness of a rock more and more rare.
Nineteen pieces, alternating ballads to sudden pushs, vigorous, played with a punk spirit still hungry.
Already from the cover you can guess the direction of the album: a heart that bleeds on a turntable and a title that with the plays you can understand is not pretentious at all.
It begins with a distorted guitar and end up with a wide ballad full of hope ("There Will Come a Day") that recalls the days of "Song for the Dreamers."
In between is a psychedelic hard rock ("Sustain") with Howe Gelb that pales Motorpsycho, there is a poignant ballad ("Shades of Blue") between past and present, there are slow songs dusty from the Californian desert wind ("Blackout", "Drought", "Charity"), a Bo Diddley-like rock'n'roll ("Strange New World"), guncotton punk songs ("Crawling Misanthropic Blues," "Watch your step") and round blues masked by the expert smile of someone who has walked miles and miles of rock ("Let's leave it like that", "Topanga Canyon freaks").
"Southern California line" has the stately progress of Crazy Horse, but it's all the record to bring Steve Wynn as a new model for young bands that can also jump on the recent reissue of "The Days of Wine and Roses". Or on eight minutes of slow, "Good and bad," torn by a piercing solo that repeats itself sparkling the fuse of "Smash myself to bits."
Wurlitzer, piano, organ (Chris Cacavas), electric banjo, pedal steel (Craig Schumacher), vibraphone (John Covertino), harmonica (Howe Gelb), bass (Dave DeCastro), drums (Linda Pitmon) and many, many distortions (Chris Borkaw) will make love this album not only to the rockers, but also to all those admirers of the art too often forced to get lost in the maze of heavy metal.
In the end, it’s not Steve Wynn, but the rock that return to be a miracle.
The following tour is documented by a CD released in Italy as an attachment to IL MUCCHIO magazine, the LIVE AT BIG MAMA (2002), documenting the concert in Rome, at Big Mama, that is a bit the second home of Steve when he’s in Italy.
2003 begins with the reunion of Gutterball for a concert in Richmond on Jan. 9 and voices lead to a future new album with the band. Meanwhile, Steve and the Miracle 3 release STATIC TRANSMISSION, a very good album, also reviewed here
Each disc is a test, the more if the previous has had positive feedback. This goes for any artist, regardless of its commercial success, and therefore also to Steve Wynn, who, with "Here comes the miracle," he raised up his career.
"Static Transmission" comes after two years, after several concerts, and especially after the events of September 11: the disk is not a further elaboration of what happened, but the inspiration of Steve, an artist and a sensitive man, house based in New York, couldn’t not capture movements that are involved.
It must be said that the work of Steve Wynn, who arrived on the thirteenth album, but much larger when considering the work with Dream Syndicate, Gutterball and publications more or less official, always aiming to human consciousness in its darker aspects, where the boundary line between good and evil, between instinct and intention is very thin. It can be said that this area now leaves emerge out their debris more easily and this seems the theme of "Static Transmission".
Tracks less immediate, more ballads, but always tense guitars and sounds, even when advancing with the tachometer. The impact is not as direct as with the double "Here comes the miracle," but the impression is of deep concern: is already said in the initial ballad, "What comes after" soft, but not light, even cruel and merciless in his description of scenarios that do not forgotten.
Logical then that the disc is a continuous alternation between this apparent calm and noisy songs, distorted in their sonic. So clearly, this is a figure that Wynn has already done in his past, building dry ballads and acid rock'n'rolls: it’s also curious how this disc was recorded in Tucson, Arizona, and how the songs more tense are those set in California ("California style", "Hollywood").
The atmosphere, however, does not change, maybe chenged tones and volumes: a ballad with violin and cello as "Maybe Tomorrow" has the same effect of dark rusty and distorted guitars of "Candy Machine". This does not mean that there’s no hope, but an extreme awareness, the same one that allows Wynn to play with experience and drain his guitars to bring them to of REM's "Monster" area ("One Less Shining Star" ) or to use keyboards of Chris Cacavas and the harmonica of Craig Schumacher, now both in its permanent staff.
A song like "Amphetamine" would deserve new unnecessary definitions like "acid western blues", that are useless in front to so much so vehemence: an energy that could lead to short-circuit at any moment or to last until the inevitable moment when everything will return to feed the soil, as stated in "Fond Farewell", a ballad that closes the album to fade, as otherwise you could not.
In 2003 it’s released a live taken from a German concert in Heilbronn, THE OFFICIAL BOOTLEG SERIES - LIVE.
In 2004 came out the compilation RIDING SHOTGUN; is a compilation with a concept: 15 sonic adventures from Noir Rock storyteller Steve Wynn.
Are in fact "stories in music", tunes to listen and listen to understand the full meaning and feel even more the greatness of Steve Wynn. From AMPHETAMINE to DEATH VALLEY RAIN, from NOTHING BUT THE SHELL to JAMES RIVER INCIDENT, from MY MIDNIGHT to SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LINE, from HOLLYWOOD to THERE WILL COME A DAY. The disc is definitely based towards more recent years, and recordss with the Miracle 3, but it's also recommended to beginners who want to approach Steve Wynn music, though it’s difficult to find since it was released in limited edition.
Also in 2004 was released BLUE ROSE CHRISTMAS PARTY (2004); Blue Rose is the label that produces Steve records.
Meanwhile, Miracle 3 drummer Linda Pitmon has become Steve girlfriend.
2004 is an important year because some artists decided to make a tribute album to Steve, FROM A MAN OF MYSTERIES; 2 cd of Wynn songs sung by others such as Chris Eckman in Follow Me and Willard Grant Conspiracy in Silence Is Your Only Friend. Surely a right tribute and a reason of satisfaction for an artist that didn’t reach worldwide fame.
2005 is another great year for Steve: first comes out a greatest hits titled WHAT I DID AFTER MY BAND BROKE UP, which, as said the title, collects songs from his solo career after the break up of the Dream Syndicate. The first CD is a standard greatest hits, while the second disc, named VISITATION RIGHTS consists of other tracks recorded in only piano version with Chris Cacavas. Songs such as James River Incident, Drought, Anthem, Something To Remember Me By, Crawling Misanthropic Blues live again in these new crystalline versions.
Then comes the time for a new record with the Miracle 3, TICK TICK TICK, which already from cover tribute to THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO (with a red pepper on a black background to recall the banana conceived by Andy Warhol) suggests direction and sound that’s expected.
Also for this album I completely agree with the review you can find here
Already from the title, "... tick ... tick .... tick" is reminiscent of a disk ready to explode with loads of rock explosion, the ones that Steve Wynn has made us accustomed once again from when he’s backed by the Miracle 3.
In fact the sound is clearly linked to the previous "Static Transmission" and before to the masterpiece that was "Here Comes The Miracles" in a kind of progressive short-circuit in which the author conceives his songs and even the reality.
Even the new songs were recorded in Tucson, Arizona, with the help of Craig Schumacher. And they should go to complete the so-called "Tucson Trilogy", the trilogy that Wynn has grown in recent records developing in a sound and described body the widespread sense of "post-millennium panic. "
"... tick ... tick .... tick" makes even more explicit the harmony that Wynn has achieved with his songs and his band; the album is another approach to that dry and metal rock that Miracle 3 love to load with fury in live performances.
In listen one after another "Here Comes the Miracles, " "Static Transmission" and "... tick ... tick .... tick" you can guess why Steve Wynn has chosen the desert as environment in which to record: the rock is exposed to the dry heat of the place with the intention of draining from it each superfluous substance (emblematic is the cover with a hot pepper that could be the famous Velvet Underground banana taken in Arizona to dry it).
The goal is fully achieved and, although it lacks a "Sustain" or "Amphetamine", the records comes out in its entirety more alive as ever. The beginning was a palpable tension for at least five tracks: the riff of "Wired " has a second guitar hard and rough, "Cindy, It Was Always You" is crossed by an harmonica, "Freak star" by organ, and "Killing Me" has a drum beat to which guitars hang on with claws. Even the ballads, over all "The Deep End", are crossed by a far depth that emerges in strident and and disillusioned way.
"... tick ... tick .... tick" has a rhythm that touches the garage ("Bruises") and punk ("Wild Mercury") without fear, enjoying the maturity of an original rock that Wynn has improved piece by piece in his twenties and more years of career.
The instruments sourly cross each other and share the burned vision the lyrics, culminating in the final "No Tomorrow", which is divided into two parts as if it were an experiment that brings back the psychedelic impulses of the Dream Syndicate: even the final chorus "I want to love you like there's no tomorrow" sounds like a declaration of hope and bitterness, left by those who will not renounce their desire for life while being aware of being in a world that has triggered an inexorable countdown.
The record is followed by a big tour with the band in great shape (meanwhile for the tour Dave De Castro has been replaced by ERIC VAN LOO), as is documented by LIVE TICK (2006) 2CD + DVD taken from a concert held in Germany in November 2005 .
On January 1 2006 BRIAN HARVEY is killed along with his entire family from thieves who entered in his house.
Then fades in a tragic way, every possible reunion of Gutterball.
In 2006 occurs what the Dream Syndicate fans have always hoped: in some acoustic concert given in general as "Steve Wynn & Friends" comes voices about a reunion of the Dream Syndicate, only for a concert.
The voices come true when it’s announced on Steve website that at the concert at McCabe's in Santa Monica, on July 28, the friends will be DENNIS DUCK, MARK WALTON and PAUL B. CUTLER, so the last lineup of Dream syndicate before the break up, the one impressed on Live at Rajis.
The acoustic set is a further element of curiosity because memory can not remember acoustic concerts of the band.
The concert takes place almost without rehearsals but despite nearly 20 years of break, the band offers a good live show despite little obvious faults considering the only two rehearsal and the fact that’s an acoustic concert.
After a first solo set Steve is joined bi the other members of the band for a set of about 1 hour and 15 minutes, opened with MY OLD AUNTS and continued with many gems of the band (THE SIDE I'LL NEVER SHOW, BURN, TELL ME WHEN IT'S OVER, NOW I RIDE ALONE, BOSTON, MERRITTVILLE, STILL HOLDING ON TO YOU, WEATHERED AND TORN, SOMPLACE BETTER THAN THIS) to reach the final with THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES and JOHN COLTRANE STER BLUES that despite the acoustic concert is 10 minutes lenght.
What a great band! Listening to the recording of the concert you will find yourself immediately thrown back 20 years and immersed in that atmosphere that made the Dream Syndicate named as the Velvet Underground of the '80s.
Can pass a year without any Steve release? The answer is obviously negative and in fact the 2007 reserves for fans other surprises. But let's step back: the 2006 is the year of the reunion of one of the groups driving the paisley underground, the Green on Red, which although not publish new works embark on a tour which also touch Italy.
So, Dan Stuart is back on musical works; then in 2007, Steve and Dan decided to give to the prints a new chapter in DANNY & DUSTY history. CAST IRON SOUL is a stunning album, if you consider that comes after more than 20 years compared to The Lost Weekend. Steve and Dan both now live in New York, and also because a leg fracture forcing Wynn to stay quiet, they decide to try again.
The most important thing about this record is that it reflects a real desire to play together, producing good songs such as THE GOOD OLD DAYS, RAISE THE ROOF, CAST IRON SOUL and THE LAST OF THE ONLY ONES.
Follow the italian review that you can find here
Really an odd couple, Dan "Danny" Stuart from the born-again Green On Red and Steve "Dusty" Wynn, the former Dream Syndicate member, protagonist from the nineties of a valuable, also if underground, solo career. As Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon: one is gruff, irascibile and a bit crazy, the other is cool, controlled and diligent. Old friends and revelry friends from the heroic times of the Paisley Underground, short-lived but animated musical style that grew in California in the eighties and rediscovered the roots "garage" and American psychedelic rock, then in a collision course each other with a tail of controversy , insults and poisons. The passage of time and a sequence of random events (to end up living in the same city, a accident in the ankle that has stopped the restless wanderings of Wynn) have reconducted them to the starting point forgetting the old rifts. Suddenly, Californians in New York, the two were mindful of that "lost weekend" of twenty-two years ago when, with the complicity of other musicians around and get up in the elbow over the safety limit, they invented a creased but sincere record, ruffled but spontaneous, purely messy honky tonk and rock & roll style. Not the best of their careers, for sure, but symbolic for the approach, mood and attitude that would later inspired bands likes of Uncle Tupelo's of Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy, the Jayhawks, the Whiskeytown of Ryan Adams. Here again here, surrounded by some of the friends of the time (guitar player Stephen McCarthy, former member of Long Ryders, and keyboardist Chris Cacavas, which stands as Stuart as Roy Bittan stand to Bruce Springsteen) and a couple of new players (Johnny Hott and Bob Rupe, both already members of Gutterball). Surprise: maybe they are better than then. More wrinkled but also more savvy and sad than in 1985, although the old vices, come to think, never abandoned them. They open up celebrating "The good old days" between New Orleans style horns, shuffling voices, glasses clinking and voices of friends, and at the end of the record they place a worn honky tonk to remember what brought them to this point ("That's What Brought Me Here"): "I bought my first guitar in 1969 / I’ve seen Woodstock at the cinema the following year / I’ve played in some high school band / I wrote a song or two" and so remembering whiskey swallowed to overcome the fear of the stage, the big noise produced by the amplified music, life on the road in pursuit of ephemeral rainbows: a good autobiography by rocker condensed into a few simple verses.
And in between they remind us their hobbies, their heroes; Lou Reed and the Velvet ("Cast Iron Soul"), Dylan and Neil Young ("Last of the Only Ones", "Thanksgiving Day"), the "Nuggets” underground bands and actor Warren Oates loved by Sam Peckinpah to who they head an intense power ballad: as them, protagonist of stories of sex, violence, redemption and manly friendship; as them, valuable actor obscured by the stars that get all the fame. Even Danny & Dusty have always been a step back, but with an authenticity and an adherence to the role rare to find: Stuart sounds sincere and poignant also when he sing love words already heard ("Let's hide away" is heartbreaking), the New York nursery rhyme of Wynn ("New York City Lullaby”, with r&b horns and night-metro atmosphere) recalls how best can not be made a bohemian city that perhaps doesn’t exist after Sept. 11 and Giuliani & Bloomberg governments. They are still ugly, dirty and evil, the two, as the beloved heroes of westerns and hard-boiled novels (although Wynn has always had a pretty face and was always liked by women). 'Cruel by nature" (" It's my nature") and with an "iron soul”, they scrambled electric guitars like the old Seeds (" Hold your mud " is a derailing train at full speed) and the blues like the old Hot Tuna ("Raise the Roof", "JD Blues", a tribute to the producer Foster), they still love to make mess, but also to leave them to romance and noir novel. They never invented anything but they are a living testimony of a free spirit and wild rock & roll. And they deserve a toast to good health. Even two or three.
It’s also released a live named HERE'S TO YOU MAX MORLOCK... DANNY & DUSTY LIVE IN NUREMBURG, 2CD+DVD that testimony a German concert.
2007 is also the year of another side project of Wynn, the SMACK DAB, consisting of Steve, Linda and Spanish musician PACO LOCO. The trio record an album in Spain, at Puerto Santa Maria; the CD has a very limited distribution in Spain and probably only there you can find it (though it’s now available for mp3 download from Steve Wynn site). In any case, the sound is pretty pop with hints of guitar (anyway in this record Steve is playing bass); a music genre quite experimental and not well defined, even with regard to the lyrics. Some songs are listenable to the myspace page of the band.
In 2008 it’s released the LIVE IN BREMEN, a live album wonderful, fantastic, from an acoustic concert held in 2003 by Steve and Jason Victor.
After, it’s the time of CROSSING DRAGON BRIDGE, a quiet and half acoustic album, recorded in Slovenia with Cris Eckman from Walkabouts.
The sound is a little bit like FLUORESCENT sound, with more loaded songs like LOVE ME ANYWAY, GOD DOESN’T LIKE IT and I DON’T DESERVE THIS and more quiet tracks like SHE CAME and PUNCHING HOLES IN THE SKY.
The album, clearly influenced by the city of Ljubjana where it was conceived, it opens and closes with the song SLOVENIAN Rhapsody, and as already said it’s recorded by Steve Wynn and Chris Eckman with subsequent contributions of Linda, Chris Cacavas and an orchestra.
Steve and Linda fulfil their love with a wedding in Richmond, Virginia, on May 11, 2008, but they don’t rest with nothing to do.
And so it born another side project together with Scott McCoughey and Peter Buck of REM: THE BASEBALL PROJECT VOLUME ONE: FROZEN ROPES AND DYING QUAILS, a record with songs about baseball. Steve and Scott are both passionate about this sport and step by step came out the idea of this album. The sound certainly contains a lot of guitars and catchy tunes but, as they said, the lyrics were the more difficult part to complete, in considering the high number of names, dates, references to be put in ryme.
It seems that Linda had the task of listening to the songs written by Steve and Scott and give her opinion precisely to avoid that the songs become too 'encyclopedic'. The 13 songs talk about and are a tribute to players like TED WILLIAMS, CURT FLOOD, SATCHEL PAIGE, FERNANDO VALENZUELA, JACKIE ROBINSON, WILLIE MAYS, ED DELAHANTY, HARVEY HADDIX, SANDY KONFAX, MARC MCGWIRE, BLACK JACK MCDOWELL and others.
Steve and Scott were then reached by Linda and Peter Buck for the recording sessions.
The record suggests that there will be a second volume, also because, as they said, there are still many players and stories not told.
The record include a with pictures and explanations. They didn’t made a real tour, but only some concerts because of other projects of the members, like REM tour; also Steve will be touring to promote CROSSING DRAGON BRIDGE.
On June 25, 2008 Steve and the Miracle 3 make a concert at Maxwell's in Hoboken, where they perform the complete DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES, a performance certainly appreciated by all fans of Steve and Dream Syndicate; as encore it’s performed SEASON OF THE WITCH, a Donovan song that was played sometimes by Dream Syndicate, a sort of ' Sister Ray-like'.
2008 Tour is under the name of Steve Wynn & The Dragon Bridge Orchestra, a group where in addition to Steve and Linda and the 'usuals' Chris Cacavas and Eric Van Loo they’re Chris Eckman and violinist Rodrigo D'Erasmo fro, Italian band Afterhours. The concert of October 2 at Ancienne Belgique is documented by LIVE IN BRUSSELS, released in 2009 in 2CD + DVD format. The live include in addition to songs from the last album, historic songs such Boston, My Midnight, and Tears Will not Help and more recent tracks like Amphetamine. Only on the DVD there’s, as bonus track, a beautiful version of Medicine Show with violin solo instead of guitar solo.
In 2009 Steve sing several songs of Bob Dylan that were included in the limited edition disc STEVE SINGS BOB; there’s also a tour with The Baseball Project under the name “MINUS 5 / THE BASEBALL PROJECT / STEVE WYNN IV”, a live show with different sets different bands, but with the same band members. On the occasion of 25th anniversary of The Medicine Show, the album is fully performed in a few concerts in the U.S. with the Miracle3.
Steve starts to record new Baseball Project songs that are make available for download in 2010. The project is called BROADSIDE BALLADS, while the second volume of the official serie will be probably released in early 2011.
But 2010 saw two releases, a reissue of The Medicine Show that also includes the EP THIS IS NOT THE NEW DREAM SYNDICATE ALBUM, and a new record with the Miracle 3. NORTHERN AGGRESSION released in November, together with a tour which also reach Italy for some concerts. The first single from the record is RESOLUTION and there’s also a contest where fans are invited to create a videoclip for the song. After the end of Electric tour with Miracle 3, Steve has already planned an acoustic tour in early 2011.
Follow a translation of an italian review of Northern Aggression that you can find here
The title of the album refers to the way in which the American Civil War was called by the people of the states located below the Mason-Dixon line, which was originally drawn to resolve a territorial dispute between the British colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland, and later became a sort of symbolic boundary between Southerners and Northerners. The choice of the title alludes nicely to the fact that the album was recorded in Richmond, Virginia (one of the countries below the line). That's it: no particular concept, then. As stated by Wynn himself, "this is me and the Miracle 3 that we do what we do best," without premeditation or calculations, to paraphrase Ornette Coleman, this is our Northern Aggression." And, in fact, the sound of the album is energetic and abrasive, just as you would expect from Wynn. Beware, though: this does not mean that we are faced with an album mannered. The fact that the sounds that characterize this work are in line with what Wynn has done in thirty years of honorable service does not mean that the eleven tracks collected here sound like a tired repetition of his past. The Los Angeles songwriter, on the contrary, demonstrates to be in great shape, and the pieces he made still betrays a genuinely passionate and vibrant approach to composition. In this sense, we were talk before about "purity"; Wynn is one of those who proudly keep away from showbiz and commercial temptations. "Music" and "compromise" for the former Dream Syndicate, are words that do not agree. "Northern Aggression" is a record rich, multifaceted, a collection of real gems of abrasive songwriting, in which, as at the good times, energy rock, folk, new wave, and lysergic tracks go hand in hand, keeping a miraculous balance between them. Despite the overall approach is dry, direct, the band is not ashamed to throw acid in jam session: to believe, listen "Resolution", propelled by dry beat and enhanced by a burning chorus, tinged with feedback, the stones-like "Colored Lights" and "On The Mend" which relies on a powerful, funky riff. And then, there’re the ballads. "Consider The Source", soaked to the bone of lazy fatalism, is crossed by a slow sound of church organ, "disturbed" by the six strings of Wynn, as usual, engaged in an obsessive phrasing, distorted. "The Death Of Donny B. ', instead, owes its charm to a hypnotic pace and noir atmosphere, while "St. Millwood”, is the most intimate piece of the collection, a mid-time made even more evocative by the soft and delicate backing vocals of Linda Pitmon and by a pedal steel never mawkish. The soul most authentically rock and roll of the album manifests itself in songs like "We Do not Talk About", a powerful and nervous intersection of funk-rock and country-rock (where is particularly evident the influence of Bob Dylan and Lou Reed, two of the inspirations of the "Paisley Undeground"), "The Other Side" (which pays homage to another reference of the Dream Syndicate, Neil Young) and "Ribbons And Chains" (which is somewhere between Reed and Jagger / Richards). "No One Ever Drowns," instead, with its keyboard "orchestra", his obsessive look and the pumped bass, is the more new wave track of the record. Despite almost thirty years have passed since "The Days Of Wine And Roses" and "Medicine Show" with "Northern Aggression" Steve Wynn is proving to be perfectly still in fine shape. Rocky and faceted at the same time, this album is an another valuable piece of a precious discography, further confirmation of the talent of one of the best (and perhaps a little overlooked) songwriters of his generation.
As we said, after the acoustic tour at the begin of 2011 with 4 dates in Italy, there is the come back of Baseball project with the volume 2 HIGH AND INSIDE; also the outtakes collection BROADSIDE BALLADS previously released for download on the web, it's released on cd in limited edition. The baseball project starts a tour in the USA, mainly connected to baseball events (spring training, matches). The tour continue touching also Europe and Italy. In autumn 2011 there's a new acoustic tour that touch also Italy for 6 concerts.
2012 pass without new releases, but with many concerts in different versions (Miracle 3/Baseball Project/solo...). In particular, it is worth mentioning an Australian trip for taking part at Dig It Up festival organized by Hoodoo Gurus.
But 2012 it's also the thirtieth anniversary of di DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES... And what a celebration! For this occasion there is a reunion of Dream Syndicate withn Steve, Mark walton, Dennis Duck (without Paul B. Cutler replaced by Jason Victor) for a spanish tour in september. You can read how this reunion was born in the Steve Diaries, that leave also an open door regarding other concerts of the band in the future... In autumn there's a Belgian tour with actor Piv Huvluv, that is suspended for familiar troubles.
2013 begin with a new release: UP THERE: HOME RECORDINGS 2000 TO 2008, a collection of demos e and outtakes from the last decade recorded at Steve's home studio. In february/march Steve starts a new acoustic tour with Chris Cacavas, then in may there is an european tour with Dream Syndicate and some other concerts in summer, autumn and winter (dream syndicate, baseball project, miracle 3, solo concerts...)... In december 2013 there is a "Paisley Underground Night" in Los Angeles and San Francisco with Dream Syndicate, Bangles, Three O'Clock and Rain Parade on the bill...
At the begin of 2014 it's announced a Dream Syndicate tour to commemorate 30th anniversary of the release of Medicine show; this tour take place in May in 10 european cities, with the band in great shape. In 2014 it's also released SKETCHES IN SPAIN, a CD that include MOMENTO with Australian Blond, and the SMACK DAB record. Both CDs were very rare and difficult to find.
In 2015 Steve starts a new format, the Solo Electric tour; only him with his electric guitar. This formula allow to stand out the sound of Steve's songs better than the solo acoustic formula used in the past. The tour touch various italian cities and together with the shows there is the release of a CD including some SOLO ELECTRIC version of already released songs. 2015 brings also the release of BENEDIKT'S BLUES, a soundtrack of the norwegian serial TV DAG. This records include new songs and some alternative versions of already released songs. There is also a reissue of THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES with some unreleased demo as bonus tracks.
In 2016 there are not new releases, but there is also another leg of Solo Electric, mainly in Italy, with 12 shows in our country. Meanwhile Steve is recording the new Dream Syndicate record, that will see the light in 2017.
On september 8, 2017, the long awaited HOW DID I FIND MYSELF HERE it's released and the Dream Syndicate are ready to tour Europe and US.
Steve is always in full movement, we'll see what will come next ...
