DREAM SYNDICATE / STEVE WYNN
WHEN YOU SMILE: As founder and front man of the DREAM SYNDICATE, he turned out some of the most ambitious music during rock and roll's last collective gasp of consequence. Blitz Magazine - The Rock And Roll Magazine For Thinking People Editor / Publisher Michael McDowell caught up with STEVE WYNN during his acoustic live set at Bowlero in Royal, Oak, Michigan in October. Photo by Jim Johnson. C&P 2024 Blitz Magazine - The Rock And Roll Magazine For Thinking People. All rights reserved. (Click on above image to enlarge).
SKETCHES:
STEVE WYNN'S TAKES OF
THE DREAM SYNDICATE
By Michael McDowell
If the indie movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s was rock and roll's last collective gasp of consequence, then Southern California's so-called Paisley Underground was among its most enduring components.
In terms of geography, Southern California in the early 1980s boasted the most productive and diverse independent musical movement to be found anywhere. Bands such as the Blasters, the Minutemen, the Go-Gos, Black Flag, the Balancing Act, the Heaters, the Bus Boys, the Plimsouls and the Germs each drew from personal inspiration and consistently produced engaging and inspirational original music. Blitz Magazine - The Rock And Roll Magazine For Thinking People was there in the thick of it, and covered these and other such bands in great detail.
But the one subtangent of that movement that consistently drew above average attention was the aforementioned Paisley Underground. Inspired primarily by the giants of first generation garage rock that preceded them, the various protagonists of that movement found their own audiences growing exponentially in short order. They included the Long Ryders, the Rain Parade, the Unclaimed, Wednesday Week, the Three O'Clock and the Last, to name but a few.
Among the front runners in that respect was a most ambitious Los Angeles quartet called the Dream Syndicate. Comprised of Steve Wynn (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Karl Precoda (lead guitar), Kendra Smith (bass) and Dennis Duck (drums), the band came together in the wake of the dissolution of the Suspects. Smith and Wynn had worked together in the Suspects, who were best known for their 1979 Talking Loud single.
With the formation of the Dream Syndicate also came a change in mission statement. Inspired by the work of the Velvet Underground and the Box Tops' Alex Chilton's subsequent adventures with Big Star, Wynn soon amassed a most impressive body of original material. The band's 1982 four track debut, The Dream Syndicate for the Down There label featured some of the best of that material, including Sure Thing, Some Kinda Itch, When You Smile and That's What You Always Say. It was immediately well received, with the band drawing increasingly sizeable audiences during their live appearances in the process.
That ambitious debut prompted the Slash label to come calling. The resultant The Days Of Wine And Roses album became an instant classic and earned the band a cover story in Blitz Magazine - The Rock And Roll Magazine For Thinking People.
But that success came at a price. With it, the camaraderie of that scene within a scene began to disappear in relatively short order.
"A year", said Wynn.
"It fell apart when we all started going on tour".
Nonetheless, Wynn and the Dream Syndicate persevered. The band underwent personnel changes before embarking upon a sabbatical in 1988. Undaunted, Wynn eventually took even more decisive steps to reinvent his mission statement.
"I moved to New York thirty years ago", he said.
In the process, Wynn began to amass a most impressive body of work, both as a solo artist and with a revamped Dream Syndicate. And in 2024, he released his autobiography, I Wouldn't Say It If It Wasn't True (Jawbone Press), in tandem with his all new solo album, Make It Right for Fire Records.
It was those two projects that primarily inspired Wynn to embark upon his current tour. Therein, he combines acoustic renditions of his best loved Dream Syndicate classics and his solo work, along with the occasional cover and captivating tales from his book.
And while such tracks as the relentlessly upbeat Santa Monica from Make It Right underscore his ongoing command of the proverbial turn of phrase, the various tales from the book shared as between numbers patter prove Wynn to be a master story teller of the highest order.
"It's been quite a ride", said Wynn.
The ride continues through May 2025, with key stops across the United States, the Netherlands, the UK, Serbia, Sweden, Croatia, Denmark, Belgium and Ireland.
posted by BlitzMagazine at 3:06 PM
