On entering the venue I saw the usual grey/bald heads of the 50 something, mainly male clientele. I guess that’s not unusual for a Tuesday night crowd for a couple of bands that initially flourished in the mid 80’s as part of the “paisley” underground of American bands influenced by the psychedelic 60’s scene, but then I wonder why, in today’s landscape of spotify and internet surfing, the audience isn’t more mixed in age and sex. I mean it’s not as if this music isn’t out there. For example I first discovered Aqualung by Jethro Tull at the age of 15 on New Years Eve in 1978, when it was played to me at a party. By then it had been around for 7 years. The same can be said for any number of musically related gems I have discovered over the years. I mean I’d never heard a note played by either of tonight’s bands until researching for this review. Obviously I was aware of the paisley underground at the time and could name most of the bands but I just never got exposed to them at the time, and couldn’t take the risk and expense of actually buying any of their albums. With streaming I could have purposefully sought them out, or heard them accidentally while listening to the latest by Primal Scream or some such. That said, apart from their hardcore fans, the news hadn’t filtered through to the rest of us that they have been back some time and have released new material too, and most of it is pretty fine.
Rain Parade are here represented by Matt Piucci backed up by a Cajon box and shaker player, presenting mostly acoustic renditions, unfortunately without his other band member Steven Roback, who had to drop out due to illness. Despite that we were treated to a fine acoustic set that was at times reminiscent of Jorma Kaukonen and J. Mascis, performing an assortment of songs from their first two albums from the mid 80’s, but also hinting at new material to come soon. He plays both acoustic and electric with aplomb, but seems to come to life when he straps on his old Gretsch and treats us to the psychedelic jangle of “What She’s Done To Your Mind”, leaving us with a pretty decent rendition of drone classic “No Easy Way Down”.
The Dream Syndicate are an odd but very well put together collection of influences, mostly from the American songbook, not just the obvious psyche, but leaning into the country territory of The Band, taking in Tex Mex and a variety of influences in between, but they exude a West Coast sensibility unsurprisingly, hailing as they do from California. Tonight they are joined on lead guitar by none other than Vicki Peterson, of other Paisley cohorts The Bangles, who shimmers and blisters in all the right places, taking lead vocals on their cover of her band’s “Hero Takes A Fall”. Tonight we are presented with songs old and new in a long setlist which included early classics “Tell Me When It’s Over”, “The Medicine Show”, and “Days Of Wine And Roses”, right up to songs from their latest album “Ultraviolet Battle Hymns and True Confessions”. On record they tend to be more droney and experimental but live they are tight, veering towards a Jonathon Richman style assault, and the songs they choose are mostly the 3 minute verse-chorus-verse variety, but they spin through the songs at a rollicking pace. It’s like the soundtrack to a cross country road movie of middle America, hosted by Steve Wynn, a kind of cross between Mark E. Smith and a slick Las Vegas 70’s crooner. He even name checks the erstwhile Fall singer, confessing an obvious influence on some of his songs. He even takes it one further by adding in a verse from “Fiery Jack” into the extended jam on “The Days Of Wine And Roses”. For their last two numbers they are joined onstage by Matt Piucci and run through the Crazy Horse inspired “Too Little, Too Late”, and a cover of Television’s “Glory”
It’s good to hear that a band that has been going this long, and have obviously along the way had many ups and downs, have lost none of their enthusiasm for music, and it shows on their faces, and the way they catch each other’s eyes as if they are saying I don’t know how we’re still here, but I’m so glad we are.
Andrew Wood
On entering the venue I saw the usual grey/bald heads of the 50 something, mainly male clientele. I guess that’s not unusual for a Tuesday night crowd for a couple of bands that initially flourished in the mid 80’s as part of the “paisley” underground of American bands influenced by the psychedelic 60’s scene, but then I wonder why, in today’s landscape of spotify and internet surfing, the audience isn’t more mixed in age and sex. I mean it’s not as if this music isn’t out there. For example I first discovered “Aqualung” by Jethro Tull at the age of 15 on New Years Eve in 1978, when it was played to me at a party. By then it had been around for 7 years. The same can be said for any number of musically related gems I have discovered over the years. I mean I’d never heard a note played by either of tonight’s bands until researching for this review. Obviously I was aware of the paisley underground at the time and could name most of the bands but I just never got exposed to them at the time, and couldn’t take the risk and expense of actually buying any of their albums. With streaming I could have purposefully sought them out, or heard them accidentally while listening to the latest by Primal Scream or some such. That said, apart from their hardcore fans, the news hadn’t filtered through to the rest of us that they have been back some time and have released new material too, and most of it is pretty fine.
Rain Parade are here represented by Matt Piucci backed up by a Cajon box and shaker player, presenting mostly acoustic renditions, unfortunately without his other band member Steven Roback, who had to drop out due to illness. Despite that we were treated to a fine acoustic set that was at times reminiscent of Jorma Kaukonen and J. Mascis, performing an assortment of songs from their first two albums from the mid 80’s, but also hinting at new material to come soon. He plays both acoustic and electric with aplomb, but seems to come to life when he straps on his old Gretsch and treats us to the psychedelic jangle of “What She’s Done To Your Mind”, leaving us with a pretty decent rendition of drone classic “No Easy Way Down”.
The Dream Syndicate are an odd but very well put together collection of influences, mostly from the American songbook, not just the obvious psyche, but leaning into the country territory of The Band, taking in Tex Mex and a variety of influences in between, but they exude a West Coast sensibility unsurprisingly, hailing as they do from California. Tonight they are joined on lead guitar by none other than Vicki Peterson, of other Paisley cohorts The Bangles, who shimmers and blisters in all the right places, taking lead vocals on their cover of her band’s “Hero Takes A Fall”. Tonight we are presented with songs old and new in a long setlist which included early classics “Tell Me When It’s Over”, “The Medicine Show”, and “Days Of Wine And Roses”, right up to songs from their latest album “Ultraviolet Battle Hymns and True Confessions”. On record they tend to be more droney and experimental but live they are tight, veering towards a Jonathon Richman style assault, and the songs they choose are mostly the 3 minute verse-chorus-verse variety, but they spin through the songs at a rollicking pace. It’s like the soundtrack to a cross country road movie of middle America, hosted by Steve Wynn, a kind of cross between Mark E. Smith and a slick Las Vegas 70’s crooner. He name checks the erstwhile Fall singer, confessing an obvious influence on some of his songs. He even takes it one further by adding in a verse from “Fiery Jack” into the extended jam on “The Days Of Wine And Roses”. For their last two numbers they are joined onstage by Matt Piucci and run through the Crazy Horse inspired “Too Little, Too Late”, and a cover of Television‘s “Glory”
It’s good to hear that a band that has been going this long, and have obviously along the way had many ups and downs, have lost none of their enthusiasm for music, and it shows on their faces, and the way they catch each other’s eyes as if they are saying I don’t know how we’re still here, but I’m so glad we are.
Andrew Wood
Photographs by Ali Blair
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