Steve Wynn’s first solo album since 2010, ‘Make It Right’, is out now on Fire Records and coincides with his new memoir ‘I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True’ (Jawbone Press). Wynn will also be touring this Autumn which promises to be a one-man show blending songs from and inspired by the book along with a narrative structure of readings and storytelling. Fans can expect a selection of evergreens and rarities from The Dream Syndicate’s catalogue along with reflective numbers from the new album as well, all adding up to a show of a past revisited.
‘Make It Right’ features contributions from Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Vicki Peterson (The Bangles), Chris Schlarb (Psychic Temple), Emil Nikolaisen (Serena Maneesh), Linda Pitmon (The Baseball project) and a cast of dozens.
‘I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True’ is the vivid and revealing memoir from leader and founder of one of the most revered indie-rock bands of the 1980s, The Dream Syndicate. It’s a tale of writing songs and playing in bands as a conduit to a world its author could once have barely imagined—a world of major labels, luxury tour buses, and sold-out theatres, but also one of alcohol, drugs, and a low-level rock’n’roll Babylon. Ultimately, it’s a tale of redemption, with music as a vehicle for artistic and personal transformation and transcendence.
‘Make It Right’ is out now. Available in Exclusive Bundle: LP + Limited edition silver foil leather bookmark + Steve Wynn memoir book, Limited Edition Clear LP & CD.
I wrote and recorded these songs in tandem with working on “I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True,” my memoir which comes out on Jawbone Press the same week as “Make It Right,” my first solo album since 2010. With each chapter, I would get ideas for songs inspired by the deep dive into my past and vice versa. The reflections became intertwined after a while, a mutual commentary between literal and metaphorical ruminating.
The songs here aren’t directly autobiographical although the album does start with “Santa Monica,” the city and boulevard where I was born and concludes with “Roosevelt Avenue,” the main thoroughfare of the Queens neighbourhood in New York City that I call home today. You write what you know—even when you’re not aware it’s what you’re writing about at the time.
If the book recounted a tale of trepidation and dread and questionable choices, then that tale would turn into a song of similar intent like “What Were You Expecting.” A step back for perspective and positivity, in turn, found its way into a song like “You’re Halfway There.”
The cataclysmic “one big open drain” of “Simpler Than the Rain” was resolved by the resolute “I’m just trying to make it right” on the title track. A gauzy and melancholy where-did-it-go-wrong Southern California flashback on the Long Beach inspired “Cherry Avenue” would steer me towards a steelier determination and reset on “Making Good on My Promises.”
It was a dialogue between the memoirist and the musician, a one-man Q&A, a gentle volley in the tennis court of my mind. 40-love, game, set and match.
As I’ve found the melodies and words to stir and simmer with the stories I told in the book, I’ve simultaneously brought friends and collaborators from my recent and distant past to help flesh them out on the record. The likes of Vicki Peterson, Mike Mills, Stephen McCarthy, Scott McCaughey, Jason Victor, Dennis Duck and Mark Walton and my wife Linda Pitmon are all in the book and—look! —there they are on the record as well!
And much like life itself, new faces and hit-and-run collaborators would pass my radar during the sessions and provide new light as well. Chris Schlarb from California dream pop ensemble Psychic Temple added his cinematic touch, Emil Nikolaisen of Norway psych-grunge combo Serena Maneesh chimed in with his trademark sonic anarchy and then Eric “Roscoe” Ambel (Del Lords, Joan Jett) used his studio savvy producer chops to tie it all together at the end.
It feels perfect and very appropriate that the book and record will both be coming out in the same final week of August 2024. Not that one is needed to understand the other. Hey, you can just put on “Make It Right” and use it as the catalyst to create your own life story, dig into your own past. It belongs to you now. Let it tell your own tale while I tell mine. We’re all just trying to make it right.
– Steve Wynn
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