We are celebrating The Dream Syndicate’s unique and singular output with a 25% sale across their catalogue. Head over to our website or Bandcamp to explore this already discounted collection and take home a treasure trove of groundbreaking music.
The Dream Syndicate’s debut album, ‘The Days of Wine and Roses’, has long been considered the cornerstone album of the Los Angeles’ Paisley Underground scene of the early 80s from which it emerged. However, it was more influential than that—it’s often considered one of the cornerstone albums of 1980s indie rock, along with REM’s Murmur and the Minutemen’s Double Nickels on the Dime.
In a way, it is the missing link between the 60s-influenced REM and the post-punk Minutemen. Later period bands such as the Pixies and Nirvana were formed out of the sonic ashes that the original Syndicate line-up left behind. As Bill See of Divine Weeks said in 2015:
“Remember when Nirvana hit it big, and people thought they invented that whole loud-soft-loud dynamic, from verse to chorus to verse? And no, it wasn’t the Pixies either. Almost a decade earlier, ‘That’s What You Always Say,’ ‘Halloween,’ and ‘Until Lately’ provided the template, and the breadcrumbs were left on the highway. After Days came out, it seemed like every underground rock band utilized that same formula, right down to the searing feedback. And what about that feedback? Karl Precoda was like freaking Zubin Mehta, except instead of a baton, he stood there with that barely controllable Sears Silvertone guitar playing maestro over those dramatic, downshifting verses with feedback-laden sheets of sound before orchestrating a surging return to an oceanic chorus. Those were such indie rock staples throughout the 80s that only later were turned into big sales and a mass audience [by other bands later like Nirvana]. I don’t know if Steve Wynn [and the other band members] ever thinks or cares about getting some long overdue credit where credit is due.”
The original line up of Steve Wynn/Karl Precoda/Kendra Smith/Dennis Duck took seminal 60s rock—most obviously, the Velvet Underground, the Buffalo Springfield, and the Rolling Stones—and filtered it through the more modern sounds of the Fall, and the LA punk scene’s Flesh Eaters, Gun Club, et al. In fact, it was Flesh-Eating front man Chris D. who produced The Days of Wine and Roses and got it released on Slash Records, one of the premier labels of the punk era.
Next to REM, the Dream Syndicate was (for many) the single most important band to come out of that early to mid 80s college radio/indie rock movement. This was intelligent yet raw music that appealed to your head and heart.
STEVE WYNN 2025
11 Feb: Paard, The Hague, Netherlands
12 Feb: Eureka, Zwolle, Netherlands
13 Feb: Flour, Amersfoort, Netherlands
14 Feb: Zwolle, Almelo, Netherlands
16 Feb: Botanique, Brussels, Belgium
17 Feb: Cactus, Bruges, Belgium
18 Feb: Djingel Djangel, Antwerp, Belgium
19 Feb: Proust Wörter & Schönes, Oberhausen, Germany
28 Feb: Club Sax, Zagreb, Croatia
01 Mar: Svilara, Novi Sad, Serbia
02 Mar: Dorcol Platz, Belgrade, Serbia
25 Mar: Moth Club, London, UK
26 Mar: St Lawrence’s Church, Biddulph, UK
27 Mar: The Chapel, Nottingham, UK
28 Mar: Literature Festival, Laugharne, UK, w/ Stewart Lee
29 Mar: Swiss Cottage, Twyford, UK
30 Mar: Cluny, Newcastle, UK
22 Apr: Melodybox, Stockholm, Sweden
26 Apr: Plan B, Malmo, Sweden
27 Apr: Rahuest, Copenhagen, Denmark
28 Apr: Train, Aarhus, Denmark
29 Apr: Dexter, Odense, Denmark
02 May: CQAF, Belfast, UK
03 May: Kilkenny Roots Festival, Kilkenny, Ireland
04 May: Kilkenny Roots Festival, Kilkenny, Ireland
