"One
of rock's true heroes of the underground." - Philadelphia
Steve
Wynn Biography/englischStevWeekly
"The ex-Dream
Syndicate frontman's a veritable Ph.D. of timeless rock songcraft"
- Chicago Tribune
"A force
to be reckoned with and cherished." - London Sunday Times
"No contemporaries
make classic rock records like Wynn" - AllMusicGuide.com
"A first-class
songwriter in the simple-yet-profound tradition of Lou Reed, Neil
Young and post-Beatles John Lennon, [with] an ear for balancing
his pop sensibility with artful dissonance." - PopMatters.com
In 25 years,
Wynn has released at least that many albums and has seen over 300
of his songs recorded. He has played over 2000 shows in more than
25 countries. His songs have been recorded and/or performed by REM,
Luna, Concrete Blonde, The Black Crowes, Yo La Tengo and Eleventh
Dream Day, among others; his "That's Why I Wear Black"
became the #1 single of 1993 in Norway as the leadoff track from
the debut album by Somebody's Darling. He has been prominently featured
in Rolling Stone, Mojo, Uncut, Entertainment Weekly, People, The
Los Angeles Times, New York Times and countless other publications
all over the world.
Or maybe you
know Wynn from his groundbreaking work with The Dream Syndicate,
a band that--along with REM and the Replacements--practically invented
the American indie rock scene of the 1980s. Perhaps you know Wynn
from his critically acclaimed solo albums of the 1990s which were
fixtures on many Modern Rock radio stations across the country.
Or it could be from his highly touted side-project Gutterball which
by its fifth gig found itself signed to Mute/Elektra and on a national
tour with The Black Crowes. Or maybe from his recent "Desert
Trilogy" and the near-legendary shows with his current backing
band The Miracle 3. Or maybe you tuned in for the first time when
he played on the Late Show With David Letterman as part of The Baseball
Project earlier this year.
"What he
took from punk had more to do with attitude, noisy energy, abyss-skirting
emotions and musical riskiness--qualities, of course, present in
the best rock and roll of any scene, era or sub-genre" - Trouser
Press Music Guide
Steve Wynn was
born in Santa Monica, California in 1960 and got his first guitar
(a nylon-string acoustic) when he was nine, shortly after which
he wrote his first song "Sing My Blues". He formed his
first band "The Light Bulbs" that same year and the band
made the circuit of parties and school functions; the band's oldest
member was ten years old. By the time he was 13, Wynn had played
in bands with such colorful names as Purple Passion and Sudden Death
Overtime, alternating between his own early originals and songs
by Neil Young, The Rolling Stones and The Who.
In the years
that followed, Wynn found himself sidetracked by a strong desire
to become a sportswriter. Abandoning his electric guitar for a notepad,
pen and typewriter Wynn found himself on the other side of the interview,
speaking to football, basketball and baseball players and dreaming
of one day seeing his name on the masthead of Sports Illustrated.
During his high
school years, Wynn entertained notions of becoming a sportswriter
but the excitement and immediacy of the punk rock explosion of 1977
brought him back into the world of songwriting and performing. He
found himself writing and playing guitar for UC Davis (near Sacramento)
New Wave pioneers "Suspects", a band for whom Wynn wrote
over 100 songs, none of which he has performed since. A move back
to Los Angeles with Suspects lead singer Kendra Smith was the first
step towards the formation of The Dream Syndicate, the band with
whom Wynn would gain national and eventually international acclaim.
The Dream Syndicate
played together for the first time in December 1981 and within three
weeks had recorded its self-titled first EP. The record was released
in April 1982 and followed six months later by the band's debut
album "The Days of Wine and Roses", an album which fans
and critics alike still consider one of the best and most important
rock albums of all time. Those early years are represented here
by "When You Smile" and "That's What You Always Say,"
songs which have been covered, respectively, by Concrete Blonde
and Luna. The band was almost immediately signed by A&M Records
for whom it recorded the landmark "Medicine Show" (the
title song opens this compilation), a record that was recently named
one of the 40 best rock albums of all time by the London Guardian
and whose songs have been covered by REM and The Black Crowes among
many others.
Several years
of worldwide touring (including several trips to Europe and Japan
and Australia) followed before the band broke up at the end of 1988.
Wynn has said "As proud as I was of The Dream Syndicate, our
music and our accomplishments I felt we had reached our peak and
everything that followed would have been a disappointment. I wanted
to be a band that broke up while we were still doing our best work."
In 1990 Wynn
came back with his first solo offering "Kerosene Man,"
an album of incredible diversity that showed Wynn's enormous growth
as a songwriter and record-maker. The songs "Carolyn"
and "Tears Won't Help" were among the most-played songs
that year on Modern Rock radio stations and his video for "Carolyn"
was in regular rotation on MTV for six weeks. The follow-up "Dazzling
Display" was Wynn's most elaborate production to date, a dizzying
synthesis of the best rock music of the previous 30 years featuring
the talents of, among others, REM's Peter Buck, Concrete Blonde's
Johnette Napolitano and members of The Bangles, The Turtles and
the touring bands of Lou Reed and Tracy Chapman.
A four-day writing
vacation in Richmond, Virginia with the House of Freaks' Bryan Harvey
turned into the side-project supergroup Gutterball who released
two albums, garnered overwhelming press response and built a frenetic
cult following; the Black Crowes took the band out as its opening
act even before the first Gutterball record was released. Not one
to stand still, Wynn followed the success of Gutterball with the
more introspective "Fluorescent", an album whose single
"Carelessly" picked up heavy radio play throughout the
US and Europe.
In 1994, Wynn
moved to New York City. He harnessed the excitement and energy of
his new home in his record "Melting in the Dark". The
two albums that followed,"Sweetness and Light" and "My
Midnight", found Wynn settling into the sound that would define
the next phase of his solo career.
In 2001, Steve
went to Tucson and recorded the double album "Here Come the
Miracles" which was released to overwhelming critical acclaim.
The album was seen as a stunning comeback and appeared on many year-end
critics' surveys along with winning Best Alternative Rock Album
by the American Federation of Independent Music. The album was followed
by "Static Transmission" and "...tick...tick...tick",
both also recorded in Tucson with his new backing unit "The
Miracle 3" and which were viewed as part of a "Desert
Trilogy" that is seen by many as the best work of his career.
But Wynn has
never been one to settle into an easy or predictable groove. Since
the last of the desert trilogy he has recorded "Cast Iron Soul",
a new Danny & Dusty album with Green On Red's Dan Stuart, joined
forces with his wife and drummer Linda Pitmon and legendary Spanish
producer Paco Loco to concoct the twisted pop side project "Smack
Dab", and collaborated with the Walkabouts' Chris Eckman in
Slovenia on the lush and lavish "Crossing Dragon Bridge",
a record that made up a tandem of new releases in 2008 with "The
Baseball Project", a baseball song cycle collaboration with
Pitmon and also Scott McCaughey and Peter Buck of REM and the Minus
5.
In the midst
of such a prolific recording career, Wynn has still found time to
average over 100 shows a year all over the world. He has found himself
as welcome in Rome, Oslo, Athens, Brussels, London and Madrid as
he has in Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Chicago and
Boston. And for the devoted fans he has made in these and many other
cities, his extensive discography of music reflects the consensus
among fans: that Steve Wynn is one of the most adventurous, accomplished
and exciting songwriters of the last few decades. If all of this
is still news to you, just put on this cd and get ready to join
the legions of people who have enjoyed Wynn's dazzling display of
songs over the last 25 years.
"Perhaps
it's Wynn's irrepressibly human voice or maybe the clever phrases
that stick in your head and refuse to leave...regardless of the
manner, there's simply no denying that these songs work" -
Album Network
Steve Wynn
Kerosene Man 1990
Dazzling Display 1992
Fluorescent 1994
Melting in the Dark 1996
Sweetness and Light 1998
My Midnight 1999
Here Come the Miracles 2001
Static Transmission (with the Miracle 3) 2003
...Tick...Tick...Tick (with the Miracle 3) 2005
Crossing Dragon Bridge 2008
With The Dream Syndicate
The Dream Syndicate (EP) 1982
The Days of Wine and Roses 1982
Medicine Show 1984
Out of the Grey 1986
Ghost Stories 1988
Live at Raji's 1989
With Gutterball
Gutterball 1993
Weasel 1995
Turnyor Hedinkov 1996
With Danny & Dusty
The Lost Weekend 1985
Cast Iron Soul 2007
Here's to you, Max Morlock...
Danny & Dusty in Nuremburg 2007
Various
Take Your Flunky and Dangle 1994
The Suitcase Sessions 1996
Pick of the Litter 1999
Momento (with Australian Blonde) 2000
The eMusic Singles Collection 2001
Smack Dab 2007
Live in Bremen 2008
The Baseball Project 2008
Tour
Dates 2011
Tourneen
und Künstlervermittlung
/ Tours & Artist booking