Tag: Gavin Hayes

Dredg at Great American Music Hall, 5/19/09

This photo from a different show pictures the agressive cellist. Thanks to http://www.flickr.com/photos/drop_dead_ed/ for the photo.
This photo from a different show pictures the agressive cellist. Thanks to http://www.flickr.com/photos/drop_dead_ed/ for the photo.

Dredg was nice enough to schedule two hometown shows on their tour with Torche and Judgement Day.  Because of this, neither one sold out and I was able to go to the show at the Great American Music Hall.  Hometown shows are usually great because the band will play longer and bring a lot more energy into it.  So how did this one stack up? Continue reading “Dredg at Great American Music Hall, 5/19/09”

The Leaky Faucet: Dredg – The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion

I hope Dredg aren't trying to say that they "mailed it in."
I hope Dredg aren't trying to say that they "mailed it in."

Retail Release Date:  June 9, 2009

Leaky Faucet Acquisition Date:  May 6, 2009

Dredg really never had a shot on the major labels.  They’re a prog rock band, first and foremost.  This is, of course, why I like them.  For their last album, Catch Without Arms, they teamed up with a big name producer (Terry Date) and had songwriting help from Queensyche’s Chris Degarmo.  That’s a high powered team, and the album that came out of it had a lot of polish and shine, but also lacked some of the musical innovation found on the band’s older releases.  In a lot of ways, it made their earlier albums sound like demos.

So now Dredg is off of the major label, yet they’ve maintained the polished sound, but–and this is exciting–they’ve also thrown caution to the wind in a lot of ways.  No longer worried about trying to sound like the band the majors want them to sound like, they go back to the more experimental sounds of their earlier albums, Lietmotif and El Cielo.  And it’s almost a complete success. Continue reading “The Leaky Faucet: Dredg — The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion”