Dead Meadow
The Meadow has now been Dead for a decade. When the remnants of Washington DC bands The Impossible Five and Colour conjoined to become Dead Meadow, the year was 1998, the people were Jason Simon (vocals and guitar), Steve Kille (bass) and Mark Laughlin (Drums), and the plan was to play hard psychedelic rock that wasn’t stingy on the Tolkein references.
In 2000, they released their first attempt at perfecting that formula, a self titled, six song debut record which found a home on Tolotta Records, run by Joe Lally, bass player for fellow DC luminaries Fugazi. They recorded it in their practice space for a couple of hundred dollars, but it sounded like a million bucks.
A mere year after that first step in to the limelight, 2001’s comparatively mammoth Howls From The Hills record came to be, in a barn in Liberty, Indiana, a space owned by the Grandfather of long time friend and collaborator Stephen McCarty, who would replace original drummer Mark Laughlin after he reluctantly chucked it all in to become a lawyer. And though arse-splitting speed hadn’t ever been the band’s calling card (slow and sludgy wins the race here), the Dead Meadow machine didn’t slow down a jot upon his departure – a 2002 live album Got Live If You Want It (produced by the Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe, and released on his Committee To Keep Music Evil label) was the first Dead Meadow record to feature new drumsman Stephen McCarty, a musician who’d go on to sit behind the kit for the first ever John Peel session not to be recorded in the BBC studios (the band did theirs from Fugazi’s studio in DC).
Early in 2003, the band joined forces with Matador records, offering Shivering King & Others as the first LP for the label, a record which saw them delve further into psychedelia than ever before, whilst maintaining a love for heavy blues and hard rock, all from a basement studio of the DC Pirate House in the space of five months. Matador would also reissue the band’s first two records in lovely Digipack sleeves.
2005’s Feathers saw another change to the line up, but this time round it was to be an addition rather than a departure, with Cory Shane added as a second guitarist. The record also saw the band indulge in their experimental tendencies, love of lavish production and, more so than ever, beautiful melodies. It even contained something the band referred to as ‘environmental jams’. Man.
Corey Shane’s tenure with the band didn’t last long however, as for the recording of Old Growth Dead Meadow reverted to a three piece, relocated from Washington DC to Los Angeles and finally birthed a record that matches the sheer sonic force of their live shows – all in the same studio in which Led Zeppelin IV came to be. Something tells me they enjoyed that.
DEADMEADOW.COM: Swirling, whirling, twirling… it must be Dead Meadow’s official site.
MYSPACE.COM/DEADMEADOW: Five tracks, spanning the group’s career, available for those wot like to stream.
DEAD MEADOW @ MATADOR: Like the official site – but crucially a lot easier to read – Matador’s page on their flagship stoner rockers has tour dates, pics, news, that sorta thing.
DEAD MEADOW @ EPITONIC: “OK, so what if Dead Meadow only has one song? How many did Black Sabbath have?”, ask Epitonic before offering you some free downloads.
HOWLS FROM THE HILLS: Buried underneath all the clamour, Dead Meadow’s second LP contained some songs. F**king good ones, too.
FEATHERS: “Dead Meadow aren’t music. They’re a fog.”, said Toby L, hitting the nail on the head yet again.
DOWNLOAD – WHAT NEEDS MUST BE: “F**k the Led Zeppelin reunion, why are you trying to recapture the past when Dead Meadow are right now carving out some of the greatest rock monuments ever- under your very nose?”, thought James Orange of this free download.
AT HER OPEN DOOR: