Amidst hyper-formulated pop music in the early 1980s, The Dream Syndicate emerged from LA as a sensation with gritty, gu | dG1fZXFwVnVDOXVYc0E
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 Please welcome Dream Syndicate.
00:03 We were all so tired of this nervous, hyper-formulated music that was going on.
00:08 We just wanted to get lost in sound and repetition.
00:12 The 80s were brutal.
00:14 It was the age of Madonna.
00:16 We knew we would be our own favorite band. That's what it came down to.
00:19 A lot of noise, actually, but it was really, really good.
00:22 It was fantastic. It was like dark, moody, psychedelic, jammy.
00:28 ♪ The words from outside is she's on the ledge again ♪
00:32 ♪ Drawing a crowd and threatening everything ♪
00:36 That kind of Gilbert Underground meets Bob Dylan kind of vibe.
00:40 I was right there with that band, right off the bat, and it all happened within six months.
00:48 Dream Syndicate paid no dues. It happened so fast.
00:51 They were just poised to go straight to the moon.
00:55 ♪
00:59 I think they were a little out of control.
01:01 Word got around, you know, "Oh, the Dream Syndicate spent $250,000 making a medicine show."
01:05 When the medicine show came out, it was very controversial.
01:08 Threw some people, you know, off the train, who were on the train with us.
01:12 There was a guitar hero lurking.
01:19 Carl wanted to be in a bigger band.
01:21 In other words, he wanted to be in a band that sold records and played bigger places.
01:24 I think any problems between Steve and Carl were strictly because they just had a different idea of the band.
01:32 It drove me and Carl apart, and I regret that.
01:35 As soon as we heard Paul playing with the band, we all just agreed that he was the guy.
01:41 It was a really perfect band for me to be able to join.
01:49 It's Paul's post-rock and jazzisms and punk rock sound with Steve's that really made me feel great about that band.
01:57 I saw Paul Cutler doing all those guitar things with tools and stuff before Eddie Van Halen was doing those things.
02:04 ♪
02:07 Well, in America at that point, we were old news.
02:09 Our United States tour after Ghost Stories was a shit show.
02:14 It was super depressing.
02:16 I think when this is over, I want to stop the band.
02:18 I didn't enjoy the lifestyle, so I quit, basically.
02:21 ♪
02:25 The band was, in a sense, just waiting for him to come back.
02:30 ♪
02:33 Carl, Norm, Paul, Cutler wanted to do it, so I got the job.
02:39 ♪
02:42 We were just blown away, as good as he ever has done.
02:46 May I curse? That's fucking fabulous.
02:49 So if you ask me, "Where are the Dream Syndicate going to go next?"
02:53 I could give you an answer, but I can guarantee you I'd be wrong.
02:56 We have a lot left that we can do with the same people.
03:00 Ultimately, the Dream Syndicate were always cool.
03:03 ♪
03:07 [explosion]
03:09 [BLANK_AUDIO]