Dead Meadow Make an L.A. Record the Classic Rock Way
By Andrew Clayman
Published (with edits) in The Scene (Cleveland), April 2008
See also: Alternate Dead Meadow Feature in The Metro Pulse
Arboreal metaphors usually fall pretty flat when it comes to describing music-- “roots rock,” “branching out,” The Joshua Tree. But for the psychedelic rock trio Dead Meadow, a walk in the woods wound up providing the perfect analogy, and title, for their latest album.
“We were in the Redwoods (National Forest),” recalls drummer Stephen McCarty. “It was right before we were set to start recording the basic tracks for the new record. And something about the phrase ‘old growth’ just seemed right to us, based on where we’re at and our whole sound—the way it’s progressing.”
Recorded last year in the world famous Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood, Old Growth is Dead Meadow’s fifth studio album, and their third since joining the hard charging New York indie label Matador in 2003. To say the record was cut in the midst of a transitional phase would be a considerable understatement. First and foremost, Dead Meadow had just become an L.A. band, having made a bold migration from their longtime home base of Washington D.C. Secondly, guitarist Cory Shane had been let go after just one album (2005’s Feathers), reducing the group’s lineup back to the trio of McCarty, bassist Steve Kille, and singer/guitarist Jason Simon.
“It was great for a while,” McCarty says of Shane’s brief tenure with the band. “But then it just stopped working logistically, so we had to pear it back to the three. I think working with Cory gave Jason a lot more ideas of different things he could do, and it was a good experience for the Feathers record. But it’s been really good to get back to the old basics of the three-piece-- something that illustrates our live sound right now on a record.”
The Dead Meadow sound, as brilliantly illustrated by the phrase “Old Growth,” is a modern spin on the major building blocks of heavy, psychedelic rock n’ roll. Across the band’s career, the influences have been blatantly obvious. There’s the fuzzed-out blues-rock of Zeppelin and Sabbath, the psychedelics of Floyd, the mystery and reverb of Spiritualized, and the Matador sanctioned coolness of Guided By Voices. But, by stirring all these ingredients into the same pot, Dead Meadow has slowly crafted a wholly unique texture to their music.
“As far as original influences, I definitely still listen to Zeppelin and Hendrix all the time,” McCarty says. “But, having done this for a while now, you’re ready to branch out (ed. like a tree) into more various things and see how you can weave that into the sound you’ve already got. I think a lot of that shines through on the new record, too, just with the different instrumentation—which has always been there, but has never been really recorded in such a pristine manner. It’s got a lot more clarity here.”
Much of this clarity is probably owed to Dead Meadow’s decision to record in the aforementioned Sunset Sound Studios, one of rock’s most famous Meccas.
“It was so great!” says McCarty. “The room that we got to use was actually the last one that all four Beatles performed together in. It was for a Ringo recording. And there are some wonderful, haunted rooms above the area where Prince did Purple Rain, where apparently Jim Morrison used to hang out. It’s just so rich with the history of all the musicians who made records there.”
One listen to Old Growth tracks like “What Needs Must Be” and “The Queen of All Returns” would seem to indicate that some of classic rock’s ghosts may very well have been playing the muse for the Meadow men on this session. But there’s a lot more going on.
“We were definitely trying to get more of a live kind of feel, so we played all the basic tracks together, which is something we hadn’t really done before,” McCarty explains. “The guitars had always had quite a bit of overdubbing in the past. So, I think the live feel of all the songs, particularly this recording technique, was really ideal for us.”
Frontman Jason Simon also continues his evolution as a songwriter on Old Growth, experimenting with pop melodies (“I’m Gone”); Black Keys-style blues riffing (“Between Me and the Ground”), and—like the great psychedelic acts of yesteryear— Indian and Middle Eastern music (“Seven Seers”).
“We definitely listen to a lot of Indian ragas and Tuvan throat singing,” McCarty says. “It’s very inspirational. And even though it’s hard to pick up those instruments and delve into their whole, rich musical history, it’s a really great texture to be able to add. I feel like there’s just so much to learn from that.”
With Kille manning the sitar and McCarty infusing Eastern rhythms and percussion, Old Growth captures Dead Meadow’s skill and versatility better than any of their previous efforts, without sacrificing their connection to their original psych-rock roots—err, influences.
“When we’re jamming together, working on songs, we give each other a lot of room in our own spectrums. Even though we have to agree on the basic feel right away, there’s always plenty of room to push your own envelope—whether it’s rhythmically, or bass or guitar or vocals. I feel like we’ve got a good division of labor that way.”
As one would expect from a talented drummer in a Zeppelin-esque band, McCarty’s own style is often compared to that of the great John Bonham. It’s somewhat surprising to discover, however, that McCarty actually ranks a very different, sometimes overlooked classic-rock percussionist as his personal favorite.
“Well, Ringo (Starr) really wrote songs with the drums,” he says, bowing to the Beatles’ great. “He played it as a totally musical instrument. Even though there are times where he’s doing stuff that’s unbelievably technical, you never feel like he’s showing off. I mean, I love John Bonham, but he did a lot of stuff that was just like, ‘Hey, I can really play the drums really good. Check this out!’ Meanwhile, there’s Ringo, just doing his selfless but sensitive thing.”
That being said, if you’re expecting something of the “Yellow Submarine” ilk at a Dead Meadow show, you’re barking up the wrong . . . tree. But rest assured, there will be surprises.
“Every show we play is different,” says McCarty. “It’s really about seeing music get born in real time, as opposed to being something you can stop and analyze.”
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