With the release of their sixth album entitled Old Growth, Dead Meadow is a rock outfit that has a lot going for it. As was in evidence at their record release show at the Echoplex on February 7, here is a group that has managed to merge several different styles of rock into one uniform brand. Of course, that alone isn’t spectacular. After all, if posers like Pete Wentz and Fall Out Boy can throw a bunch of shitty sounds together in a crock pot and convince all of their 16 year old fans that they’ve developed a cutting edge technique, then it might be high time to re-examine our burdens of proof as to quality; not to mention our standards. Consider it done. What makes Dead Meadow stand apart from other bands are the specific types of rock that they effortlessly fuse into one sonically groovy pastiche. Their shows are full of shoe-gazers, stoners wearing hooded sweatshirts, older guys donning faded Pink Floyd t-shirts, and even a few emo folk complete with hair gel and designer jeans. But make no mistake; there are enough biting guitars being played to keep your red eyes glued to the front regardless of how many trees you burned on the drive to the gig.

For front man Jason Simon, bassist/producer Steve Kille, and drummer Stephen McCarty, Old Growth is an appropriate title for a group from Washington D.C. (recently re-located to L.A.) which has managed to add even a few more influences into its already diverse repertoire. The record opens with a morose offering called Ain’t Got Nothing (To Go Wrong) that sets the disc off with some edge, and if you listen closely to the intensity of Jason Simon’s vocals, you’d swear you were hearing a grunge song out of 90’s Seattle scene. Not to be outdone, however, is the bluesy second track called Between Me and the Ground. It won’t take long for fans of the band to notice the subtle departure from the heavy, droning psychedelic bombardment that signified the group’s gold standard on previous efforts. I’m in no way insinuating that this notoriously underground group is attempting in any way to create a more “commercially” viable album, but if you are one of those who likes to suck on the old water pipe in an effort to do your best self-levitation impression ala David Blaine, then you might find the absence of 15 minute jam sessions to be a bit conspicuous.

Dead Meadow isn’t a band you’re likely to hear on the radio despite this more focused and accessible effort. Given their past reputation, the new tunes are mostly reasonable in length; only the final track surpasses the seven minute mark. But, like always, the heavily distorted guitars and deliberate pacing of the arrangements will surpass the miniscule level of tolerance that most fans of music have been systematically trained to endure. Indeed, this is a niche brand of rock that the KROQ crowd will simply never understand. Modern rock differentiates itself from other genres insofar as the most talented and serious musicians are very often found in groups who are signed to modest record deals and get very little radio play as an obvious consequence. Nevertheless, subversive bands like Dead Meadow are afforded the benefit of a more intimate relationship with fans thanks in part to the grueling bus tours from one small club to another that brings out passionate fans minus the riffraff that mainstream groups tend to attract. For this not-so-insignificant victory for the small guys, we can give thanks the major labels and all of their payola bullshit that makes idols out of assholes (think Limp Bizkit or Nickelback).

Though change has come relatively slowly for this group in their decade of existence, Old Growth represents a very small renaissance of sorts. It may very well be true that the fifteen minute jams will return in a couple years with their next album, and there is certainly nothing wrong with that. But for now, Dead Meadow can be reasonably praised for a musical versatility that was subtly sprung on us through an unlikely consortium of grungy blues to accompany their traditional psychedelic fare. I suspect it will serve them well on their 2008 world tour.

Dead Meadow Discography:

1. Dead Meadow (2000)
2. Howls From the Hills (2001)
3. Got Live If You Want It (2002)
4. Shivering Kings and Others (2003)
5. Feathers (2005)
6. Old Growth (2008)

By Chris Virnig