Steve Wynn went from the lower reaches of the Los Angeles underground music scene to major critical acclaim practically overnight with the release of
the Dream Syndicate's debut album,
The Days of Wine and Roses, in 1982. It proved to be the first act in a long and fascinating career in which
Wynn matured into one of the canniest songwriters in rock, penning smart, flinty lyrics that told perceptive tales of human behavior both noble and otherwise, married to tough, engaging melodies full of muscular guitar work.
Wynn launched his solo career with 1990's
Kerosene Man and 1991's Dazzling Display, both of which found him working with an impressive variety of collaborators. From the '90s onward,
Wynn would follow his muse through a number of creative paths, and while his early work often revealed the influence of
Lou Reed and
Bob Dylan, his more mature material (as evidenced by 2001's Here Come the Miracles and 2010's
Northern Aggression) showed he had grown into an unsung heir to their place in rock songwriting.
After graduating from the University of California at Davis and following a stint with his requisite new wave band of that era, Suspects,
Wynn took a cross-country trip in search of
Alex Chilton, one of his spiritual musical mentors and a mysterious figure since his days with power pop legends
Big Star. Interestingly, by the time
Wynn found him and returned to California, the underground rock scene was in the middle of a full-on guitar rock revival, thanks in part to fellow
Chilton devotees
R.E.M. and
the Replacements;
Wynn took it as his cue to embrace the feedback-flooded sounds of
the Velvet Underground. Borrowing his name from the
VU's heritage, he called his new band
the Dream Syndicate, after an early experimental group featuring
John Cale.
Heralded as one of the leading bands of the Paisley Underground (the neo-'60s Southern California scene that included
the Bangles,
Green on Red, and
the Rain Parade),
the Dream Syndicate were by far the most outside band in the bunch, challenging audiences to feedback fests and endless jams. After four albums on four labels and a change in musical direction (less
Lou Reed, more
Neil Young),
the Syndicate called it quits and
Wynn embarked on a solo career. For
Kerosene Man (1990) and Dazzling Display (1991), he relied on his steady songwriting, unique vocal style, and a bunch of friends (including
Peter Buck of
R.E.M.) for the recordings.
Fluorescent (Mute, 1994) was a subdued, semi-folk record, but his side project
Gutterball (including Bryan Harvey and
Johnny Hott of
House of Freaks and
Bob Rupe of
the Silos) was a loose and drunken rock & roll ramble. The solo work kept on coming:
Melting in the Dark (1996),
Sweetness & Light (1997),
My Midnight (1999), and
Momento (2000), the latter a collaboration with
Australian Blonde, a Spanish alternative rock band led by
Wynn's friend
Paco Loco. But
Wynn was ultimately destined to lead a band again, and with his combo
the Miracle 3 he released the double-disc set Here Come the Miracles (2001), Static Transmission (2003), and the post-millennium panic-inspired
...Tick...Tick...Tick (2005). The same year as
...Tick...Tick...Tick,
Wynn summed up his post-
Dream Syndicate career to date with the accurately titled 17-track compilation What I Did After My Band Broke Up, which included a bonus disc of
Wynn performing some of his favorite songs on piano.
In 2007,
Wynn and
Paco Loco recorded a second album together for a Spanish label under the name Smack Dab. A voyage to Slovenia to collaborate with
Chris Eckman of
the Walkabouts resulted in the 2008 album
Crossing Dragon Bridge; the same year,
Wynn launched another side group,
the Baseball Project, in which
Wynn teamed up with
Peter Buck,
Scott McCaughey (of
the Young Fresh Fellows), and
Linda Pitmon (from
the Miracle 3) to write and sing songs about his favorite game on the album
Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails.
Wynn and
the Miracle 3 returned in 2010 with the album
Northern Aggression, while
the Baseball Project came back for a second inning with 2011's
Vol. 2: High and Inside; that same year,
Wynn's recorded guest spots included
Let It Beard by
Boston Spaceships and The Journey Is Long by
the Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project. In 2013,
Wynn paid homage to one of his key influences with Wynn Plays Dylan, a limited-edition live album from a show with
Wynn performing a set of
Bob Dylan tunes, and in 2014,
Wynn and
the Baseball Project teamed up again (this time with
R.E.M.'s
Mike Mills joining the lineup) for an album simply called
3rd.
Wynn's two albums with
Paco Loco also received a belated American release in 2014 on the collection
Sketches in Spain.
In 2012, after several European tours in which
Wynn performed
Dream Syndicate material with
the Miracle 3, he unveiled a new lineup of the band at Festival BAM in Barcelona, Spain. This edition featured previous members
Wynn,
Dennis Duck, and
Mark Walton, as well as guitarist
Jason Victor, who had played with
Wynn in his solo projects. The revived
Dream Syndicate staged several concert tours, mostly in Europe, before returning to the studio to cut a new album. How Did I Find Myself Here? was released by Anti- in September 2017, and featured guest vocals from
Kendra Smith. As the return of
the Dream Syndicate boosted
Wynn's profile, Omnivore Records released expanded and remastered editions of his first two solo efforts,
Kerosene Man and Dazzling Display, in April 2018. ~ Denise Sullivan & Mark Deming