Q&A with Steve Wynn: Plays The Dream Syndicate with The Miracle 3 May 14 and May 15 at 529

By Scott Roberts

Steve Wynn, leader of seminal 1980s L.A.-based band The Dream Syndicate, will be doing two special performances with his current band The Miracle Three at 529 on Friday, May 14 and Saturday, May 15. At Friday’s show, Wynn & company will be playing the entirety of 1984’s Dream Syndicate classic The Medicine Show, while Saturday’s show will feature the entirety of their 1982 debut The Days Of Wine And Roses. Atlanta Music Guide recently talked to Wynn about these shows.

How did these full-album shows come about? Did Chris Chandler [of Party Panda Productions, and the man responsible for these shows coming to Atlanta] just ask if you’d be interested in doing them, or was it your idea initially?

I’ve done several shows with Chris over the last few years and wanted this to be different from all the others.  I knew that the Medicine Show reissue would be coming up right about the time of the show and thought it would be fun to play that album start-to-finish as we did in LA and New York last year.  Chris wanted to do add a second night so I figured why not tack on The Days Of Wine And Roses as well.

Have you done these kinds of shows before where you play an entire album? Is Atlanta the only place you’re doing this?

We did a whole tour where we played The Days of Wine and Roses every night back when the Rhino reissue CD came out in 2001.  And then the two Medicine Show gigs last year.  But, for now, Atlanta is the only place where we’re doing the complete album concept this year.

Are you planning to do more full-album shows?

I think I might like to do Here Come the Miracles at some point.  This is the 10 year anniversary of this release so I’m quickly losing time on the Round Figure year reason for doing the album but, then again, this is the 26th anniversary of Medicine Show so I guess 5′s and 10′s don’t always matter.

How long has the core of your backup band, The Miracle 3, been together?

I’ve played with this band longer than any I’ve ever had before.  Jason [Victor], Dave [DeCastro], Linda [Pitmon, AKA Steve’s wife] and I have been playing together for 10 years — beginning with the tour for Here Come the Miracles, hence the band name.  We were going to change the band name for each record but Miracle 3 sounded so good and we stuck with it.

Are you still in touch with the original members of The Dream Syndicate [bassist Kendra Smith, guitarist Karl Precoda, and drummer Dennis Duck]? Have any of them offered any opinions of you performing these records?

Dennis Duck has seen us do each of the albums in L.A. and, in fact, got on stage both times.  I’m not really in touch with any of the other members so I’m not sure if they know or approve.

Do you think you’ll always be referred to as “former Dream Syndicate leader” in the music press, and, if so, are you comfortable with that?

Yep, that will be in my obituary.  I remember thinking that might not be the case when I first went solo, but that was naive.  It was a great band, an influential band, and a band that meant a lot to many people so I’m very proud to have that be such a part of everything I do.

Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3 play the entire Dream Syndicate albums The Medicine Show on Friday, May 14 and The Days Of Wine And Roses on Saturday, May 15 at 529.