I Wouldn't Say It If It Wasn't True: A Memoir Of Life, Music, And The Dream Syndicate

ISBN: 1916829066

Author: Wynn, Steve

Condition: New

Summer 1984. Ive got the back lounge of this tour bus all to myself, partly because Im the lead singer but more likely because it means the rest of the band wont have to deal with me for the rest of the day. Just two years earlier I was flunking out at UCLA, working the day shift in a record store, living out of my fathers basement. Now Im living the million-to-one reality of touring the country with my band, The Dream Syndicate, opening for up-and-coming rock darlings R.E.M., and making a big-budget sophomore album for A&M Records. Im also untethered and unbound, drinking a fifth of Jim Beam every day, barely speaking to my best friend and guitarist, and looking for trouble in all the wrong places. How did I get from there to here? And how do I get out? Stick around and find out. Ill be here, dreaming my dream . . .I Wouldnt Say It If It Wasnt True is a tale of writing songs and playing in bands as a conduit to a world its author could once have barely imagined-a world of major labels, luxury tour buses, and sold-out theaters, but also one of alcohol, drugs, and a low-level rocknroll Babylon.Beginning with Wynns childhood in California in the 60s and 70s, the book builds to a crescendo with the formation of the first incarnation of The Dream Syndicate in 1981 as an antidote to the prepackaged pop music of the era. It charts the highs and lows of the bands early years at the forefront of the Paisley Underground scene alongside Green On Red, Rain Parade, and The Bangles; the seismic impact of their debut album, The Days Of Wine And Roses; the spiraling chaos of the sessions for the follow-up, Medicine Show; the dissolution of the bands first line-up and the launch of a second phase of The Dream Syndicate with Out Of The Grey and Ghost Stories; and more, culminating with the release of the landmark live album Live At Rajis.This is Wynns story, but it also features some of the biggest and most colorful characters of the period, offering a detailed field guide to the music business that manages to both glorify and demystify in equal measure. And, ultimately, its a tale of redemption, with music as a vehicle for artistic and personal transformation and transcendence.