S
FROM THE UNDERGROUND
THE
DREGS
Who? Steve Morse, acoustic
and electric guitars, pedal steel
and banjo. Andy West, fretted and
fretless bass. Allen Solan, electric
and acoustic five string violin and
viola. Rod Morganstein, drums and
percussion. T. Lavitz, acoustic and
electric piano, organ and synthe-
sizer, clarinet and saxophone.
What? Now that you've met the
players, let me tell you a little bit
more about their music. Steve
Morse, head dreg does most of
the writing and producing as well
as his lead guitar work. Their music
is 99.9% instrumental and com-
bines hard driving rock, southern
boogie, sophisticated jazz, heavy
metal, blues, country and classical
All this is spun into an unbelievably
original and precise web of music.
It is almost impossible to compare
the Dregs to any other group
because their music is so unique
and the band members are such
versatile, educated and polished
musicians. It is hard to believe that
one can find so much talent con-
tained in just one band. The Dregs
are not a showy group that needs
faddish gimmicks and stage
theatrics to enhance their music.
They just get up on stage and rip,
creating an amazing amount of
energy when they perform. We try
not to bore anybody," says Morse
Adds bassist Andy West. "When
we've opened for heavy metal
rock bands, even though our
music is a lot more complicated
we still go over great...because of
our energy. There's no discrimina-
tion just because we all studied
theory and composition, that's why
we've always felt we could win
people over just doing what we
do."
Their first album (now a collec
tor's item) was made for college
credit at the University of Miami
and later privately issues as The
Great Spectacular. Capricor
Records signed the band in 1976
and their first publicly available
album, Free Fall was released
shortly after. What it their third
alburn, was released in 1978, fol-
lowed by Night of The Living Dregs.
which contains the only live record-
ings to date. After a label switch
that brought them to Arista Records
their critically acclaimed album
Dregs of the Earth was released in
1981. With the release of Unsung
Heroes, their latest alburn on Arista
the Dregs continue their hard
driving assault on rock and roll in
the 80's
Being as the Dregs are
an instrumental group their music
is ideal for skating because there
is no singing to break your con-
centration. Tunes to skate by
include: "Take It Off The Top and
"Travel Tunes from the What if
album. On Night of the Living
Dregs "Punk Sandwich" and the
title track are two hard driving
upbeat songs. Dregs of the Earth
features "Road Expense and
Twiggs Approved" (dedicated to
late road manager Twiggs Lyndon):
and if you like country. "Pride of
the Farm" will blow you away. On
their most recent album. Unsung
Heroes there are two unbelievably
hot skate songs, "Cruise Contro
and "Rock 'n Roll Park" There isn't
enough one can say about such
a talented group of musicians, but
I can tell you who listens as well as
attends Dregs concerts. Top music
makers such as Stanley Clarke,
John McLaughlin, Jean Luc Ponty.
Tom Scott, Lenny White and Jeff
Beck, and if that's not enough for
you top skaters like Tom Inouye.
Chris Strople, Stacy Peralta, John
Gibson, Mike Folmer and skater/
guitarist Dan Murakami have all
been seen at Dregs Shows. If you
like the Allman Bros. Sea Level Yes
Beck, Led Zepplin, etc, then the
Dregs are a mandatory part of
your music collection. If not, check
em anyway. They're ho
-Brad Strandlund
WING PRODUCTS 1100 Pioneer Way, El Cajon, California 92020, 714-442-963
GULLWING
פחררDNI
GULLWING
RECTIONS
dear Gullwing,
We want you
fru ks/ tHeу g01тa
Be Troo, DEPEND-
ABLE AND orig
able cuz NE got wild
On our boards. SeNe
al THE TRICKS veu
cot NO! OR eISE!!
CLOTH Spread
Apply freely Pr
sige, dick TRACY
And go Go Gomez
GULLWING
GULLWING
GULLWING