Music Review: Dredg - an unknown wonder

by: jesse virgil
Staff Writer

Standing amongst a bevy of shoppers, I looked for new music artists around the store. I have never really ‘discovered’ a band of my own. Most artists that I love, such as Death Cab for Cutie, Incubus, Goo Goo Dolls, and Nirvana, have all been brought to me by someone else. On this particular day I was hopeful I’d make a discovery, and I was lucky to find my fortune in Dredg.

Hailing from Los Gatos, California, Dredg is probably a name a few may have heard whispered but never really took notice of. Their music has never been popular with pop-culture and has fallen on deaf ears at radio stations.

Sadly, our world is run by the few. Radio is a great example as most stations are owned by two companies; Clear Channel and Cumulus. So, for a lot of great bands that aren’t really the ‘thing’ at the moment, they are left helpless in a smaller market. Dredg, however, didn’t let that get to them.

After releasing two albums, Leitmotif and El Cielo, Dredg created a masterpiece of an album entitled Catch Without Arms.

This 12-track list LP is full of everything but conventional sounds. It reaches down and touches the very essence of the soul with gripping guitar licks, by lead guitarist Mark Engles.

Songs like Ode to the Sun (the opening track) feature a multitude of passions from the sweet and sensual open pickings to the System of a Down like songs that contain fast paced metallic verses, while other U2 inspired tracks, Planting Seeds and Matroshka (The Ornament), embody what music is about - the experience.

But what would a band be without a great lead singer? Gavin Hayes has a brilliance about his sound that could be compared to Bono to some degree. However, he’s not one to copy anyone. His lyrics are not what you’d find on most Top 40 records, but capture realism at its finest.

The albums title-track, Catch Without Arms, confesses Hayes as an anti-savior. "I’m not your star, I’m not that beam of light, here to save your life, to make your wallet fat, while mines on a diet." \Planting Seeds looks at the dark side of self hate and love with, "Look what I have found, a seashell in a sea of shells, I’m gonna plant in my own seed, to sprout an endless hell, stop like gold."

Dredg does not do concepts, but tries to enlighten and touch the core of a being.

Though they are not superstars, they have a loyal fan base, which they have earned with albums like Catch Without Arms.

I have finally found a band to call my own. It’s a rare thing, but I’m sure a lot of you know of groups no one has ever seen. Deep down, there’s a Dredg for all of us, and to that I say thank God for underground music. Without it all we’d ever hear is "Oops I Did It Again."