Soft Opening opens for Dead Meadow at Stella Blue this Friday

Dead Meadow is the reason for the resurgence of heavy psychedelic rock,” says the bio for the Los Angeles-based band. “Now, they are reaching out from the underground with their Les Paul guitars to deliver their once out-of-print first album in a newly remixed and remastered form.”

That inaugural, self-titled album was released in 2000, just two years after the group formed in Washington, D.C. with Jason Simon on vocals and guitar, Steve Kille on bass, and Mark Laughlin on drums. (Laughlin left the band in 2002 to become a lawyer.) Dead Meadow came out on the Tolotta Records label, which was run by Fugazi bassist Joe Lally — and apparently that first recording captured some magic that the band wants to relive.

But the reissue is not the only project Dead Meadow has going on. This year they released soundtrack Three Kings. Dusted Reviews writes,  “Presented as a DVD and soundtrack set, the film mixes fantasy sequences with live footage (only the soundtrack was provided for review so I can’t comment on the visuals except to admit that, yes, that sounds like a potentially fatal notion). As for the music, though, the band added a handful of new studio tracks to the live material, and thankfully the latter recordings are extremely well-done, with the energy of the live setting coming through loud and clear. When the band reaches a peak and the audience can be heard cheering, it feels just right.”

Touring in support of that record, Dead Meadow makes its way to Stella Blue for a 9 p.m. show on Friday, June 18. The lineup includes Enoch and local rockers Soft Opening (Jamie Hepler, Patrick Jordan and Tony Plichta; pictured above). Cover is $10.

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About Alli Marshall
Alli Marshall has lived in Asheville for more than 20 years and loves live music, visual art, fiction and friendly dogs. She is the winner of the 2016 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize and the author of the novel "How to Talk to Rockstars," published by Logosophia Books. Follow me @alli_marshall

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