Dead Meadow’s unique marriage of Sabbath riffs, dreamy layers of guitar-fuzz bliss, and singer Jason Simon’s melodic croon have won over psychedelic pop/rock and stoner rock fans alike. Although the band’s members met while attending all-ages shows in and around Washington, D.C.’s punk/indie scene, the trio draws more of its sound from such classic rock legends as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath. The trio formed in the fall of 1998 with singer/guitarist Simon, bassist Steve Kille, and drummer Mark Laughlin. The three members set out to fuse their love of early-’70s hard rock and ’60s psychedelia into their distinct sound.
They released their eight song debut album in 1999. Within a relatively short period, the D.C. trio received offers to tour with everyone from local D.C. acts like The Make-Up and Fugazi to psychedelic rockers Brian Jonestown Massacre. The much acclaimed debut was quickly followed by 2001’s “Howls from the Hills”, recorded at friend Stephen McCarty’s (who would later join Dead Meadow) grandparent’s farm house in rural Indiana and also released on Tolotta Records.
The band signed with Matador Records in early 2003 and released “Shivering King and Others”. Along with the heavy feel and blues-influenced songs, as found on the previous two records, the band incorporated a more layered and dense sound, and continued in their psychedelic style.
With the addition of long time friend Cory Shane as second guitarist, the band released the much acclaimed “Feathers” LP in 2005 on Matador Records. This record incorporated the heavy sound of Dead Meadow with a somewhat more dreamlike feel and included a great deal of two guitar interplay between Cory and Jason. 2007 saw the band reverting back to a three piece and relocating from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles, CA. “Old Growth”, the fifth studio album was released in 2008 on Matador Records. In 2010 Dead Meadow released a feature length live film and soundtrack, “Three Kings”, that spotlighted their live show and included psychedelic dream sequences that follow a loose storyline.
Stephen McCarty left the band and original drummer Mark Laughlin returned. The group spent a long, patient time self-producing and recording 2013’s epic double-album-length release “Warble Womb”, also released on Xemu records. With the release of the LP “The Nothing they Need” in 2018, Steve and Jason celebrate twenty years of Dead Meadow with eight songs that feature everyone that has been musically involved with the band over the years. The Lockdown of 2020 gave the band some much needed rest from touring though two live records were released.
Throughout 2023 Dead Meadow performed sporadically and began work on a new full length LP for Heavy Psych Sounds Records. The band completed tracking the record in January of 2024 shortly after finding out the terrible news that bass player Steve Kille had been diagnosed with Cancer. Though he began Chemo within a month or so the cancer had progressed too far and was too aggressive to be stopped. Steve Kille passed away on April 14th, 2024 leaving an incredible legacy of utterly unique bass playing, a singular artistic vision, and boundless creativity. Band members, friends, and fans alike were devastated but the outpouring of love for Steve as a musician, friend, and amazing human being was a beautiful thing to see.
The upcoming Heavy Psych Sounds LP was entirely written and recorded with Steve at full capacity and band is incredibly thankful to have an entire new record to still share with the world.
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