The Story of Dean Wareham, as told through youtube and my personal knowledge. Four figures play most prominently in the story of Dean Wareham, my favorite guitar player. They are: Conan Obrien, Spacemen 3, Jeff Daniels, and the woman who would lend her voice to the cartoon character Jem.

Our story begins with a group of English bad-niks– selling drugs to buy instruments and living under the credo that would later become an album title “taking drugs to make music to take drugs to.” This is Dean Wareham’s favorite band while attending Harvard University, with classmate Conan O’brien.

Here is Spacemen 3:

Dean is working on his degree in Paper Crafts, when he forms a band with some townies named Naomi and Damon. Dean didn’t really like girls yet, because he was too obsessed with guitars and reverb, but he was reading a lot of erotic poetry at Harvard, as well as the diaries of Anais Nin, which he kept in his back pocket. The group would take the name Galaxie 500, after a car that Ford made in the 1950s.

Desperately needing a drum kit, they asked everyone they knew around town, only to be given one by a gangly-pasty ginger kid named Conan O’brien. He is nice enough to lend them his drumset, which had given up on recently after very, very poor results in his own musical aspirations. The “O’brien Set” can be heard on a few early recordings. Dean takes a creative cue from Spacemen 3 and creates an atmospheric guitar sound that is minimal, but never droning. It is languid and spacey, awash in reverb, and kind of meditative in it’s loyalty to the three chord, or even two chord structures. The band is enjoying great popularity, since it’s 1989 and hardcore music is bad for taking drugs too. It even reaches these two inept girls who have a public access show, and a disruptive obsession with the Connelles. Here is the great Galaxie song 4th of July:

They get to be on LIVE tv eventually…

Dean loves a british band that he hears about from this funny young actor/galaxie 500 fan named Jeff Daniels. He loves them so much, that he famously covers a song by them. Here is Ceremony, originally by New Order.

After only a couple of years together, Dean Wareham decided to leave the group after a really long American tour that may have left the members feeling detached from their personal lives. They were even living in different cities at the time. That same year, Dean meets some really cool, trippy dudes; former members of the Chills and the Feelies. They start to hang out and do stuff together like go shopping and go grocery shopping. THEN, they form Luna. It was almost like the turn of the decade was a signal to Dean that a new sound was assembling in the ether. So, now it’s the 1990s and it’s time for the blissful dream pop of Luna, like being stoned at the mall, this music is still subversively psychedelic but you could even trick your mom into liking it.

This is track one of their first album, Lunapark.

Later on the album Lunapark, you get to make out to this:

Some say the best Luna recordings are from the 1993 Slide e.p. This is the one that has covers of Beat Happening, Velvet Underground, and Dream Syndicate. Here is a version of Ride Into the Sun by the Velvets.

However, Harvard scholars agree that the best album is 1994s Bewitched. The same year this came out, they toured Europe with the reformed Velvet Underground, and Sterling Morrisson would later play guitar on two Luna songs. While in the studio, Dean was witnessed stealing Morrisons guitar picks which he eventually made a charm-anklet out of.

Now up until this point, Dean had never really hooked up with a girl. But this story does have a romance, and you couldn’t really ask for a better heroine, or better first make out. In 1999, the bassist of Luna wanted to move back to New Zealand, so he was replaced by none other than the voice of the cartoon character Jem:

Her name is Britta Phillips and Dean fell in love with her. She became his wife and permanent bassist in the band Luna. They toured and recorded records until 2005.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnORaT9m3oA

Another turn of a decade, and yet another signal to Dean. Could this dusty old indie-rock carry into a new century? Wait, a new millenium? Maybe with the appearance of Robbie Williams’ solo work, Dean had a new idea…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GlJSU6KecY

It’s undeniable… Dean teamed up with produced Tony Visconti (t.rex, David Bowie morrissey, many more) and along with his wife Britta, wrote and recorded an entire new album of songs as Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips.

As Dean and Britta, they’ve recorded albums yes, but who could forget their brilliant soundtrack composition for indie-film sensation The Squid and the Whale, when they were commissioned at the suggestion of long time fan, Jeff Daniels!

By the way, have you ever noticed that Jeff Daniels was Anna Paquins dad in Fly Away Home, and then does sex to her in Squid and the Whale:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B5iik_wiK0

here’s his explanation:

On that note, come join me for Dean and Britta at the Black Cat TONIGHT June 5th. You can ask Dean about his life.