Steven Dennis

Review: The Cure in Dallas (June 6, 2008)

2008-06-09T13:32:00.006-05:00

Lights out; the faint sounds of waves crashing; the sight of stars in the blackness. That's how it all started...

1. Underneath The Stars
I was hoping that they'd start with this one. They opened with it the previous show so I thought we'd get Plainsong for sure, but when I heard the sound of crashing waves and saw the star field come up on the screens behind the stage I knew this was going to be a great show. If you haven't listened to this song yet I compel you to do so right now! Go here to hear a recording from the Dallas show, the best sounding one thus far.
2. Prayers for Rain
Brilliant with a nice long "RAAAAIIINNNNN" at the end. Robert's voice was spot on. Mindy loved the misery.
3. A Night Like This
Another great one.
4. The Walk
When Mindy heard the studio version of this song she couldn't make it past the first ten seconds. After the show she was talking about loving the song about the "Japanese baby" and had no idea it was the same song she had hated. This keyboardless version was by far the best I've ever heard the song sound.
5. The End of the World
A single from the self-titled album that I never cared much about, but boy did this sound good live.
6. Lovesong
7. To Wish Impossible Things
Sounded good, but I'd rather hear "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep..." for a song with the same feel.
8. Pictures of You
The abso-fricken-lutley best sounding song of the night. Incredible.
9. Lullaby
Alright, but not great minus the keys.
10. Fascination Street
Another stunning performance. A highlight of the show.
11. The Perfect Boy
Decent new song.
12. From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea
A little disappointed with this one as I thought Porl's parts were a bit too hard to hear.
13. Sleep When I'm Dead
Very rockin' new song ala "A Man Inside My Mouth".
14. Push
Brilliant again. Incredible performance of a classic song.
15. Friday I'm In Love
The crowd...
16. Inbetween Days
...goes...
17. Just Like Heaven
...bananas. All sounded great.
18. Primary
I was so glad they pulled this one out. Flawless performance.
19. Shake Dog Shake
I was really hoping they would play this, but alas, this was probably the biggest let down of the show. Robert seemed a bit winded and phoned in the vocal performance on this one to rest up a bit. Still glad they played it.
20. Never Enough
Much better live than on CD.
21. The Only One
The current single. I think it's a great pop song and it sounded great live. Robert sang it perfectly.
22. Wrong Number
Not a fan of this song, but it was better live.
23. The Baby Screams
The surprise of the night for me. I'm not the biggest fan of this song but wow was it good live! I thought of you during this one. You should have been there to hear this one.
24. One Hundred Years
Brilliant rendition complete with all red lighting and a slide show of B&W negative images depicting WWII nastiness behind them. The stage exploded into a blaze of white hot light at the "100 years!" part.
25. Baby Rag Dog Book
Another new tune. Good ending, but that was just the beginning...

Encore 1: (Old School)
26. Three Imaginary Boys
27. Fire In Cairo
Another big surprise. Sounded great live.
28. Boys Don't Cry
29. Jumping Someone Else's Train
Brilliant! Though Robert did mix up the lyrics.
30. Grinding Halt
Another great blast from the past.
31. 10:15 Saturday Night
32. Killing An Arab
Very high energy. Great!

Encore 2: (Pop)
33. Lovecats
Kinda silly live.
34. Let's Go To Bed
35. Freakshow
My least favorite of the new songs. Silly.
36. Close To Me
Brilliant again! Complete with Robert's foolishness.
37. Why Can't I Be You?
Needs keyboards.

Encore 3:
38. A Forest
Perfect ender. The archetypal "Cure sound" song and a true classic. Complete with intro and long solo.

All in all I thought the show was a master performance from an iconic band with a 30 year history. Robert sounded better than I could ever remember him sounding in the past and the band was on fire. My hope that the Cure could be something other than a monument to their past has been answered. I'm looking forward to this new album in a way that I haven't anticipated a new Cure album since Kiss Me. "Underneath the Stars" and the nearly flawless show in Dallas have renewed my faith in the Cure.

Cure-bound

2007-07-20T09:40:00.002-05:00

I just paid $78 a ticket to go see The Cure this ~~October~~ June in Dallas. It's no secret that if pressed to name my favorite band of all time it would be Robert Smith and the boys. In fact, it was a night in September of 1987 that I realized that I had to buy a guitar and learn how to play. That epiphany occurred the instant the curtain dropped at the UNO Lakefront Area revealing the band as they ripped into the opening blasts of "The Kiss."
No matter how many times I see them (every visit to New Orleans), or how disappointed I get at the latest couple of albums, I still can't help but get excited every time I hear about a new release, or a tour coming our way. What excites me most about this particular tour is the fact that for the first time in a long while (ever since I've followed them) their line up is stripped down to something very close to what it was during the golden era of the Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography albums. Robert has also been talking about how he realizes that the majority of the concert crowds are there to hear the classic songs from the back catalog. It all adds up to a night that can't get here soon enough.

Peabody Returns!

2007-07-01T14:02:00.000-05:00

Peabody will make a long awaited return to the big stage on Saturday, July 28th at the House Of Blues in New Orleans! We also have another, more intimate, show on Saturday, July 14th at Carrollton Station. We'd love to see you party like it's 1995 at one of the shows.

Inside Home Recording Theme

2006-05-01T02:01:00.002-05:00

I had the pleasant surprise of finding out that my song Acidic Bond has been chosen as the new theme song for the Inside Home Recording podcast! If you are interested in home recording I highly recommend checking out this podcast.

Peabody Website Gone

2006-01-01T02:00:00.000-06:00

Unfortunately the official website for Peabody is gone. I have however archived most of the information from the site here so you can still check it out if you want to know more about the band.

These Things Take Time

2004-11-01T12:00:00.003-06:00

Karen Protti - Vocals
Steven Dennis - Guitars
Lou Carollo - Bass
Chris Bailey - Drums

Released November 2004
Recorded at Piety Street Recording
Produced by Peabody, Eddie Pearce, Erik Flettrich
Engineered by Erik Flettrich
Mastered by John Fischbach

Way Wrong
Why Not?
Wondering
Listen To Me
You're Not Welcome
Leave
Squandered Year
The Wheel
Did You Know?
Crystal Ball
Sometimes
Lazy Afternoon
Placid And Still

About Peabody

2000-01-02T12:00:00.000-06:00

In The Beginning... (1990)

Peabody formed in 1990 when guitarist, Steven Dennis, received a phone message from someone responding to a flyer he had put out looking for people to form a band with. Karen, Chris, and Lou had just dissolved their band Habit's Hat because of the loss of the guitarist when Chris came upon Steven's ad at the University of New Orleans. The four got together and immediately began writing songs. With the combination of some music Steven had written months before and lyrics that Chris came up with at the first practice, Peabody had their first song..."Swim."

Peabody played their first show on August 4th, 1990, at the Warehouse Cafe in New Orleans, opening for local favorites Fresh Young Minds. The band spent the next few months performing and practicing, slowly building up a set of originals. On December 7th, 1990, Peabody played their first show as the headlining act at Jimmy's Music Club in New Orleans. Around this time, Peabody made its first demo in a small home studio called Zymondo.

Lost In Old Rivers (1991-1994)

It soon became evident that the band's following wanted a recording of the Peabody's music. In February of 1991 the band went into Southlake Studios to record four songs. These recordings were paired with a few songs from a live recording and packaged as Unsigned. The cassette- only release quickly sold all of its 500 copies. In October of that year, Peabody was once again in the studio, this time with veteran producer\arranger Mark Bingham, best known for his string arrangements on the R.E.M. album Out Of Time (recall the intro to "Shiny Happy People"). The sessions, done in Chris and Karen's living room, produced four songs, but the sought-after first full length CD never materialized. In 1992 the band continued to perform in the New Orleans area and to build a following. The world famous New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival asked Peabody to play for the first time in '92. The band also netted a trip to New York City as a showcase performer at the CMJ New Music Seminar held in October.

After returning from New York, Peabody once again began the process of recording a debut CD. After checking out numerous recording studios and producers the band decided to record and produce the record themselves. They spent the next months of 1993 putting together piece by piece a recording studio. They dubbed it Our House Recording Studio and finally on May 20th, 1994, the debut CD was released. The band finally had a full length album under their belt, a twelve song collection that was two years in the making...

Heroine (1995-1996)

By 1995, the band had made another big decision. Peabody was now going to be a full-time job for its members. In their newly purchased van, Peabody hit the road on a constant tour schedule. The band felt that it was time to break out of New Orleans and start playing to people throughout the southeast. Almost all of 1995 was spent breaking into new markets, quite a change from the relative comfort of playing to 300+ crowds in New Orleans. By the end of 1995, the follow-up to Lost In Old Rivers was starting to take shape. All seemed on schedule until early in 1996 when the band underwent its first line-up change in over 5 years. Bassist Lou Carollo informed the band of his intentions to leave in order to pursue a career back home. The changes brought about by the full-time traveling schedule had finally taken their toll. The new album came to a screeching halt while the remaining three members went about the task of replacing Lou.

An old friend of the band, Jimmy Legnon, seemed to be the perfect choice as Peabody's new bass player. After a few crash practice sessions, Jimmy was out on the road with the band. On the days back in New Orleans, the band scrambled to get bass tracks recorded, new CD photos taken, and artwork arranged for the new album.

Peabody's second album, entitled Heroine, was released on August 2nd, 1996. The band continued to travel and write new material and to steadily build a following throughout the southern region. With over 6,500 copies of Lost In Old Rivers sold, and Heroine already going into its second pressing, the band seemed poised and ready for the next step.

The Long And Winding Road (1997-2000)

For the next year, Peabody would continue to travel in support of their two CDs. Playing regularly in many places, including Dallas, Atlanta, and the Gulf Coast, all seemed well for the band. While the band always found eager fans in new markets, mismanagement had finally started to take its toll on the band financially; bassist Jimmy Legnon was considering better job opportunities as an X-ray technician. Soon the tough decision was made and Peabody was once again in search of a bass player. After some months of searching for and auditioning bassists, the band came upon Thomas McDonald, a journeyman musician who had traveled extensively with acts such as Anders Osborne. Pretty soon after his acceptance of the spot, Peabody was back out on the road playing shows.

As new material began to accumulate, thoughts of a third CD became more frequent. The Egyptian Room of American Sector recording studio was eventually picked as the site for the creation of the next Peabody release. Taking a break from the travel schedule, the recording sessions were going well when work was forced to halt halfway through because the studio had to be relocated. While the band waited for the chance to complete the recordings, it became increasingly clear that the relocation was going to take a lot longer than planned. Peabody had to make a decision on what to do next...

The decision was to take some time off. Peabody had been around for some ten years, and we had all pretty much put our lives on hold while we recorded and toured. The next few years would be spent getting back to some of the things we had had to leave undone. Chris and Karen dabbled in the real estate market and expanded the child development business that they had been a part of. Steven went back to school and finished his undergraduate studies in Physics and eventually earned his Masters in Physics. Thomas continued to show up around the city, and world, playing with various bands.

While the band took a back seat to other things for a while, it never completely died. Peabody played occasional shows for special events, most notably, the annual Anne Rice Halloween party given by her fan club. And so now, in the new millennium, the band has enjoyed ten years of making original music and is ready to reemerge into the local New Orleans music scene. While they will probably never resume the touring schedule of years past, local fans can count on plenty more opportunities to see Peabody performing live once again. The unfinished third CD will almost definitely be completed, giving the Peabody faithful yet one more exciting project to look forward to.

The Time Has Come (2001-)

Sometime during 2001, in the midst of the longest Peabody hiatus to date, Steven talked with Chris about getting together on a weekly basis to play. This wasn't to do Peabody; it was just to get together and jam again. Steven contacted Peabody's original bassist, Lou Carollo, to see what he thought about getting together regularly to play some songs (mostly Rush). Everyone thought it was a great idea and soon Steven, Chris and Lou were all together in the same practice room, just playing for the sake of playing.

It didn't take long for the guys to get Karen to join in on their weekly jam sessions, and soon the original Peabody line-up was together again for the first time in six years. News of the former Egyptian Room recording equipment resurfacing in its new location encouraged thoughts of completing the band's unfinished third album. All of the original recordings from the Egyptian Room sessions were done with Thomas McDonald playing bass. Instead of picking up from those tracks, a decision was made to scrap the previous recordings and start from scratch. In July of 2002, Peabody was once again in the studio laying down tracks for the follow-up to Heroine.

Although everything sounded great and the band was anxious to get the CD completed, recording was sporadic; sometimes months would pass between sessions. Finally, on June 13th, 2003, the recording, mixing and mastering of These Things Take Time, as it was appropriatly dubbed, was complete. Artwork by longtime band roadie/assistant/photographer Ritchie Champage was finalized and the CD was finally ready.

Experiments

2000-01-01T12:02:00.003-06:00

This is a collection of instrumentals I've done for various projects over the years. Most were for a guitar website I used to participate in. I've decided to make the full versions of these songs freely available for download.

Pipeline
Moldy
Olympus
Acidic Bond (IHR Theme)
Feelgood Hit
Invaded By Giants
Raybreak
Spectral Dependence
The Momentum Of Truth
Beneath The Surface

My Gear

2000-01-01T12:01:00.002-06:00

Gretsch Tennessee Rose
This is the ultimate guitar. The only guitar I've ever had a real craving for, I finally broke down and purchased it. I can honestly say that for my tastes, there is no better guitar made out there today.

Paul Reed Smith CE 22
My main solid body guitar, this PRS has a "10" rated, three piece maple top under the tobacco sunburst finish. It also has the very nice bird inlaid fret markers that have become a PRS signature.

1953 Gibson ES-125
The oldest guitar in my collection, this is also the guitar that has the most sentimental value to me. It belonged to the man that gave me my first opportuninties to play guitar in front of people. When he passed away, the family allowed me to buy it.

1989 Fender Strat w/ MIDI
This was the first real guitar I bought and was my main stage guitar until the Rickenbacker came along. The PRS eventually retired it for good. I retrofitted it with a MIDI pick-up and use it alot for sequencing at my home studio. This guitar has the greatest feeling neck in the world.

Danelectro 59-DC
This was a guitar that I won as part of Peabody winning the Duelin' Divas contest. While Danelectros are essentially cheap pieces of crap, they are, in my opinion, the absolute best sounding pieces of crap you can buy. I use it to record most of my demos for new Peabody songs.

Fender CG-25SCE
An inexpensive classical guitar with a pick-up that I used to record an instrumental Christmas album. I've always wanted to have a classical guitar for those times that I get in the mood to play that style of music.

Danelectro 6 String Bass
This is a reissue of the classic 60's model that was the original 6 string bass. Unlike today's basses, this one is tuned to guitar pitch, one octave lower. Fender later copied this design with the Fender Bass VI. Sounds incredible for the extremely low price.

Ibanez JS1000
This is Ibanez's Joe Satriani model. I really love this guitar. It has a great sound and plays as smooth as silk. This is the only guitar I have that has a floating tremolo system.

Johnson Millenium Stereo 150
My main amplifier now. This is pretty much one amp that does it all. Being a technology junkie, this is the perfect amp for me. Unfortunately, due to insufficient marketing, the Johnson amplifier company is no longer around.

Roland JC-120
Many years of service from this bad boy. Now put into semi-retirement, for studio use only.

Digitech GSP-2101
I've been with this Digitech line ever since the GSP-21 way back when we started playing live shows. Like the JC-120, this is no longer on active duty after having been replaced by the (Digitech powered) JM-150 modeling amp.

A Guitar For Christmas

2000-01-01T12:00:00.003-06:00

Jingle Bells
O Come, All Ye Faithful
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Joy To The World
The First Noel
Silent Night
What Child Is This?
Ave Maria
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
O, Little Town Of Bethlehem
O Christmas Tree
We Wish You A Merry Christmas
O, Holy Night
Deck The Halls
Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring

Heroine

1996-08-02T12:00:00.005-05:00

Heroine takes Peabody into new directions, with both lush string arrangements and hard driving rock tunes included within its eleven songs.

Karen Protti - Vocals
Steven Dennis - Guitars
Jimmy Legnon - Bass
Chris Bailey - Drums

Released August 2, 1996
Recorded at Our House Recording Studio
Produced and Engineered by Peabody

Tell Him
Wouldn't You?
Over My Head
All Of The Light
Heroine
Blue
Where's The Time?
Two Reasons Why
Broken String
Looking For Fun
World's Cycle

Lost In Old Rivers

1994-05-20T12:00:00.005-05:00

Lost In Old Rivers is considered to be the first full album released by Peabody. Containing twelve songs, the CD perfectly captured the essence of Peabody's music.

Karen Protti - Vocals
Steven Dennis - Guitars
Lou Carollo - Bass
Chris Bailey - Drums

Released May 20, 1994
Recorded at Our House Recording Studio
Produced and Engineered by Peabody

You'll Never Know
Lower Line
Just Another Song
I Need To Go
All Three Sides
It's Leaking
When To End
Swim
Come And Sit With Me In My Shower
Birds Will Follow
Selfish Self
Colors Never Seen

Unsigned

1991-01-01T12:00:00.001-06:00

Unsigned is the first Peabody recording released for sale. The cassette contained the band's first studio session on side one and tracks culled from a live recording on side two. Unsigned was only printed in limited numbers and is now no longer available.

Karen Protti - Vocals
Steven Dennis - Guitars
Lou Carollo - Bass
Chris Bailey - Drums

Released 1991
Studio Side recorded at Southlake Studios, February 1991
Produced by Peabody and Steve Himelfarb
Engineered by Steve Himelfarb
Live Side recorded at Jimmy's Music Club, August 1991
Produced by Peabody and Ritchie Cortez
Engineered by Ritchie Cortez and George Nehrey

Birds Will Follow
No Excuse
The Candle Song
Veil Of Ignorance
Swim
Where's The Time
Downside
Fall
Distance