DREDG Kills at Chicago’s House of Blues

By: Brady Lavin

The House of Blues may no longer be the place to see anything bluesy, but they do book the latest and greatest live acts around. Last Friday night, 1300+ hipsters, myself included, crammed into the Chicago House of Blues, most of them waiting anxiously through the opening bands to see Anthony Green the apparently dreamy frontman of alternative rock band Circa Survive. In between the openers (Animals as Leaders, Codeseven, and DREDG), the words “Anthony Green” were heard whispered, shrieked, and swooned all throughout the crowd, almost always from the multiple gaggles of girls peppering the audience.

While Mr. Green’s voice was not blown out from a long tour as it so often is, and he did put on a great show with Circa Survive, he was definitely given a run for his money by vocalist Gavin Hayes of DREDG, who played immediately before Circa.

Hayes, while lacking Green’s incredible high range, has one of the clearest, purest voices in rock right now, beaten out by only Brandon Boyd of Incubus, Cedric Bixler-Zavala of the Mars Volta and maybe a few others. And he sang in perfect intonation for the entirety of DREDG’s set, which doesn’t happen nearly enough at rock shows. They obviously did not need any Auto-Tune on their albums.

At the start of their set, DREDG’s brand of high-energy alternative rock immediately resonated with the audience, causing the squished crowd to move as one more than openers usually do. There were a decent amount of DREDG fans in attendance, but the mostly-Circa-fan crowd was quickly won over by their dark intensity combined with an upbeat, driving force.

That dark intensity often came during the verses of songs, which tend to build up to huge, uplifting choruses with melodies that are sing-a-long-able even if it’s the first time hearing it. After one chorus, the hook is forever stuck in the head of whoever is listening. That’s what makes DREDG so great; there is a weirdness, an edginess to their songs that makes them consistently interesting, never dragging on or getting old, but they also have an element of mass appeal provided by catchy choruses that somehow aren’t poppy.

Mark Engles, the lead guitarist (Gavin Hayes occasionally straps one on as well), had a plethora of spacey and punchy guitar tones, which were easily some of the best of the night. While Hayes and bassist Drew Roulette would occasionally add some atmospheric elements using synths, most of the soundscape tones and crazy punctuation effects were provided by Engles’s guitar, which ran through an impressive pedal board. Roulette and drummer Dino Campanella anchored the band well, playing some rather complicated rhythms and grooves while making them sound simple and natural.

Something happened at this concert that is almost unheard of at any concert, no matter what genre: an opening band had better sound than the headliner. Usually, the opening bands are mixed quieter and with a thinner overall sound in order to make the headliner sound better, but for some reason, DREDG had a much fuller sound than Circa Survive did, so good that they sound just like their recorded material. No one was complaining, though, because Circa fans got to see and hear the dreamy Anthony Green, and music fans got to hear some really great opening bands in Animals as Leaders and Codeseven, but especially DREDG.

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Photo Credit: Brady Lavin

Photo Credit: Brady Lavin

Photo Credit: Brady Lavin

Photo Credit: Brady Lavin

Photo Credit: Brady Lavin