A Journey Through The Past: Re-examining ‘Crashing Dream‘

Rain Parade | Crashing Dream | (Island LP) 1985 | The early to mid-1980s saw a wave of conservatism wash over America. This was the era of Reagan and MTV. And despite the latter’s groundbreaking video programming, for every uniquely cool band they turned you on to, you had to endure dozens of generically bland artists awash in too many synths, big hair and spandex.

But at the same time, something remarkable was happening: a full-blown underground music revolution. Across America, countless indie rock labels, regional fanzines, and college radio stations were embracing new bands coming out of smaller cities, such as Winston-Salem, Hoboken, and Athens, as well as megalopolises like Boston and Los Angeles.

Among the artists at the forefront of this movement was LA’s Rain Parade, they were descendants of earlier Southern California outfits, like The Byrds, Love, and The Doors, but also the sounds of swinging London: “Tomorrow Never Knows” era Beatles and Syd Barrett‘s Pink Floyd before he fell off his “Bike”. The band had gained a following locally in the early ’80s as part of the LA Paisley Underground scene, but by 1985 that had grown to include national and international audiences.

Rain Parade | Crashing Dream | (Island LP) 1985

Touring was essential to spread the gospel and Rain Parade crisscrossed America many times, and made forays into the UK and mainland Europe. Part of the magic of this era was that rules didn’t really exist in smaller clubs. You could march into a backstage area during soundcheck and engage your favourite new bands (i.e., total strangers) in conversation that would cover the gamut from inviting them to sleep on your couch, driving them to the local college radio station for an on air interview, laying a cassette of your own band on them or asking about other bands from their town to watch out for. Remember, folks, we couldn’t ‘google’ anything yet.

Rain Parade’s music hit several buttons for me, the blend of pop and psychedelia, the twin guitars that took Verlaine & Lloyd and blended it with Harrison and Gilmour. String sounds that sometimes came from a real violin player, other times from a prototype digital mellotron. The vocals were just one ‘part’ of the sound – there was no obvious Bono or Jagger frontman.

Intellectuals

Lyrically, singer/songwriters Matt Piucci & Steven Roback dealt with personal pain, the wanderlust landscape of Kerouac’s America, and the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. These guys were intellectuals, but not overly clever wordsmiths – there was no aspiring Leonard Cohens or Dylans here. You didn’t need a dictionary to decipher the meaning, but if you had a heart and soul, then you were captivated by the message. Occasionally, that included a socio-political angle.

Many bands in the UK were clearly paying attention to Rain Parade. That was apparent soon after with the emergence of Stone Roses, Teenage Fanclub, Ride and others, I clearly remember Andrew Lauder calling me up and telling me (circa 1989) that the members of Stone Roses had worn out the Rain Parade vinyl he’d given them and he had to provide them with another set!

Rain Parade | Crashing Dream | (Island LP) 1985

During the band’s two recent tours of England and Scotland, members of those bands came out to shake hands and grab selfies with these guys, proving once again, that music is the international language and bond between many of us. Traveling back to the beginning, the Rain Parade’s second 12-inch, ‘Explosions In The Glass Palace’, produced by Jim Hill, caught the attention of Island Records UK, whose emissaries started showing up regularly at LA clubs to check out the burgeoning LA Paisley Underground scene. Rain Parade signed with Island and proceeded into the studio in spring of ’85 to record what would become the ‘Crashing Dream’ album.

In a perfect world, Jim Hill, who was responsible for some of the magic of ‘Explosions’, would have been kept on as producer. But record company execs had other ideas. Happily, Jim is back in the fold on the current Rain Parade team handling production duties, including a fine remastering of the original ‘Crashing Dream’ recordings with additional previously unreleased tracks for this deluxe edition.

Depending On You

The original ‘Crashing Dream’ album came out in the UK before it came out in America. When I arrived in London during Christmas 1985, there was no American vinyl yet, I headed to a record store and bought a cassette of it, because I was going to be traveling for the next year.

I recall the storekeeper told me, “I’m not that into this new album.” I got to my final destination in Denmark, bought a boombox and began playing it. To this day, I don’t know what the heck that Brit was on about. “Depending on You” was wonderful pop not unlike the band’s previous efforts. “My Secret Country” had a distinctive melancholy vibe coupled with wide landscape sonics. “Don’t Feel Bad” could have been something on the second Television album.

Rain Parade | Crashing Dream | (Island LP) 1985

“Mystic Green” had a bit of The Church vibe (the Australian band, who predated the Rain Parade, but over time became Rain Parade fans/friends). Yeah, sure there’s a 1980s production vibe (chiming guitars, big drums, synth keys) to this album – but for me, it fit into what else I was listening to.

Hardcore fans already knew “Sad Eyes Kill” from being released as a flexi-disc by the London based Paisley Underground magazine Bucketful of Brains (run by the fab Nigel Cross). This was a re-recording of that recent tune. But since the ‘Crashing Dream’ version wasn’t quite as dynamic as the Bucketful of Brains version, we have wisely swapped it out!

“Shoot Down the Railroad Man” has that trademark Rain Parade guitar sound, not unlike “No Easy Way Down”, and as I listen to it now, it’s overdue to be put into the current day setlist. In fact, the song structure isn’t unlike some of Matt’s more recent tunes. This song could have been on ‘Last Days of a Dying Sun’.

I personally always loved Steven’s “Fertile Crescent”. I even once chose it for a Paisley Box set for Rykodisc that never saw the light of day. Ethereal, fragile, captivating. This is pure Robackian!

“Invisible People” is mysterious, and like “Shoot Down The Railroad Man”, it foreshadows the material that the 2020’s Rain Parade would write and record.

Rain Parade | Crashing Dream | (Island LP) 1985

As I listen to these songs, I’m reminded of the tasteful, crafted keyboard parts that Will Glenn brought, it’s a pity that he’s no longer with us. “Gone West” is Rain Parade’s own “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”. A ghostly track about American expansionism and life on the western edge of the continent, when there’s nowhere left to go. A tribute to LA, Rain Parade’s city of origin, with lyrics that evoke red skies, earthquakes, and swirling angels of fire, all shrouded in storms of backwards guitar. A must hear track.

“Only Business” was a perfect way to end this album, because as the band quickly learned, their time on Island Records was short, as the album was barely released in America with no promotion. They toured America in 1986 without label support and called it a day (for a while) when they got home.

In the early 1990s, I learned that I wasn’t the only transient who took ‘Crashing Dream’ along as their soundtrack. I met a young Itinerant Austrian traveling through Europe, he carried a vinyl LP along with his rucksack from town to town.

In the past, this Rain Parade album has been overlooked. But looking back from this point In time, the album’s lyrical themes and musical explorations have become ever more relevant. In many ways, the time has come for ‘Crashing Dream’, now expanded into a double album that tells even more of the story. It’s all starting to make sense In the scheme of things now,

Pat Thomas Los Angeles, January 2025

Line-up:
Will Glenn (keyboards)
Mark Marcum (drums / percussion)
Matt Piucci (guitars, vocals)
Steven Roback (bass, piano, vocals)
John Thoman (guitars, background vocals)

Recorded at Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles, Ca. September 1985

Originally released on Island Records (ILPS 9805)
Re-issue: Label 51 (LAB 51025) for Record Store Day 2025

Hit Parade

Jack Barron steps on the thrill rail to shower praise on the Rain Parade

THE ONLY kind of sex I can imagine performing to the exquisite, perfumed garden noise of Rain Parade is tender. Maybe this is why Matt Piucci is looking a trifle worried by the dominatrix with the riding crop in Hamburg’s Reeperbahn.

“Hey dude, I’m not too keen on the whip,” he complains as he poses to have his picture taken.

“Vut eez wrong with it?” demands the woman in black. Her name is Michelle, and a nicer person to be flogged by, one couldn’t find in Germany.

“Ah, I’m just not into that scene,” explains Matt.

“Have you ever tried eet?” interrogates the maitresse.

“No, I guess I haven’t,” admits the young American singer-guitarist with a shy smile.

“You should,” scolds Michelle. “It can take your mind to strange places . . . ”

Or your mouth, come to that, as indeed many people do. Rain Parade give a whole new meaning to the term ‘head music’, I thought to myself. Upon turning round to impart this feeble pun to Will Glenn, nick-named the Vice Chancellor for obvious reasons, I discovered the band’s, um, organist had disappeared into the city’s flesh furlong. Probably after something bestial, the perverted dog.

As you may have deduced, Rain Parade are everything you didn’t expect to taste in a sonic omelette made from the curate’s egg of neo-psychedelia: intelligence, humour, irony, awareness, pleasure, sensitivity and cockiness spread, so far, over two staggeringly beautiful albums.

‘Emergency Third Rail Power Trip’ and ‘Explosions In The Glass Palace’ are the aural equivalent of looking at the malaise of the US through a kaleidoscope, a microcosm of textural distortions in which extremes of dark and light collide. Listen to them and it’s like having your ears syringed with fireworks.

To cap it all, the blue touch-paper for the incandescent display — the songs — is equally illuminating. In the space of two albums, Rain Parade have deluged us with a golden shower of truly classic tunes and words. The only other young composer who comes close is the leader of their favourite group, Dan Stuart, of Green On Red.

Forget about all this guff concerning Dandruff Mountains in the Paisley Underground. That’s hippy-speak by people who wouldn’t recognise an elephant if it trod on them. Rain Parade and Green On Red are due to be global entertainment. They are too intelligent to be losers, though it may take Dan Stuart’s outfit a little longer, because, unlike Matt and his mates, they don’t have the corporate muscle of Island behind them.

More than a euphemism for what you can get your teeth round, ‘head music’ also bespeaks a certain intellect intent on exploration. Rain Parade don’t think it’s an accident that they all went to college. Will to study English Lit at Yale, guitarist John Thoman to do an aborted PhD in Psychology, bassist Steven Roback to UCLA Berkley, and drummer Mark Marcum to the Percussion Institute Of Technology. However . . .

“It’s not school that makes us what we are,” denies Steve over breakfast. “I think we’re more a reaction against school, insofar as it’s the institutionalisation of thought and lack of progression.”

Since this is already Rain Parade’s second interview in Sounds — where were the opposition rags last year? — I don’t propose to give you a blow by blow account of the band’s fairly turbulent history. Consult Nigel Cross’ sleevenotes on ‘Emergency Third Rail Power Trip’ or Edwin Pouncey’s feature if you want to catch up. And you should want to, buster.

Nonetheless, it’s perhaps pertinent to mention in passing that Rain Parade’s main storms have been caused by their drummers blowing out because they couldn’t play the parts the group wrote for them. The addition of Marc has stabilised the line-up. Unbelievably, he was rescued from an LA heavy metal scream called VVSI — Very Very Slight Imperfections —”As in diamonds, man, the haaardest rock,” crows Will.

DIRECTION?

Matt: “It wasn’t like ‘Hey, let’s start a band’ and then we started playing music and arrived at the sound. I think we all had the desire to play the music we ended up playing. I think the direction of the band was around before there even was a band.”

Steve: “When we started in 1981 we spent a year living in Venice practising, groping for the sound we knew we’d recognise when we found how to do it . . . “

Will: “It seems to me the Beach Boys were very much in people’s minds when I came.”

Matt: “Yeah, ‘Pet Sounds’, my favourite album of all time.”

From a brief flirtation with Mersey-Beat modes, Rain Parade suddenly perfected the instantly recognisable style which persists today. The breakthrough was ‘Kaleidoscope’, the flip of their first single, according to Matt. The sonic hypnotism had begun. Significantly enough, the band had yet to play a gig when their first vinyl hit the streets.

To be blunt, even though the group’s show at Onkle Po’s club in Hamburg was more secure than their recent Dingwall’s affair — preceded as it was by an acoustic set including a cover of Love‘s ‘Signed DC’ — the Parade are not yet a great live attraction in my opinion. Still, they have time on their side.

DRUGS?

Yes, please.

“That’s such an asinine question . . . who do you think you are interviewing, John Lennon?” growls Matt. “I won’t answer that question.”

Of course he does, and at length. But do you really want to know pugnacious Piucci once ‘tripped’ and saw The Byrds live? It’s too easy to draw cheap conclusions from that. More to the point is: “Drugs just exacerbated the schism between formal education and us,” says the man.

Why is it when I’ve seen you play live I wish I’d had some LSD?

“I’ll tell you why,” tirades Matt. “People are really out of touch with their spiritual side in this day and age. Punks are among the worst in that respect. Unfortunately, people have to take something as strong as LSD to get in touch with the more sensitive and gentle side of their existence, which is a pathetic statement on humanity.”

Thanks. I’m not talking about lyrics, but sound . . .

“Our music isn’t that visceral, that’s why,” pinpoints John accurately. “It has no heavy beat, and people tend to think in dualistic terms. So if it isn’t body music, it’s head music.”

Will: “What I get from your statement is that you hear something in our music that you’ve experienced more directly when you were tripping. I think that’s good.”

BLOODY HIPPIES?

Do punks call you that in America?

Matt: “Not really. Often people who think they’re punks, never punks themselves.”

Steve: “It’s funny. Only one person has called me a hippy and that was in England at the Island Records party for us. The woman implied we were all hippies, including her, and I resented that. I think she worked for Melody Maker. We walk the borders between extroversion and introversion, and it’s a tenuous zone.”

Matt reckons one of the reasons for the existence of Rain Parade is as a reaction against “the fascist dictatorship of speed punk and heavy metal in the States. It’s easy to go into battle with a machine gun rather than a knife. Clubs where intense volume rock is played are the loneliest places in the world. That’s why people get out of their heads to compensate.”

SLAGS?

Matt: “Frankie Goes To Hollywood, that’s all Trevor Horn’s work so far as I can see. Not to slag our label mates, but the Frankies are nails in boards, not even f***ing human . . . ”

“Reagan, gaaaah, don’t even mention him,” moans Will. “Because we come from America, people think that we support him. He’s horrific, but he did create a sense of community in America by trading on its worst aspects.”

“But so did Hitler,” adds Matt with sarcastic relevance.

“Yeah. He hasn’t charted for a while, but Hitler’s back catalogue is worth a fortune,” continues Will on the trail of good taste.

Matt: “Reagan is similar to Hitler. Rosalind Carter said something brilliant about him. She said Reagan makes us feel comfortable with our prejudices.”

So does Thatcher . . .

Matt: “Thatcher loves him. I’d die to see porno films of them together.”

PORN?

“I think the cartoon pornography in Japan is pretty cool,” enthuses John coyly.

“Personally, I like watching guitars getting stripped down,” jibes Steve with fine wit. But Will, the Vice Chancellor? Aaaah . . .

“I love the existence of the most perverse form of animal pornography,” admits the organist candidly. “I could talk about what’s bad about pornography, it definitely reveals something bad about society and me.”

Steve: “Whales, dolphins and deep underwater sex, that’s cool.”

“Nah, anal sex, that’s definitely the best shot in porn,” argues Matt.

“That’s true,” concurs Will. “I like the idea of being able to see animal sex and contemplate it, but I think the anus is the most erotic thing. Maybe because I had a tough toilet training. My mother used to hold me under the tap.”

Funny that. The only sex I can imagine performing to Rain Parade is tender . . . but I didn’t say where. (Sounds, 01/06/85)