Compilations and Tributes

In the early days of DREG Records, we sought out opportunities to disperse Facade material, plus expand the DREG catalog. DREG produced two compilations: "DREGs of the Internet" (featuring Facade's "Light Years"), and "People of the Southwind - A Tribute to Kansas" (featuring "Lonely Wind" and an instrumental medley of Kansas songs).

At the same time, I submitted songs to several other compilations being produced by other indie labels. One was "E-Progeny" - some sort of collection of electronic-prog artists (whatever that is). I think that one featured a song called "Dancing with Skeletons." There were several other compilations that included various Facade songs, but to name them, I'd have to dig through storage to find the CDs. They're all classics, I'm sure...

Meanwhile, I then got involved in tribute compilations, mostly because I started working with new vocalists, and this was an easy way to get to know each other. Also, UseNet and email discussion groups were in full bloom, and many tried to put out fan tributes to their favorite bands. I headed up the Kansas tribute, even sending a copy to Robbie Steinhard's manager upon his request. (No, I never heard any feedback. And before you ask, this is long out of print and will not be re-issued, due to licensing issues.) More recently in 2005, I covered a version of Kansas' "Belexes", just for kicks.

After the success of the Kansas tribute, I recorded songs for other tributes between 1998 and 2000 which never saw the light of day, as far as I know. This included Dream Theater (an unfinished version of "Surrounded"), Yes ("Parallels"), and Rush ("A Farewell to Kings/Analog Kid" and "Chemistry"). There may have been others I don't remember.

What is "DREG"?

DREG is a clever acronym for "Domestic Recording & Entertainment Group", which is a clever way of saying "It's a record label, but could be anything else related to entertainment that we feel like delving into." Back in 1995 or so, I had a collection of songs that I wanted to release, and also to test the viability of the inter-web as a new means of mass-marketing. DREG was created as an indie record label, to give my release some credibility and marketing muscle. With some investing by friends and collaborators, DREG released Facade's "fade" to inter-stellar rave reviews in 1996. And by "rave," I mean "mediocre."

It wasn't long before I realized that one release does not make a record label, and that additional artists/releases would be needed to help cross-promote my own endeavors. DREG produced and released a compilation of other progressive-rock artists found on the web, called "DREGs of the Internet." This was followed by a few other compilations, submitting songs to other company's compilations, as well as adding some other indie bands to the roster and marketing their self-produced CDs. By 1998, DREG had about a dozen prog-related releases available.

The net effect of all of this was modest sales. It reached the point where to grow DREG, I would need to invest more time and money. I quickly realized that the time I had been puting into DREG was taking away from precious time I needed to do the thing that I originally set out to do - create new music. So by 2000, DREG was shelved; it existed by name only, the remaining inventory was sold off, and my time was once again returned to music. This web-site (and a few business cards) is pretty much all that remains of DREG. But Facade lives on...