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The Dregs are a comedy folk band of six performers based in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota. Live performances are partially improvised. They perform around the Midwest and have recorded eight albums. [1]
The Dregs began as an a cappella group formed by improv comedian and bodhrán drummer Tim Wick [2] at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival in 2001 under the moniker "Pub Kin". It consisted loosely of over a dozen members who were meant to serve drinks and entertain patrons of Mac's Pub, a vacant merchant shop turned ale house with an Irish theme. In practice, it became problematic for performers to operate the pub on their own, so tending bar became the responsibility of the Minnesota Jaycees, [3] and Pub Kin was reduced to purely a music act.
In 2002, the band was pared down to just five members and added elements of improv comedy to their performances. Soon thereafter, the band began making public appearances at venues outside of the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. The Dregs released their first album "Are You Gonna Drink That?" in 2003, consisting of traditional Irish ballads, silly drinking tunes, and bawdy songs. Expanding beyond a cappella, the album included several songs with accompaniment by guitarist Sean Larson. Impressed with the musical talents of their recording engineer, The Dregs asked Chad Dutton to join the act. In 2005 they released another full-length album "Our Drunk Goes to Eleven" and the CD Single "Johnny Jump-Up".
Half of the cast stepped down from The Dregs in late 2005 and were soon replaced by Rachael Salisbury, Frost Simula, and Angelina Lais. To highlight the new talent, the band released a live album, "Uncorked," in 2007, and another studio album "Thank You, Sir. May I Have Another?" just a year later in 2008. By this time, the band had established itself as a local comedy and music act with several bars, [4] music venues, conventions, and private events in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area, as well as additional Renaissance faires in the Midwest.
Vocalist and comedian Angelia Lais departed from the act following The Dregs Holiday Special performance in December 2009. Interested in expanding instrumentation, mezzo-soprano and violinist (and occasional violist/mandolin player) Molly Zupon was recruited in early 2010. Frost Simula left the band at the end of 2011 at which time Geoffrey M. Brown, who had been participating with The Dregs throughout 2011, joined the group as the guitarist. [5]
The Dregs released their seventh album "Do It Like You're Drunk" [6] [7] in 2012. In 2013, The Dregs took their comedy show to the Minnesota Fringe Festival in a tongue and cheek one-act called 'A Brief History of Irish Music'. [8] Also in 2013, they collaborated with fellow local Irish band Four Pints Shy [9] on live recording, "2 Bands 1 Show". [10] [11] [12]
Geoffrey Brown left The Dregs in 2015 to pursue other artistic ventures, and Paul Score joined The Dregs as the guitarist in 2016. In 2017, Chad Dutton left the band, and djembe player and accordionist Trevor Hartman joined. [13] Trevor and Paul bring with them years of experience and camaraderie as they performed together in the Renaissance Festival band 'Folk Underground', which opened for Minnesota Renaissance iconic comedy group Puke and Snot. [14]
The Dregs continue to play at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival at Mac's Pub. [15]
The Dregs have been featured most prominently at their birthplace, the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. [16] They make nearly a dozen appearances per day, costumed and acting as a peasant Irish band, and are still a mainstay at Mac's Pub. [17] Similar performances have been at the Siouxland Renaissance Festival in Sioux Falls, SD, [18] Riverssance Festival in Sioux City, Iowa, and at the Olde World Renaissance Faire in Twig, MN.
While music is a vehicle for their comedy, The Dregs main draw is a combination of their stage antics and their ridiculous lyrics. Themes which garner the most attention are songs about science fiction, [19] rednecks, [20] chickens, [21] and zombies. [22] To date, their most popular song is the apocalyptic undead ballad "Zombies in the Shire", [23] [24] [25] featured on the album "Thank You, Sir. May I Have Another?"
Released: 2003
Recorded at: Rainbow Records
Engineered by: Chad Dutton
Album art by: Christopher Jones
Released: 2005
Recorded at: Rainbow Records
Engineered by: Chad Dutton
Album art by: Christopher Jones
Released: 2005
Engineered by: Chad Dutton
Album art by: Christopher Marcy
Released: 2008
Engineered by: Chad Dutton
Album art by: Frost Simula
Released: 2008
Recorded at: Curbside Studios
Engineered by: Chad Dutton
Album art by: Frost Simula
Released: 2011
Recorded at: Curbside Studios
Album art by: Frost Simula
Released: 2012
Recorded at: Shock and Awe Studio
Engineered by: Joey Olsen
Produced by: Rachael Salisbury
Mastered by: Chad Dutton
Album art by: Geoffrey M Brown
Released: 2013
Recorded live at: Parkway Theatre
Engineered by: Stephan Ahonen
Produced by: Chad Dutton
Album art by: Geoffrey M Brown
Released: 2019
Recorded at: Wild Sound Recording Studio
Engineered by: Steve Kaul
Album art by: Lindsay Jane
White Zombie was an American heavy metal band that formed in 1985. Based in New York City, they started as a noise rock band, releasing three EPs and one studio album in that style before changing to a heavy metal-oriented sound that broke them into the mainstream. The albums La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One (1992) and Astro-Creep: 2000 (1995) established them as an influential act in groove metal and industrial metal, respectively. Their best-known songs include "Thunder Kiss '65", "Black Sunshine" and "More Human than Human". The group officially disbanded in 1998. In 2000, White Zombie was included on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, ranking at No. 56.
The Zombies are an English rock band formed in St Albans in 1961. Led by keyboardist/vocalist Rod Argent and vocalist Colin Blunstone, the group had their first British and American hit in 1964 with "She's Not There". In the US, two further singles—"Tell Her No" in 1965 and "Time of the Season" in 1968—were also successful.
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Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 British romantic zombie comedy film directed by Edgar Wright, who co-wrote it with Simon Pegg. The film stars Pegg as Shaun, a downtrodden London salesman who gets caught alongside his loved ones in a zombie apocalypse. It also stars Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran, Bill Nighy, and Penelope Wilton. It is the first installment in Wright and Pegg's Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, followed by Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World's End (2013), both of which also star Pegg and Frost.
Dixie Dregs is an American rock band from Augusta, Georgia. Formed in 1970, the band's performance consists entirely of instrumentals that fuse elements of diverse genres such as rock, classical music, country, jazz and bluegrass into an eclectic sound that is difficult to categorize. Recognized for their virtuoso playing, the Dixie Dregs were identified with the southern rock, progressive rock and jazz fusion scenes of the 1970s.
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Frost* are an English neo-prog supergroup, formed in 2004 by Jem Godfrey and members of Arena, Kino, and IQ. Frost* released their first studio album, Milliontown, in 2006, before splitting up. In 2008, Godfrey reformed Frost*, adding Darwin's Radio vocalist and guitarist, Declan Burke, to the lineup, and released their second album, Experiments in Mass Appeal. The band disbanded again in 2011, to reunite later in September, after a brief hiatus.
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