Terry Waterman on drums, vocals, guitar, percussion and Steve McKenzie guitar, bass, vocals, guitar synth, sitar guitar, are West Coast music veterans who recently decided to join forces as Dopus Opus.
As they explain, “growing up, we loved the immersive experience that listening to music could bring. We want our own music to capture some of that spirit and take listeners on a sonic journey. We added “found sounds” and also at times, used the stereo field as our playground. There was laughter and lighthearted fun too. We hope all of that comes through in the music.”
Why stress the fact that they’re a West Coast band? Because The Lake Sessions, their first offering, sounds as if it was naturally grown (in every aspect of the meaning of that term) somewhere between San Francisco and Los Angeles, with the late ’60s and early ’70s in mind.
From the opening “We Need Love” and songs like “Speeding By,” actually, throughout the album, the soul of The Grateful Dead, spirit of The Spirit and any other evocative element of the music of the West Coast of that time period come to life in the music of Dopus Opus.
Yet, instead of just mimicking the sounds of wherever their inspiration came from, Dopus Opus seem to have picked up the essence of that sound and turned it into something that actually firmly belongs in modern times and current musical trends.
As Garcia, Weir and all of The Grateful Dead used to say “what a long strange trip it’s been.” Dopus Opus add, ‘it still is.’
