Dreams So Real

1984–1994

originally published February 28, 2007

Among the groups that populated the second-wave of the Athens music scene, certainly none proved as controversial in the arena of scene credibility while also being poised at the precipice of fame and fortune. Funny thing is, though, that for all the nay-saying and sour grapes foisted upon Dreams So Real, the genesis of the band was identical to hundreds of other bands that have passed through our town.

Bassist Trent Allen and drummer Drew Worsham had been friends since grade school and played together for several years. Allen's older brother Terry was already a scene staple in Athens and was, as they say, tuned in to the band scene and had made a practice of documenting the early days via his photography. Trent says, "It's very important to say we knew all about Athens from Terry.” Worsham says, "Terry had been up here and we got to come visit Athens and stay with him, and we got to see R.E.M. at the Mad Hatter and party at Mike Mills' house afterward, which was so cool for us. We were just little punks!” Before moving to Athens, Barry Marler was living in Clemson, SC. "I had some bands in Clemson, but I had been coming to Athens and going to the 40 Watt and other places. I saw XTC at the B&L Warehouse and I know I saw R.E.M. I saw Pylon. Athens just seemed like a mecca. I remember when I was sitting in Clemson thinking that if I could go to Athens and play the 40 Watt Club, that would be a dream.” When Allen and Worsham moved to Athens to attend college, they left behind their guitarist, who was still in high school. According to Worsham, "There was this girl who worked at The Grill, which at the time was located where Five Star Day Café is now, and she had seen me and Trent play before and I went in there to see her, and Barry [Marler] was behind the counter cooking, so she introduced us.” For his part, though, Marler isn't entirely sure who met whom where, but he is sure that the chemistry was immediate between the three. "I was hanging out at Wax Jr. Facts [a short-lived Athens branch of Atlanta record store located where Jackson Street Books currently stands] and got to know Neil MacArthur and Michael Lachowski. One day, I met Drew. I was working at The Grill. I met one at Wax and one at The Grill. It became obvious that they were friends, and we got together and I went over to their apartment and played my songs.” Prominence soon arrived for the new band. "We got a show opening for Oh-OK. They had a record coming out," says Marler. "It was at the 40 Watt on Broad Street. We only had seven or eight songs, and when people wanted an encore, we just played the first song again. I was so nervous. I thought about just driving my car out to Oconee County and sitting there until the time had passed!”

At the Time

Then, as now, Athens was not entirely friendly to bands who made no bones about wanting music to be a career and not just a hobby. Allen remembers, "We were a little more mission-oriented [than other bands around town], not so much to get a record deal, but to be successful. Not at any price, but we did have a goal. We wanted to be a good band and successful. Or cool and successful. It's not easy to do either!” Early gigs saw the band performing at the 40 Watt's Broad Street incarnation and The Uptown Lounge, and sharing gigs with Kilkenny Cats, Drivin' N' Cryin' and, oddly enough, Widespread Panic. But things moved very quickly for Dreams So Real, and it was signed by Minneapolis label Coyote, a subsidiary of Twin-Tone Records. Dreams So Real recorded its debut album Father's House with local engineer John Keane and saw it produced by R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck.

The band's appearance in the 1986 film Athens, Ga.: Inside/Out was tainted by the fact that Dreams So Real was the only band to have its interview portions not included in the final cut; various scenesters tugging the ears of the film's producers almost conspired to have the group left out entirely, claiming they weren't part of the "real" Athens scene. "[Director] Tony Gayton and one of the producers called me and asked if we'd do it," remembers Marler, "and I said sure. A lot of people in town thought we were mercenaries and wanted to be rock stars, so there was some backlash against us. Somehow, the movie's producers got this idea that we were this way, so they cut our part to just showing us in the studio. But when the movie came out, we had become much more successful, so in the ads for the movie and soundtracks we were featured prominently! It just left a bad taste in my mouth.” By 1988 or so, the "Athens sound” was - for better or worse - causing major labels to sniff around the scene; Dreams So Real, which was already charting a career, became a group to watch. Allen says the band had a very clear plan of success. "It was very orchestrated," he says. "We sent off a lot of tapes, did everything we could. We did showcases in New York. We played at CBGB's and it seemed like a waste of time. But there was a girl that was with CBS Publishing that saw the show and she signed us to a publishing deal with CBS. One time, CBS rented out this studio in New York and record company people came. We had major-label interest, but it was the lower level like Arista and Chrysalis. If we had held out, we might have gotten a bigger label, but the feeling was that if Arista was behind you, that could be good. So there we were with Barry Manilow, Air Supply and Whitney Houston.” Armed with a major recording budget and a slew of new material that was road-sharpened and ready to go, the group flew to Los Angeles to record Rough Night In Jericho . Whereas the band had previously plowed the terrain populated by the neo-psychedelic and jangle-rock crowd, the new album was to be a beefed-up, muscular rock excursion. "We were growing and improving and Barry was getting better as a writer," says Allen, and Worsham adds, "We were touring constantly and hammering out our sound and sharpening our skills. Also, it's the difference between two weeks and a $10,000 budget and three months with a $200,000 budget.” Rough Night In Jericho and the lead single of the same name initially proved to be exactly what both the band and Arista were looking for. It was an instant and widespread success at radio stations across the country. Arista, though, was attempting to milk the song before releasing another one, thus costing the band precious momentum, but, at the time, the band was still enjoying good crowds and high-profile tours with labelmates The Church, Melissa Etheridge and ZZ Top.

After recording their next album for Arista, the bandmembers found themselves on a label that wasn't willing to do the necessary promotion. "We didn't realize that, to some extent, you have to do it all again. We came back with Gloryline . But we had heard that the label wasn't going to do a big push with it. The next thing you know, we got dropped after that record. The next demos were made just to try to keep our record deal,” Allen says. Marler recalls that Arista also wasn't terribly interested in the identity of the band. "They wanted the next R.E.M. One label person even said that to us! They also wanted us to do exactly what they wanted, when they wanted. At the time the president was Clive Davis, who would tell you how he discovered Janis Joplin and all these other people.”

Why the Split?

Without label support for Gloryline , the album "didn't do diddly," says Marler. "I didn't want to reinvent myself and try for another label. So it just kind of dissolved.” According to Allen, "It just kind of petered out. Me and Barry tried to do some stuff. The band played 'til we were out of the situation where we didn't have to play to pay the bills.” Financial concerns were definitely a factor in the band continuing to play as long as it did, though, and Marler says, "Our crew in 1986 was making $100 per diem! The reason I kept playing as long as I did after that point was 'cause I couldn't think of another way to make the money.” For his part, Worsham says, "It was gradually falling off about 1994. We never said, 'let's break up,' but we stopped touring and stopped actively paying our manager to shop us around.” The last release from Dreams So Real was the oddities and rarities collection Nocturnal Omissions , self-released in 1992.

These Days

After Dreams So Real packed it in, Allen reports, "I got into the design business. I was a sports enthusiast and I got into sports-related promotional stuff and eventually started designing it." He says, "One thing about the level of success we reached is that I've had my rock star dream happen. Now I can play music just for fun and not ever worry about playing it live. It's liberating.” Marler says of his post-DSR time, "I had been doing a bunch of mountain-bike racing and I think I wanted to get into physical therapy. I was good in physics and biology, and was going to go to medical school. Then, I met the girl I was gonna marry. Now I work at the Information Analyst Center for Applied Genetic Technologies at UGA.” Worsham immediately went to work as a bartender at The No Where Bar and played drums with Dodd Ferrelle. "I started digging deeper into the party scene, but had to stop," he says. "It was taking its toll. I moved to Brunswick and then Jessup and got an IT degree. I'm working on finishing my engineering degree and I do small- to medium-business networking," he reports.

In late 2003, Worsham survived a point-blank gunshot to the face during a home invasion attack by the ex-boyfriend of his fiancé in a case which saw his fiancé murdered and the ex-boyfriend committing suicide. Worsham survived only because the bullet lodged in his eye socket, preventing it from reaching his brain. "I don't remember anything that happened. I went through my post-traumatic period. Now I'm in the moment," he says. "I see [Dreams So Real] as a great ride. I have no regrets about the past. Anytime I've been able to play anywhere, even with a cover band, I'm happy. Anytime I get paid to play drums, I feel fortunate."

Gordon Lamb

That Beat in Time is a biweekly feature examining dearly departed local acts worth digging up.