PARAGON (Texas)
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Astrum Lux Lucis - guitar
David Gaudiello - bass
Wes Dodson - guitar
Larry Grzebielucha - drums
Initially spawning from four original, progressive rock instrumentals, penned by Wes Dodson.
Those tunes were recorded in May 1991, by the loving grace of Astrum's 4-track cassette recorder, and a relentless, pounding four string assault - courtesy of friend/ bassist, Dave Gaudiello - under the moniker MORON.
Dave and Wes would soon after pair with notable Knightmare founder/ guitarist, Astrum Lux Lucis, and drummer Larry Grzebielucha to form this unsung, but classy metal four piece.Band/artist history
Wes befriended Astrum Lux Lucis, founding guitarist of late 1980s Houston metal act, Knightmare, after seeing her band open for King Diamond on 26 November 1989.
http://youtu.be/OeMC85ow5ag
The following year, original bassist Bob Bitter and drummer Paul St. Clair departed Knightmare. It was at this time Astrum would entertain a suggestion from Wes brother-in-law duo, David Gaudiello and Shane Hall to fill the rhythm section vacancies.
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"I don't recall [Wes] introducing me to David and Shane, but I don't remember too much from those days."
Astrum Lux Lucis
06 June 2012
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The new lineup quickly began work on the follow up phase of Knightmare, releasing their sophomore demo in 1990, sporting a matured, focused direction in their offerings..
http://youtu.be/1ZbOB3XPZRY
However, the buzz of this new lineup would be short lived. Shane Hall would leave the band to join Prowl in May 1991.
In the weeks prior to leaving Knightmare, Shane had sat in a time or two with Dave and Wes, hashing away over the arrangements of an infant batch of originals that were pleading to materialize.
Also in May 1991, Wes would procure Astrum's 4 track cassette recorder. With his four string thumpin' pal Dave Gaudiello, and a necessary but ever annoying Yamaha DD-4 drum machine (previously purchased from a Bear Creek pawn shop), the two began recording what would become the opening chapter of a two decade long affair with the art of songwriting and recording that Wes has devoted much of his adult life to.
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"That time with [Astrum] and Dave was too short for any real progress."
Larry Grzebielucha
26 July 2012
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Those 4 track sessions yielded the finest preserved examples of Wes' earliest known focused efforts. "Sinead Is A Creep", "Belligerent Moron", "Big Biscuit Head", and "Over Baghdad each gleamed of his admiration for the creative team behind King Diamond; being in addition of a deep, personal respect for the fret board wizardry of Stride guitarists, Scott Smith and Joel Gregoire.
Dave would return in June to record bass for "The Silent Parable". A final track, "The Last Minuto of the Mouse" was recording sometime in early July; never finding its way to being mixed down or offered up during one of Paragon's few rehearsals.
Around this time, a copy of the May 1991 mix down had made its way back to Astrum's enthusiastic observations. Twenty one years later, Wes still vividly recalls her initial reaction to the material, "I thought you were just a kid recording Van Halen covers!"
With the future of Knightmare being a bleak prospect, Cheryl would before long grace Wes as a band mate... something he was ecstatic over, and equally humbled by.
The trio would briefly audition drummers. Among them was the late Patrick Henry Johnson, an acquaintance that Wes had first made in Bryan, Texas in 1987. The pair played on and off that year in a classic rock trio with guitarist, Med Lambert.
This line up is the earliest known line up of any serious mention, hence being the start of Wes' musical 'career'.
Wes and Pat would again cross paths again in 1993 to take their 3 song Cheesy Drip concept into a Houston studio.
http://www.soundclick.com/cheesydrip
However, Pat did not exactly meet the standards of a progressive metal unit, so the search continued...
There was a tape of an audition with a drummer simply known as Austin that has long since been lost with time. Austin was an amazing powerhouse bad ass. Problem was, his bad-ass-ness didn't correspond with progressive instrumentals written to the tune of a cheap-o drum machine. But... he WAS a bad ass! We can only presume that Austin went on to great things.
The trio would ultimately settle on a quite capable fellow named Larry Grzebielucha. We are reminded that he was a diabetic, while Wes remembers not liking him very much for some reason or another... Then again, his own self loathing was so profound at the time that he didn't like much anything or anyone. Hence, it's more than safe to say that Wes not liking something can certainly now be reflective of that.
It was recently noted that Grzebielucha and Astrum were also room mates for a brief period of time in those days.
During a rehearsal that July, a rare spark of magic was captured on video. That brief document, twelve minutes of which survives today, would also serve as something of a burial gathering of a sharp foursome of talent; a grab bag of honest original material, and above anything else... friends.
Affairs outside of the band were ever increasingly spiraling down the drain for Wes at the time. Sadly, the legend of Paragon would be swept away right alongside of everything else of any meaning or significance.
With the aid of a new fangled gizmo called the internet, Wes had unearthed the means to harken back to those summer memories of 1991. He had learned that Astrum had never skipped a beat, going on to accomplish a respectable career in music.
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"I went to record 3 CD's with Primal Urge and 2 CD's with Ineglect/Fat Texas. I [now] work as an audio engineer/technician for a large production company in Houston."
Larry Grzebielucha
26 July 2012
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Dave somehow or another managed to migrate to Huntington Station, New York at some point. We don't have the story on that yet, as communications have been sparse since reconnecting. But, we look forward to getting the skinny, and when we do you'll find it right here!
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"I remember Dave had a fascination with some stripper, maybe that's why he moved back to N.Y."
Larry Grzebielucha
26 July 2012
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"What else could I say? You got it all down!"
David Gaudiello
03 June2012
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Yours in damnation,
Rev. Dr. Dubb Diablo
The Subgenius Bait Shoppe
Hockley, Texas
03 June 2012Have you performed in front of an audience?There were no live performances from Paragon. At the time a rehearsal video was recorded (July 1991), we had only recently recruited a capable drummer, and had not begun to figure out what to do about a vocalist prior to disbanding.
This page serves to honor the music made by that lineup.
What equipment do you use?
Wes: "My first significant, dependable workhorse was a white, second hand Aria Pro II XX Deluxe. I had given a former coworker a $100 bill for it in 1988... so he could pay off his coke dealer."
The Aria Pro II XX Deluxe is what you see in the 1991 Rehearsal Video, and what I play on the four track recordings.
In 1993, the Aria was trusted to celebrated Houston guitar tech, Neil Sargent, who replaced the stock, passive Aria electronics with a newly purchased, much adored Carvin active module and pickups.
Wes: "The modified Aria and Carvin half stack would be my wall of sound from 1993-1996. I would there after begin a love affair with both the Fernandes Decade, and Fernandes Native models respectfully,"
Just prior to the recording of the four track demos in May 1991, a Vietnamese immigrant coworker (Nipp "Nippy" Ngyuen) would loan me the up front monies needed to purchase a brand spankin' new, Peavey Studio Chorus 210, from a long since defunct H&H Music in Houston. The total cost of that amp ran in the ballpark of $350 (1990 dollars).
Wes: "The Peavey Studio Chorus 210 was the my flagship tone of that era! Dave and I both recorded via line in. No microphones. Perhaps, this explains the clean, click-less channel switching of the 210 during the headphone recording environment of those sessions."
However, when it came to performing with a live drummer, it performed like any other transistor amp does... not cranking out near enough clean wattage to cut through a sonic assault. The more you turned it up, the more it distorted and sounded like mud. In fact, in the Paragon Rehearsal Video you can see the Studio 210 propped atop one of Astrum's Marshall 4x12's. If it weren't for her letting me line out into her spare power amp and 4x12, I woulda simply been out of my league!'
Prior to the Peavey 210, the back wall arsenal behind Wes was a festive transistor trio of a Peavey practice amp, a Gorilla practice amp, and an unnamed, long forgotten equivalent daisy chained atop one another. This formed one silly assed, 3 foot tall, 1/2 of a 1/4 stack micro-amp jalopy that would have likely soon blown breakers if the 210 had not come along when it did! It is not known what became of the Peavey Studio Chorus 210,, but it is known that it would be replaced in January '93 with an all tube, Carvin X100B half stack. Wes had spent his late teens salivating over the content of frequent catalog mailings from California based, Carvin. Finances briefly permitted him the ability to purchase the amp that guitar hero Steve Vai endorsed (the X100B). From then onward, volume (or tone) were never again comprised in any situation!
*** ...and from the original 1991, MORON cassette liner notes ***
DAVE USES CHARVEL BASSES, EMG PICKUPS, ROTOSOUND STRINGS, AND A PIECE OF SHIT AMP.Anything else?
***ORIGINAL CASSETTE LINER NOTES***
PARAGON DEMO INFO:
ORIGINAL TITLE:
MORON PLEASE NOTIFY THE LIVING
01. THE LAST MINUTO OF THE MOUSE
02. SINEAD IS A CREEP
03. BELLIGERENT MORON
04. BIG BISCUIT HEAD
05. OVER BAGHDAD
06. THE SILENT PARABLE
DEAD CHRISTIAN (Wesley M. Dodson Jr.) GUITARS
DAVID JAMES (David Gaudiello) BASS
PRODUCED AND ENGINEERED BY WES
TRACK 1 RECORDED JULY 1991
TRACKS 2, 3, 4, & 5 RECORDED MAY 1991
TRACK 6 RECORDED JUNE 1991
RECORDED @ 8200 SUNBURY LANE #1107
HOUSTON, TEXAS 77095
MIXED @ DAVES PLACE
KATY, TEXAS
MAY 1991
COVER ART BY: JAVIER A.
THANX TO: SHANE HALL, ASTRUM LUX LUCIS, DAVE BRENCHLEY, HECTOR REYES, NIPP NGYUEN, KARIE, and KNIGHTMARE.
115 plays
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6,984 views
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