Dream 286 – Scars 7”

Happy to share this one-off 7” from 1983 by Dream 286 – fresh off the needle and into your eardrums.  This four-piece band hails from Cincinnati, Ohio and has an excellent dark new wave/post-punk sound that I can never get enough of. On paper, the band reminds me quite a bit of UK-based punk band Action Pact!, but with more synthesizers in tow. Otherwise, from what I can tell, the band was fairly active throughout the midwest, playing a slew of shows throughout the area, including a prominent gig opening for Factual, whose track “Psychotic Romance” is worth hearing for those unfamiliar. Sadly, these three tracks are all that were released to the general public, but I hope there’s some more material floating around out there somewhere…

After Dream 286 called it a day, bassist Randy Cheek would also play in local band The Libertines (not the UK revival band) with drummer Joe Hamm. Cheek would go on to form indie rock stalwarts Ass Ponys, while synth player Doug Hallet remained a fixture in the scene, also performing with Latex Theatre, Danse Macabre, Ubu Roi, and Tesla Coil. He is currently active in The Science of Deduction. Vocalist/guitarist Janette Pierce Davis also performed with Latex Theatre.

Without any further ado, here’s the single:

Dream 286 – Scars 7”
1. Scars
2. End of the World
3. I Don’t Believe

*download it here*

4 Responses to “Dream 286 – Scars 7””

  1. Great post! thanks for sharing this rare record.

  2. Thank you. The second song has that xmal deutschland vibe.
    Very rare as well,,,

  3. Brian Foster Says:

    Here’s a compilation of great Cincinnati bands from 1975-1982. It features Dream 286 and many other bands. The compilation was released in 2019.

    https://hozacrecords.bandcamp.com/album/we-were-living-in-cincinnati

  4. Douglas Hallet Says:

    Thanks for the review! Our group broke up shortly releasing the record, so that’s all there is. Jannete sadly passed away in 2020 and I am now retired from music. If you’d like to hear my work in TSOD, which is similar to Dream 286,here’s a link to the full album – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC79vjinfcHFXizwpHHBe8DA

Leave a Reply to mariano Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *