Meridian
Performing in the Tulsa and surrounding area, Meridian has been playing classic rock, blues, and R&B for the last 10 years. While performing seven nights a week and still carrying day jobs, Meridian started recording at various home studios, and for several months concentrated on writing and recording their original songs. Dennis wrote most of the songs with an acoustic guitar and after recording the demos, the band liked the clarity the songs had with acoustic as opposed to an otherwise heavier guitar/keyboard driven sound. After rough demos were made and well rehearsed the band entered David Teegarden’s Natura Digital Studio in March of 2002 and finished their CD in August. They performed the CD for the first time live at a CD release party in October 2002 at the Avondale Theater in Tulsa. This CD is full of crowd-pleasing, guitar-driven power rock-n-roll that should captivate any classic-rock fan. Meridian — Bill Hoy on vocals and percussion; Dennis Gaylor on acoustic guitar, vocals and keyboards; Tim Jarrett on electric guitar; Ed Mayeux on bass and Gary Brown on drums — are truly veteran musicians offering their original material as well as cover material from artists such as Eric Clapton, Steve Miller, Delbert McClinton, Santana, Van Morrison, etc.
Order a CD
What to hear Meridian?
Order a CD (by email). You will be contacted by Tim Jarrett regarding shipping and payment. You only need to supply your name and email address.
Reviews
Excerpt from our CD review in the Urban Tulsa 2003.
Neo Retro Redux
Meridian Meridian
Meridian’s eponymous release reminded me a lot of a few mid/late ‘70s hard rock bands, in particular Bad Co. and Eddie Money. There’s also definite ‘90s jam band influence a’l’a P.H.I.S.H. Some of the guitar work on opening track “Big Dog Blues” and “Don’t Be So Serious” seemed straight out of Blues Traveler’s debut album. Singer Bill Hoy kind of brought to mind the vocals on old Blue Oyster Cult songs like “Dominance and Submission” and “Godzilla”.
Overall, Meridian’s music has a firm ‘70s-flavored rock feel, the kind that’s on the verge of being heavy metal yet isn’t as loud as Led Zeppelin. But Grateful Dead laid-backness showed up quite often on the CD as well, especially on tracks like “How Will I Know” and “Freedom”. Could these guys be a candidate for H.O.R.D.E.?
As a unit, the group is fairly tight on most of the album. Drummer Gary Brown seems to pop it pretty well (I’m assuming there wasn’t any major digital rhythm alignment going on in the studio). The normal rockness of the guitar sound is a little underwhelming, and I couldn’t remember a lot of the tunes after hearing them--there’s some nice variety to the arrangements, but most of the arrangements are pretty much standard rock structures. But oh well, they’re timeless structures.
So Meridian contributes a nice ode to the glories of mid-era pop. Raise your glasses to melodic semi-distorted guitars and let the good times roll! – J.F.