About Dean Wareham
Dean Wareham is an American musician and actor who co-founded the band Galaxie 500 in 1987. He departed from Galaxie 500 in April 1991 and went on to establish the band Luna. Following Luna's dissolution in 2005, Wareham has collaborated on albums with fellow Luna band member Britta Phillips, forming the duo known as Dean & Britta. They have also ventured into film composition, notably contributing to the soundtracks of Noah Baumbach's films The Squid and the Whale and Mistress America. In 2014, Wareham released a self-titled album and in 2015, he reformed Luna.
Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Wareham is the son of John Wareham, an author, and Margaret Wareham . His family relocated to Sydney, Australia, before eventually settling in New York City in 1977. Wareham attended the Dalton School in New York and Harvard University, where he earned a B.A. in social studies. He has three siblings, one of whom is Louise Wareham, a novelist.
Guitarist Wareham, drummer Damon Krukowski and bassist Naomi Yang began playing together as Galaxie 500 in 1987, after their time as students at Harvard University. The band's name comes from a Ford car of the 1960s, the Ford Galaxie 500. Galaxie 500's records were released in the US and UK on the independent Rough Trade label and went out of print upon Rough Trade's demise. Galaxie 500's entire catalog, along with a box set including singles, EPs and rarities was reissued during the 1990s by Rykodisc.
Galaxie 500 leveraged fairly minimal instrumental technique with intense atmospherics provided by producer Mark Kramer, and their distinctive sound bore an influence beyond the small audience for their independently released albums. The sound and the increasingly loyal audience grew with each release until Wareham quit the band in 1991. In 2011, Wareham embarked on his Dean Wareham Plays Galaxie 500 tour, minus Krukowski and Yang.
Luna was a dream pop/indie pop band Wareham formed in 1991 after the breakup of Galaxie 500, with Stanley Demeski and Justin Harwood .
The original lineup was expanded with the addition of guitarist Sean Eden for their second album, 1994's Bewitched. Lee Wall replaced Demeski on drums in time for 1997's Pup Tent, and Britta Phillips of Belltower joined when bassist Justin Harwood departed in 2000. Phillips and Wareham eventually became romantically involved and married. They now release records under the moniker "Dean & Britta".
Map & Directions To Venue
