The band's lineup consists of vocalist Gavin Hayes, guitarist Mark Engles, bassist Drew Roulette and drummer and pianist Dino Campanella.

Dredg's major label debut, El Cielo (2002), was lauded by critics and helped establish a wider cult following for the band.

Following their departure from Interscope in 2009, Dredg independently released The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion, which saw the band reach their highest charting positions yet.

[7] With the release, Dredg slowly built a name for themselves in the Bay Area, as well as on the East Coast, such as in Boston and New York.

[4] In May 1999, Dredg independently released their first full-length, Leitmotif, a concept album about a man traveling the world to cure his moral disease.

Written by Roulette, the band had planned to release a movie of the story;[8] however, upon the death of the lead actor, the project was scrapped.

The band began sending out a demo tape to several labels with four new songs intended for their next album, "Of the Room", "Redrawing the Island Map", "Running Through Propellers" and "The Papal Insignia".

With the re-release of Leitmotif, Dredg toured nationally and internationally in support of the record with bands such as Alien Ant Farm, Pressure 4-5, the Apex Theory, Taproot, Deadsy and Onesidezero.

[10] After signing to Interscope Records, the band began work on their major label debut, El Cielo.

[14] As they had done with the liner notes of Leitmotif, Dredg chose not to include the lyrics; instead, they printed letters sent to them by people suffering from sleep paralysis.

[16] The band used three producers, Ron Saint Germain, Tim Palmer and Jim Scott, on the record, adding another layer of diversity to the album.

The three winners each received a painting from Catch Without Arms, as well as the opportunity to name a song for the next album, "Vague Clues and Long Days".

[21][22] Dredg headlined several tours in support of Catch Without Arms, playing with bands such as Circa Survive, Day One Symphony, Delta Activity, Vedera, Ours and Ambulette.

They played the Taste of Chaos tour in 2006 with Deftones, Atreyu, Thrice and Story of the Year,[23] as well as shows with Coheed and Cambria, the Blood Brothers and MewithoutYou.

On the second night, as a segue into El Cielo, they performed an early instrumental version of "Wonderous Miracle" (another song that did not make it into the final album).

Gavin Hayes posted a Myspace blog on July 8, 2007, with new information that the band had 12-15 songs that might or might not make the final cut.

Hayes stated that on December 21, 2007, the writing process for their new album was almost done, and they planned to enter the studio in early 2008 to start recording.

[25] The songs that were played at live shows during the writing process but were not released on the album include: "Wondrous Miracle", "It's Not Worth It", "Push Away", "Holding a Remedy Potion", "Hurricane Felix", "Pieces of Gold", "Fleeing to Mexico", "2001", "MacGuffin" and "Fucking Smile Pt.

Album and liner notes artwork resembled an Air Mail letter (addressed to "SEVEN BILLIONTH") and was done by Rohner Segnitz of the band Division Day.

On February 18, 2011, Dredg announced via Twitter that their fifth studio album, Chuckles and Mr. Squeezy, was to be released on May 3, 2011, in the United States and April 29 everywhere else.

[27][28][29] In February 2014, Dredg released a non-album track, "I Left My Heart In San Francisco", in conjunction with a stop-motion music video touring the city.