Since the last edition of Stormy Mondays looked at new music from rising bands, it only seems right that we now reflect on older music from fallen heroes.
Back near the turn of the last century, the jamband scene was just coming into its own, garnering widespread news coverage for the virtuosity of the performers and the dedication of the fans. While Phish may have dominated that coverage, and bands like Widespread Panic, moe. and String Cheese Incident were all powering beyond regional superstar status, it was the cadre of little bands that really allowed jamnation to stake its territory and dig its foundations.
Plenty of those workhorses — the ones that hit the road and turned it on every night in tiny venues and smoky bars, bands that had a genuine love of music and real potential to succeed — have long since fallen by the wayside, but the music endures. We’ll certainly come back to this topic in the coming months, but this week features three groups that epitomize the jamband aesthetic.
First up, from their Wetlands Preserved CD on the defunct Phoenix Presents label, Uncle Sammy’s goofy and intricate, almost Weather Report-sounding “Jorge Benson’s New Funk Explosion.” Next is the true cult favorite, the Ominous Seapods, with their cover of Kingfish’s “Jump for Joy.” It’s a song they made their own, often as a show closer, cracking it wide open, as they do here, for incredible jamming and free-form freaking. Finally, my personal perfect jamband, Percy Hill, doing an ass-shaking “Sun Machine” in Boston back in ’99. Enjoy!
5 Responses
Good to see the Seapods get some love. Great work Dan!
It’s amazing to me that less than a decade ago there was a genuine level of jamband intensity and optimism, that the world seemed to be burning bright with creative forces in this scene. Fast forward just eight years from the time these three bands in this edition of Stormy Mondays were perhaps brightest, and we’re already asking whether the scene is permanently dead. Kind of ridiculous when you think about it…
In any event, thanks for the download. I fuckin’ loved Percy Hill and Ominous Seapods.
Wow…ghosts of jambands past. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I have fond memories of discovering Percy Hill via AOL’s “Rock & Road” area which often ran features on lesser known (read: not Phish) jambands.
There were so many from that era that never really broke out of their regional fanbase like Grinch, Yolk, Jiggle the Handle, The Great Red Shark, Zoo People…the list goes on.
Can’t wait to listen to this. It reminds me how lucky I was to be a jamband fan attending college in New England (Johnson & Wales) from 97-01. Great time for a young, naive wannabe hippy. Long live The Living Room.