A few months back we dug into the YouTube vault and dedicated a week’s Pullin’ ‘Tubes to all things Classic Rock. With The Dead reforming, Ernie hitting the road and the imminent return of Phish, we haven’t been this excited about all things jam in quite some time. With that in mind, we thought we’d revisit some of the bands we dug from back in the halcyon days of the scene for a little something we’re calling Ghosts Of Jambands Past.
I have the distinct honor of kicking things off this week and there was only one band that seemed appropriate. Around the late summer of ’95, while thumbing through the pages of Relix, I was introduced to a band called God Street Wine. I still remember going out and buying $1.99 Romances – since that’s what you did in the prehistoric days of the internet in order to hear some new music – and being instantly hooked when I popped the disc in.
The band combined Springsteen-esque bar-rock, with jazzy Steely Dan-like ballads and the general goofiness that you found in early Phish albums – all fronted by one guy that kind of bopped around the stage and looked like Animal from The Muppets and another that actually kind of looked like The Boss. Let’s head back to December 26, 1996, when the band kicked off a two-night run at New York’s Irving Plaza – and a coincidently a night before I saw them for the first time – with Hellfire. Enjoy…
[youtube]UFUcOKVfG6c[/youtube]
In one of those classic jamband pairings, Strangefolk opened night one and the Ominous Seapods night two. After taking in my inaugural GSW show, a few days later I’d catch moe. for the first time when they rang in 1997 at the now defunct Tramps – but that’s a story for another time.
More GSW:
9 Responses
GSW cornered the market on “female-named” songs in the 90s.
caught these guys for the first time HORDE 96, and I was immediately sold. The drive home we had Molly stuck in our heads, and yes, $1.99 Romances was purchased within the week. My short-lived HS band covered Princess Henrietta a few months later. Good times.
They are near the top of my list of bands I’d like to see reunite. I always had a blast at their shows.
Definitely near the top of mine too. Seen Lo Faber do a bunch of shows with his band, but it was the GSW stuff that always got the best response at those.
GSW was the band that got me into “jambands,” so to speak. At my first GSW show in Erie, PA in the summer of 1993 some random guy said, “If you like these guys, you should check out this band called Phish.” The rest, as they say…
Oh, and by the way: I too was at moe.’s ’96-’97 NYE show at Tramps in NYC. Still, to this day, one of the GREATEST rock and roll shows I’ve EVER been to…
Love love love GSW we started seeing them back in 92 at the deer park Tavern at Univ of Delaware. Founder and lead singer Lo Faber is the man. He is still playing here and there up in NYC. Tons of shit on archive.org highly recommneded.
“Imogene”, “6:15”, “Going out West” is my shit yo!!!!!