Do you ever wish you were a jamband hippie?

[Iommic Pope]

We even have a supforum that seems to be revolve around vans, amps and weed... viewforum.php?f=227

Specifically, we even have a thread in that subforum about vans: viewtopic.php?f=227&t=34330&hilit=vans

What, you guys think we didn't cover this already?

[magiclawnchair]

hey, i was close enough for being at work...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnjufR8GDcw[/youtube]

[snipelfritz]

No way. The jam band scene around here is the bane of my existence. It's probably because we're actually so close to that scene, but they all look at us with disdain since we're a loud rock band that plays really straightforward, 3-4 minute songs. All of their shit sounds exactly the same and never goes anywhere.

Fuck jam bands. Fuck hippy scenesters.

[Seance]

I think Jam Bands are a lot like baseball. Probably fun if you're playing, but super boring to watch unless you're
the type who likes keeping "statistics". Like: At what show on what date did they play these two songs together?

[Chankgeez]

That's probably true, Sean, but I'm still not sure I'd wanna play in a jam band.

Much rather play in an improvisational psych band.

[jrmy]

Much rather play in an improvisational psych band.

This is a crucial distinction, and I 100% agree.

Case in point for me:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts_KXbopKcs[/youtube]

EDIT: though this song may be too "written" to really be a good case study.

[D.o.S.]

See, to my way of thinking, that's a jam band. So Is AMT, so is Oneida, so is Earthless, so are the Allman Brothers, so are the Dead, so were the Band of Gypsys. My definition of jam bands being, perhaps surprisingly, bands that jam.

[Chankgeez]

I tend to think of "Jam Band" as a genre rather than a process.

[Seance]

That's probably true, Sean, but I'm still not sure I'd wanna play in a jam band.

Much rather play in an improvisational psych band.

In certain frequencies The Velvet Underground and The Grateful Dead and Pavement and Sonic Youth all sound to
me to be very similar. I agree with D.o.S.—any band who plays improvisational electronic music is a "Jam Band".
The flavors and the mindset are what set them apart (or not). Or, more to the point, the mindset of their
audiences are the differentiator.

Full disclosure: from the age of 13 to 17 I attended lots of Grateful Dead shows. From 17 on I switched to Primus
and The Thinking Fellers Union Local #282. Larry LaLonde was a total Deadhead. And it showed mostly
in those loopy guitar figures he chunked in there in an off-beat way (Bob Weir is a super off-beat rhythm guitarist).
And The Thinking Fellers Union Local #282 pitched a few cocktail umbrellas in the pychotropics.

Even when I went to Grateful Dead shows I loathed about 85% of the self-indulgent, self-righteous audience.
But growing up around Berkeley, California, you get used to encountered the 'enlightened" holier-than-thou.
There is not much that's worse than a sanctimonious baby boomer who drives around in an expensive car
with scolding political bumper stickers plastered all over it.

Starting in the '80s there were lots of "Street Punks" on Telegraph. Through the '90s and into the '00s it was the
same thing. A few years back I was walking along Telegraph and a bedraggled (but all wearing expensive looking
leather jackets) gaggle of Street Punks were haranguing a nouveau-hippie by saying "The Sixties are over!" I could
barely contain my urge to scream that the Eighties are also over. Is being a Street Punk, well after the Bay Area
punk scene came and went, any more or less retrograde and falsely nostalgic than being a pseudo-hippie well
after the Sixties came and went (leaving a cloud of bad vibes, heroin addiction, violence and self-satisfied
eco-pricks driving BMWs and Mercedes Benzes and Volvos)? Is being Punker-than-thou any better than being
holier-than-thou?

[D.o.S.]

Tremendous post right there, especially about the audience.

(Lee Ranaldo is also a pretty well known deadhead.)

[Gone Fission]

Tremendous post right there, especially about the audience.

(Lee Ranaldo is also a pretty well known deadhead.)

And Greg Ginn of Black Flag. I hear it more in SY than Black Flag and Primus, honestly.

In a way it's not surprising. The Dead were kind of the pre-punk alternative rock and built up their own proto DIY infrastructure.

[D.o.S.]

And they're fucking awesome.

also, I'm gonna wear my phish shirt to the first ILF gathering I can attend.

[Mudfuzz]

From 17 on I switched to Primus
and The Thinking Fellers Union Local #282. Larry LaLonde was a total Deadhead. And it showed mostly
in those loopy guitar figures he chunked in there in an off-beat way (Bob Weir is a super off-beat rhythm guitarist).

As much as I love Primus I am thankful Larry did make other footnotes in the history of music
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErSwSSjfwrY[/youtube]

Starting in the '80s there were lots of "Street Punks" on Telegraph. Through the '90s and into the '00s it was the
same thing. A few years back I was walking along Telegraph and a bedraggled (but all wearing expensive looking
leather jackets) gaggle of Street Punks were haranguing a nouveau-hippie by saying "The Sixties are over!" I could
barely contain my urge to scream that the Eighties are also over. Is being a Street Punk, well after the Bay Area
punk scene came and went, any more or less retrograde and falsely nostalgic than being a pseudo-hippie well
after the Sixties came and went (leaving a cloud of bad vibes, heroin addiction, violence and self-satisfied
eco-pricks driving BMWs and Mercedes Benzes and Volvos)? Is being Punker-than-thou any better than being
holier-than-thou?

So much agreement, I moved away from the east bay in 97 and yeah I thought the same thing as you, "lucky" for me Capital hill in Seattle was like a mini more quaint version of telegraph…. now I live in a city where scenesters can't agree on if playing Jugband or jam band is more "kvlt" thankfully some punk and metal are starting to creep in so I have more hope for oly than I have for a while...

[snipelfritz]

I tend to think of "Jam Band" as a genre rather than a process.

Yeah, me too. There's a very specific sound that jam bands have, IMO and they all only have that one sound.

I really like some of the deads songs, but I can do without listening to 30 different bootleg live recordings.

Also, since they're kind of lumped in with that scene, there are few bands I hate more than primus.

[magiclawnchair]

I got to see the dead in 93 at soldier field in Chicago when I was 16. A guy my dad worked with, Schumi, used to arrange things for the guys at work. it was a pretty wild experience seeing the parking lot. I started working at that shop when I was 19 and wound up in a two-piece jam band with Schumi. We called ourselves The Golden Moose and we were a HEAVY jam band for the most part. it would drive me nuts hanging out with Schumi in the summer time because old boy would never wear shoes and he had some nasty ass hippy feet but he was one hell of a drummer.

the music doesn't bother me at all but I often shower twice a day so...