The album Lost and Gone Forever was produced by legendary producer Steve Lillywhite, who’s worked with reputable bands like Phish, U2, Dave Matthews Band…the list goes on forever. Would you ever consider teaming up with him again for another project?
RM: Yeah, he’s going to play bass with us tomorrow (Saturday the 28th) on a song. We’ve definitely been talking to him about finishing the record we’ve been working on for a while. He’s pretty much the only guy we’re speaking to. We’re just figuring out a way to make it work. It’s been really interesting getting back in there and hearing this record, and playing these songs, and figuring out what it is that people liked about it. It’s definitely interesting.
Do you credit him with a lot of the success that came from Lost and Gone Forever?
AG: For sure. Before that we made two records independently with varying success, just because we were young and didn’t have a big budget to work with. It was the first time that we made a record that accurately captured what we were doing live. We were one of those bands where people were like, “yes, you can buy their record but you really have to go to their show to understand what they’re about.” I feel like Lost and Gone Forever was the album where the feelings were mutual that the record’s good too. He did a great job of capturing that, especially when I think of where we were as a band musically. I think he really elevated it. He did more than just take a snapshot of where we were he really elevated it.
This album was released 1999 and featured guests Page McConnell and Karl Denson on tracks. How did those collaborations materialize?
RM: Page was through Lillywhite because he’d worked with him on a Phish record. Karl…hmm. I don’t remember exactly how Karl came. I mean, he was doing his Tiny Universe thing and maybe he’s still be doing it, but it was going on then. So he was kind of the go-to-guy…
And he’s badass as hell…
RM: Yeah, he was awesome. It was sort of a reaching out process—seeing who we can get.
For many years you guys have dismissed the jamband label, but this year you played at Gathering of the Vibes and Rothbury. Have you finally washed that guard away, or have the jam and indie scenes sort of morphed together as one?
AG: You know, I don’t think it was ever a guard. I just think that it wasn’t accurate. I think that label became about in the beginning because we had a live following before we had a label or anything like that. We had no radio play so there was no explanation for why we were bringing people out to shows. People thought, “Oh, they must be one of those jambands that everyone goes to because that’s where they can go and do whatever.” And that just wasn’t accurate, even though of course we were a grassroots touring band. We’ve played the Wetlands and we play all those clubs, so I wouldn’t say we were fighting necessarily against the label. We just didn’t think it was accurate. If anything, though, we were nervous about it because none of us are particularly good at jamming [laughs].
As in not good musicians?
AG: No as in we’re songwriters. We write 3 1/2 minute pop songs, and we don’t really stretch out our songs. But I think with bands like the Flaming Lips and a couple other acts that embrace the jam scene, they cut the path where we are able to play as a non-jamband to a jamband audience. What’s cool about the whole jam scene is that people go there to listen to the music. They’re all real music lovers. We’ve always been excited and never been afraid to play in front of a jam audience, even though we’re not particularly proud of our skills as players. I hope most folks in the jam world can get into what we’re doing. At first we were surprised and then we realized that it made sense. So when there are opportunities to play Vibes and festivals like those we definitely try because it’s always a very warm and welcoming audience that will spread the word if they like you. It’s a great audience to plug into.
Ryan, do you hold the same sentiment about submitting into the jam scene
RM: [laughs] Well, no. I mean, I love playing those festivals. Those specifically, well Vibes, which was probably the most jamband friendly thing we’ve done. Rothbury had Broken Social Scene and definitely a few indie-rock bands. To talk about what Adam said and about the merging of the scenes, Bonnaroo sort of blew the whole thing open a long time ago. It brought together all these these touring bands from different genres and that’s what independent music is. The Beasties and all that stuff perform together now. As far as how we fit into it, I mean I love playing those types of festivals. Gathering of the Vibes was so interesting to me because we really didn’t have a huge contingent that was there for us. The most rewarding times for me are when we don’t really have anyone there for us. You can sense it and you can see that you’re winning people over. It’s like you’re totally doing it on your own merits. There’s no bullshit, there’s no hype, it’s just you playing and you’re either going to win or you’re not based on your performance.
I also agree with what Adam said about the jamband crowd being a lot more into the music. Not only that, I feel that they are even more open to allowing new sounds and styles in. Rather than immediately hearing something, judging it and then expelling it forever.
RM: Yes, I think playing those festivals keeps you and makes you much more aware of your dynamics. I do think people are much more into the music at these shows. It’s less ‘sceney,’ I mean it could be as ‘sceney’ for sure, but also some of the slots that we got at least I could sense that when we were doing something right, it would go really right. And if something wasn’t appropriate, it just wasn’t going to happen. It’s like hitting your head against the wall [laughs]. So it was cool, it was very revealing. I think I said this year’s ago, that I’ll play the moe.down, you know what I mean? I’ll play it all. If there are music fans out there then there’s enough of a crossover because it’s similar to what a lot of the real godfathers of the scene have done. I mean the Dead, they jammed, but they wrote great songs. And I think we strive to be great song writers too. So there’s enough of an overlap.
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