New & Noteworthy: 5 Bands That Made Their Live Debuts In 2016
By Scott Bernstein Dec 23, 2016 • 9:45 am PST
A number of jam scene fixtures unveiled new bands in 2016. While some were one-time endeavors put together just for a festival, superjam or special event, there’s five groups in particular that have bright futures. We’ve compiled a list of those bands along with audio or video that will give you a taste of what they are all about.
1. The Claypool Lennon Delirium
Last year, Sean Lennon’s Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger outfit opened a series of shows for Les Claypool and Primus. The pair had plenty in common and decided to come together for a musical project as Primus was planning to spend most of 2016 off the road. Lennon headed to Claypool’s California estate and the duo wrote and recorded Monolith Of Phobos, one of the best albums of the year. Sean and Les then put a band together they called The Claypool Lennon Delirium featuring drummer Paulo Baldi and keyboardist Paul Drungle (who replaced Money Mark) for a tour that started in June and ran through the end of October. The Claypool Lennon Delirium impressed throughout with a mix of Monolith Of Phobos tracks, Primus songs and an impressive array of covers including The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” and multiple King Crimson songs. Earlier today, it was revealed The CLD will play Summer Camp ’17 and hopefully there’s more in store from the band next year.
[Full Show Video from Front Row Boston]
2. Reed Mathis’ Electric Beethoven
When the lineup for Jam Cruise 15 was announced one of the more intriguing listings was Electric Beethoven which finds bassist Reed Mathis fronting an ensemble that also includes drummer Jay Lane, keyboardist Todd Stoops and guitarist Clay Welch. Mathis has long studied the music of Beethoven, an artist he feel has been misinterpreted, and years ago set about putting together an album featuring interpretations of some of his symphonies with many of his musical friends. 2016 was finally the year Mathis released Beathoven and in September he first hit the road with Electric Beethoven for shows containing “Classical Dance Music” heavy on improvisation. The project has won a bevy of fans and will continue into 2017.
[Full Set Video captured by Chris Cafiero]
3. Circles Around The Sun
Guitarist Neal Casal was asked to put together original music to accompany visuals from director Justin Kreutzmann to be shown during intermissions at the 2015 Fare Thee Well – Celebrating 50 Years Of Grateful Dead concerts. The instrumental grooves Casal created took inspiration from Grateful Dead, Phish and JJ Cale songs and had many Fare Thee Well attendees trying to figure out just what they were hearing. There was so much love for the music that Casal put his compositions out as an album in late 2015 and finally debuted a live version of the group, dubbed Circles Around The Sun, at the Lockn’ Festival in August. Neal, keyboardist Adam MacDougall, drummer Mark Levy and bassist Dan Horne impressed at Lockn’ and embarked on a Thanksgiving week run. Casal said there’s a future for the band and that they will create new music, which is fantastic news.
[Full Show Audio taped by Alex Leary]
4. Bob Weir’s Campfire Band
Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir issued the fantastic Blue Mountain album filled with original “cowboy tunes.” When it was time to tour to support the LP, Bobby put together a band featuring guitarist Steve Kimock, The National members Bryan Devendorf on drums and Scott Devendorf on bass as well as multi-instrumentalist Jon Shaw and Blue Mountain co-producer Josh Kaufman. The National guitarist Aaron Dessner was originally tapped for the band, but had to pull out due to a family emergency. However, Dessner wound up performing at the group’s NYC area shows. Though the group’s first tour came under the Bob Weir moniker, it appears the ensemble will be called “The Campfire Band” moving forward. Bobby will be joined by the Devendorfs, Dessner, Kaufman and Shaw in Cincinnati on January 12 and we’ll see if that lineup holds through for future gigs including two nights at Wanee ’17.
[Full Show Video shared by nugs.net]
5. [Br]eaking [Bi]scuits
The second annual Brooklyn Comes Alive event featured many inventive pairings, but one that stood out was the debut of [Br]eaking [Bi]scuits. Bassist Marc Brownstein and keyboardist Aron Magner of the Disco Biscuits came together with Adam Deitch and Borahm Lee, aka Break Science. The highly anticipated set lived up to the hype as the foursome worked in covers of Daft Punk (“Robot Rock”), Air (“La Femme D’Argent”), The Orb (“Little Fluffy Clouds”), DJ Shadow (“Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt”), Tosca (“Rolf Royce”) and RJD2 (“The Horror”). Brownstein told JamBase he expects the quartet to perform again in the future and may bring the project into the studio.
[“Little Fluffy Clouds” video captured by LazyLightning55]
