Perpetual Groove broadens approach of 'jam bands'

By: JIM TRAGESER - Staff Writer | Wednesday, February 27, 2008 1:03 PM PST ∞

When the "jam band" phenomenon first broke in the early 1990s, the term connoted a Grateful Dead sort of vibe. Phish and other early jam bands took the Dead's formula of rock and blues guitar leads with extended solos and continued the tradition of a never-ending hippie party.

But next-generation jam bands took the idea of the extended, improvised soloing ---- with songs stretching long past the three- to four-minute limit imposed by radio formats ---- and applied it to styles other than the Grateful Dead/Phish blues-rock format. (Of course, even in the late '60s through 1970s when the Dead was at its peak of popularity, other bands were engaging in the same kind of group improvisation, or jamming, as the Dead, but from different stylistic perspectives ---- King Crimson, Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer all come to mind.)

Among the younger bands applying the jam band approach to a broader range of music is Perpetual Groove (playing Saturday night at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach). Founded a decade ago in Savannah, Ga., by four students at the Savannah College of Art and Design, the band has since 2001 been a quartet composed of two of those founding members and two Army veterans who joined the band when the other two founders left.

Keyboardist Matt McDonald is one of those former soldiers (drummer Albert Suttle is the other), and while McDonald acknowledged that the band is classified as a "jam band," he said the band doesn't feel constrained by it.

"We do use improvisation, obviously," McDonald said by phone from the band's new headquarters in Athens, Ga. "We don't do the same set every night. We change it up, depending on the town and what we played the night before. So in that sense we're a jam band, but we don't really sound like another band that would be associated with the term."

In fact, McDonald said the band's fans have coined their own term to describe Perpetual Groove's music: "Our fans have kind of dubbed it 'trance-arena rock.'"

McDonald said he knew nothing of the band when he met lead singer and guitarist Brock Adams and bassist Adam Perry at a Savannah gig.

"I'd just gotten back from Bosnia, and I met the guys at an open mic night down in Savannah, just outside Fort Stewart, where I was stationed."

He said they hit it off personally and musically, and stayed in touch. When his enlistment with the Army was over, McDonald said a spot in the band was offered to him. Fortunately for McDonald and Suttle, Perpetual Groove's fortunes took off just as they joined the band; McDonald said the band has been his full-time job since he joined. When he joined, he said Perpetual Groove was "kind of a local band; I didn't even know anything about Perpetual Groove." Since then, they have recorded three albums, including their most recent, last year's "Livelovedie."

McDonald said that while he joined the Army to pay off his college loans, he ended up learning as much about music in the Army as he had in college.

"The school of music in the military is really intense for a rhythm player. They shove the Berklee School of Music four-year program down your throat in about six months."

While the band has carved out its niche and built its fan base on steady touring, McDonald said they're taking much of the summer off. Having purchased a rehearsal and recording complex in Athens, the band's four members have all moved their families to the area and are working on their next studio disc (a live CD will be released in March).

"Our next studio album, we're going to take some time," he said. "If it takes a couple of years to do it, then so be it."

He said the band's approach to writing new material is the same as their approach to rehearsal: Both involve all four guys jamming on the tour bus on acoustic guitar.

"On the road, we tend to rehearse on the bus a lot ---- just sitting around writing, really.

"Everybody's been bringing a guitar on the road, so if it strikes us we can work on stuff."

Perpetual Groove with the K23 Orchestra

When: 9 p.m. March 1

Where: Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave, Solana Beach

Tickets: $12-$14

Info: (858)481-8140 or bellyup.com

Web: pgroove.com

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