Progressive supergroup Jane Getter Premonition will head out on a brief tour in support of their new album On. The mid-December tour includes stops in Buffalo, Kingston and New York City.
Joining Jane Getter, who Guitar Player called “the fieriest fretboarding female ever to strap on a Stratocaster,” on tour will be Adam Holzman (Miles Davis, Steven Wilson) on keyboards, Alex Skolnick (Testament) on guitar, Stu Hamm (Joe Satriani, Steve Vai) on bass and John Mader (Steve Miller, Pat Benatar) on drums. The tour will kick off on Dec. 8 in Cleveland, Ohio and end with two shows on Dec. 16 in New York City.
Commenting on the tour, Getter said in a press release, “We will be playing the exciting and hard hitting music from our newly released album, On, on Madfish Music, along with a few older hits from Three and See Jane Run. Get ready for some intense jams!”
From the press release:
Guitarist and composer Jane Getter has played with many jazz and rock greats while garnering increasing recognition as a bandleader, gifted writer and instrumentalist. Early in her career she toured with legendary jazz/blues organist Brother Jack McDuff. Her composing talents received attention when she won the ASCAP Gershwin Award for Music for Dance or Theatre in the mid 90’s. Her debut CD, Jane, in 1998 received worldwide critical acclaim and the 2006 follow up, See Jane Run, was released on Alternity Records (home of Allan Holdsworth). In 2012 she released the progressive jazz/rock album, Three. Getter also received widespread exposure playing in the Saturday Night Live Band.
Phish has announced that The Siket Disc will be released on vinyl for the first time on Friday, Dec. 18. It is currently available for pre-order.
Originally released in 1999, The Siket Disc contains nine tracks of almost entirely instrumental music recorded during The Story of the Ghost sessions in 1997. The improvisational music was recorded by engineer John Siket and compiled by Phish keyboardist Page McConnell.
Highlighting the band’s millennial, sometimes-ambient explorations of the time, The Siket Disc yielded a few songs that have since been incorporated into live shows including “What’s The Use?”, “My Left Toe”, “The Happy Whip and Dung Song”, and even the vocoder soundscape of “Quadrophonic Toppling”.
The album was mastered for vinyl from the Digital Audio Tape flat master and pressed onto 180g audiophile grade vinyl. Each order includes a free MP3 download of the album that was transferred from vinyl. T-shirt bundles are also available for pre-order.
Tool posted an announcement to their Facebook page last week mentioning that they will be soon announcing U.S. tour dates for January 2016. That post also stated, “Regarding an opening band(s), what I was able to discern through the ever-shifting veil will in all likeliness be exciting to many Tool enthusiasts.”
That day is here. Through another post to Facebook, they announced, “Those faint glimpses of TOOL SHOWS that I recently perceived in the scrying mirror can now be considered official. Indeed, something wicked your way comes…THE UNPARALLELED SONIC AND VISUAL EXPERIENCE OF TOOL LIVE.”
Tool did not specifically announce the openers, but Primus and 3TEETH are listed on the bill at ticketing sites for each show.
There are no Northeast dates announced yet, but Tool is teasing more dates with, “CHECK BACK SOON FOR MORE INFO…”
All shows go on sale this Friday, Nov. 20. Tour dates are as follows:
Saturday, Jan. 9 – Viejas Arena, San Diego, CA – with Primus and 3TEETH
Wednesday, Jan. 13 – AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX – with Primus and 3TEETH
Saturday, Jan. 16 – BOK Center, Tulsa, OK – with Primus
Sunday, Jan. 17 – Verizon Theatre, Grand Prairie, TX – with Primus and 3TEETH
Tuesday, Jan. 19 – Landers Center, Southaven, MS – with Primus and 3TEETH
Saturday, Jan. 23 – Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN – with Primus and 3TEETH
Monday, Jan. 25 – Infinite Energy Center, Atlanta, GA – with Primus and 3TEETH
Tuesday, Jan. 26 – Bojangles Coliseum, Charlotte, NC – with Primus and 3TEETH
Update (Nov. 30): Tool has added a second show in San Diego on Sunday, Jan. 10. Tickets for this show are currently on sale. Additionally, four new dates were announced today. The new dates are as follows:
Thursday, Jan. 14 – Toyota Center, Houston, TX – with Primus and 3TEETH
Wednesday, Jan. 20 – Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO – with Primus and 3TEETH
Friday, Jan. 22 – Chaifetz Center, St. Louis, MO – with Primus and 3TEETH
Sunday, Jan. 31 – Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA – with Primus
Tickets for these four new dates go on sale on Friday, Dec. 4. Tool has, once again, hinted as even more dates through their Facebook post: “Please continue to check back for times and links and to see if any more shows are ADDED to this list.”
Update (Dec. 8): Another stop on the Tool tour has been scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 6 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, California. Billed as “An Evening with Tool,” there will be no supporting acts. Tickets for this special night of music will go on sale on Friday, Dec. 11 at 12 p.m. PST.
Assembly of Dust heads out on a four show trek from Connecticut to Western New York shortly before Thanksgiving and have a new live release in the works.
The unique sound of Assembly of Dust draws on influences including Neil Young, The Band, Traffic and other 70s rock acts, forming an acoustic panoply with deep lyrics, catchy hooks with a groove to the sound. USA Today has said Assembly of Dust has what it takes to “dazzle the Alt-Country universe,” but seeing the live performance is what makes AOD stand out among the folk/Americana acts of today.
Featuring Reid Genauer (vocals, guitar), Adam Terrell (lead guitar, vocals), John Leccese (bass, vocals), Jason Crosby (keys, violin, vocals) and Dave Diamond (drums, vocals), the short tour begins on Thursday, November 19 at Fairfield Theatre Company in Fairfield, CT and continues on Friday November 20 at The Westcott Theater in Syracuse, NY, Saturday November 21 at Flour City Station in Rochester, NY and wraps up Sunday November 22 at The Waiting Room in Buffalo, NY. For more info, visit AODust.com.
Assembly of Dust is also in the process of releasing a digital download of their December 12, 2014 Portland, OR show at Mississippi Studios. The show features special guest, Mark Karan of RatDog, adding a great dynamic to the AOD sound.
In January, forces collide when members of Assembly of Dust, Strangefolk and God Street Wine unite for Assembly of Strange Wine at The Capitol Theatre in Portchester, NY on January 15 and on January 16 at The Paradise in Boston. Each show will feature separate sets from each band with a mash up set at the end of the show. Tickets are on sale now.
As the details begin to unfold as to who has laid claim to the senseless acts of violence in Paris Friday, November 13, we learn of the passing of Nick Alexander, Eagles of Death Metal’s Merchandise Manager.
Nick Alexander with Girlfriend Polina Buckley
In a statement released by the family to Rolling Stone, they share of their loss.
“It is with huge sorrow that we can confirm that our beloved Nick lost his life at the Bataclan last night. Nick was not just our brother, son and uncle; he was everyone’s best friend – generous, funny and fiercely loyal,” Alexander’s family said. “Nick died doing the job he loved and we take great comfort in knowing how much he was cherished by his friends around the world. Thank you for your thoughts and respect for our family at this difficult time. Peace and light.”
What we have learned thus far by the NYTimes, is that these acts have been claimed by ISIS as the “beginning of the storm”. French officials are informing us that, “..the assaults were carried out by three coordinated teams that included a 25-year-old Syrian terrorist”. With suicide bombers and gunmen entering three separate areas throughout the “City of Love”, the city has been deemed a “state of emergency” closing down schools, events, and tourist attractions throughout the city, while placing other cities on high alert in efforts to thwart other attempts they may have planned.
As news begins to be released and we learn of those we have lost, one particular loss hits close to home, as included in this news is the loss of French music journalist, Guillame B.Decherf, who was at the Bataclan last evening to cover the performance of Eagles of Death Metal. Covering the show for local publication, Les InRocks, as he has so many shows since he began working for them in 2008, it was likely the furthest thing from the mind of this father of two that carrying out a job he loved of music would end so tragically.
Guillame B. Decherf
Through the aide of technology, news has been shared in such a timely manner keeping the rest of the world abreast of the situation. Social tools such Facebook’s, Safetycheck, has helped many friends and family to confirm the safety of their loved ones while the world stood in unison changing their profile photos with the Parisian flag. Twitter quickly became a message board of sorts for those in need tweeting and hash tagging #PorteOuverte — “open door” for those in need of refuge while #UneBougiePourParis , and #Praying4Paris sent support from strangers worldwide. Tonight as the world comes together in solidarity, we reflect back on the wise words of Martin Luther King as we move forward together to make changes in the world; “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”
Bassist Anders Kjølholm has decided to call it a career after 14 years with his brothers in the Danish psychobilly rock group Volbeat.
The parting so far has been mutual, and with no official word as to why Kjølholm is parting ways with Volbeat, but music skeptics add that Kjølholm may have been forced out from Volbeat.
The parting comes days after Volbeat was accused of stealing the sound and style of the band Life Of Agony, which singer Michael Poulsen denies.
Kjølholm has been with Volbeat from the band’s beginning in 2001. Kjølholm released a brief statement about the parting:
It has been a great experience to be part of the Volbeat family for so long, and I wish Michael, Jon and Rob, everyone involved with the band and of course all the fans, all the best on the continued journey.
Volbeat vocalist Michael Poulsen and drummer Jon Larsen talked about the matter:
Anders has been a loyal friend and bandmate since 2001. We’ve toured most parts of the world and shared experiences that only few bands get to do. We’re very thankful for this and wish Anders all the best in the future.
Volbeat plans to tour relentlessly in 2016 with a brand new sixth studio album in the works. The band debuted a new track from the upcoming album during a live set on Aug. 1 at Tusindarsskoven in Odense, Denmark.
Volbeat frontman Michael Poulsen stated back in May to local Ohio radio station 99.7 The Blitz that he has been writing songs on the road and plans to hit the studio sometime in November. He also stated that the band has rehearsed around five new songs during their soundcheck.
In the wake of Friday’s attacks in Paris, the identities of the victims are being released. NYS Music previously reported on the deaths of Eagles of Death Metal Merchandise Manager, Nick Alexander and music journalist Guillame B. Decherf. It is now being reported that Thomas Ayad, an executive with Mercury Records, whose parent company, Universal Music Group has offices in Paris, was also among the 89 killed by the gunmen at Bataclan music hall. Ayad was 34 years old.
Promoters have announced that the remaining 20 dates of the Eagles of Death Metal’s European tour have been canceled so that the band members and crew could return home to their families. All members of the band safely escaped the venue. Founding member Josh Homme, also a founding member of Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age was not with the band on its Eurpoean tour.
Universal Music Group Chairman Lucien Grainge issued a letter to the Los Angeles Times on Saturday in response to the attacks:
Dear Colleagues:
Today, I’m writing to you with a heavy heart.
We, like so many around the world, are struggling with last night’s horrific tragedy in France.
Paris is in our thoughts and prayers. We extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims as well as our fervent wishes for healing for all of those affected by this senseless violence.
This is especially painful and personal for all of us. As many of you know, the band Eagles of Death Metal is part of the UMe and Mercury France family. The band and its crew as well as our own teams from Mercury and other UMG staffs were present at the Bataclan theater for last night’s show.
At this point, we have confirmed that Thomas Ayad, an international product manager for Mercury Records lost his life in the attack on the theater. This is an unspeakably appalling tragedy. I cannot even begin to express the depth of my sorrow. On behalf of everyone here at UMG, we extend our most profound sympathies to his parents and all of his friends and family.
We will update you further as information permits. In the meantime, please send all healing thoughts and prayers for those affected by this heinous act.
Today is a dark day. We are a family. Let’s support one another as we grapple with the weight of this darkness.
The New York Times reported that two gunmen attacked the crowd at Eagles Of Death Metal concert in Paris from the balcony using shotguns shooting down at the crowd killing many concert goers. This was one site out of a so far reported seven areas of Paris attacked Friday night.
The country of France is currently under lockdown until further notice. All the borders closed with a curfew on the streets. The first curfew since 1944 during World War II.
All four members of Eagles Of Death Metal have confirmed to have escaped the attack and confirmed to be unharmed.
More updates to come. Prayers to everyone in Paris.
UPDATED 10:53 p.m.
French President François Hollande addresses the media outside the Bataclan. Confirms terrorists who attacked concert have been killed.
UPDATED 10:35 p.m.
Via Slate, an eyewitness account from a concert attendee at the Bataclan to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, “They were not wearing masks.”
UPDATED 9:49 p.m.
U2 has canceled its scheduled live HBO performance from Paris scheduled November 14. From the U2 website:
As a result of the ongoing state of emergency across France, the U2 Paris concert scheduled for 14th November will not be going ahead as planned. U2 and Live Nation, along with HBO who were due to live broadcast the Saturday concert, are fully resolved to go ahead with this show at an appropriate time.
Speaking from Paris the band said:
“We watched in disbelief and shock at the unfolding events in Paris and our hearts go out to all the victims and their families across the city tonight.
We are devastated at the loss of life at the Eagles of Death Metal concert and our thoughts and prayers are with the band and their fans.
And we hope and pray that all of our fans in Paris are safe.”
UPDATED 9:45 p.m.
The New York Times has reported that Eagles of Death Metal had been performing before a sold out crowd at Paris’ Bataclan for about an hour when three gunmen charged into the venue shooting.
UPDATED 9:07 p.m.
From Billboard:
“The whole band heard the gunshots and went backstage and exited as fast as they could” https://t.co/pBhtt1A3OA
UPDATED 8:54 p.m. The Washington Post is reportingthat they have spoken to the Eagles of Death Metal’s drummer Julian Doro, who confirmed that her son and the rest of the band members are safe. The band members managed to flee the venue as the attacks began, however several crew members remain unaccounted for.
With details still being released every few minutes, dozens of innocent people were killed in Paris including at an Eagles Of Death Metal concert at Bataclan Arena in Paris.
Albany jam rockers Formula 5 announced Thursday that founding keyboardist Mike McDonald, is departing the group at the end of 2015 for personal reasons, so he can focus his attention toward building his family.
Here is the announcement as posted on their Facebook page:
Hi friends and fans,
We’ve reached a juncture here in Formula 5 camp and it pains us to announce that our own Mike McDonald will be stepping down as a member of Formula 5 at the end of 2015. Mike has been with us since the beginning and has been a big part of what we have built here with our music, business, and community. As a group, we have been discussing this change for some time now and while it is a very emotional and difficult decision for us all, we all support Mike with his decision to step down and wish him luck in his future endeavors. This decision was made on good terms – it was simply a personal decision that had to be made.
One thing we want to assure everyone of is that Formula 5 will continue on. Mike will always be a big part of Formula 5 but his decision was made to allow F5 to continue to grow, and keep making music and bringing joy to people. And that is what he has urged us to do. While bittersweet, we are accepting of the changes and excited to announce that we will welcome a new member and long-time friend Matt Richards to take over keyboards and vocal duties. Matt is an excellent musician that has experience playing with the prog-funk group The Assortment of Crayons and we are excited to see how this new chapter of Formula 5 evolves. We are very grateful to be able to perform music and appreciate everyone’s continued love and support for F5.
McDonald took to the social media site to express his sincere thanks for his time in the band.
It is with a heavy heart that I announce that I will be stepping down as a member of Formula 5. This was not an easy decision and one that I (and the band) struggled with for quite some time now. First off, I want to say that I love music, I love performing, and I love this band. That isn’t going to change. Writing music with these guys, performing live, learning about the business, and traveling around the northeast and meeting some amazing people and musicians has been phenomenal and something that I will be forever be grateful for. The business side of music can be quite grueling and often not even close to profitable – But this band, the music, its members, our fans, and the northeast music community is something very special and has made it all worth it.
The struggle of balancing my family, my “other” full-time career, and the development of this band has become too much for me to commit to the countless hours I believe are necessary to keep pushing Formula 5 upward with the momentum we have seen over the last few years. Despite all this, it would pain me to see this band simply fade away because of my own personal situation changing. This is something that we, as a band, have discussed greatly over the last year or so. While a very difficult decision for me personally, we all have worked too hard to get where we are today and I would hate to see this band and community fade away – that is why I am stepping down.
But Formula 5 is far from done. These guys are my family and I know that they are making better music than ever before and the future looks very, very bright. The band is very excited to announce that a long-time friend and a fantastic keyboard player and musician, Matt Richards will be stepping in as a new member. He has written and performed with The Assortment of Crayons and I truly think he is a fantastic addition to push Formula 5 into its newest chapter.
Change is good. While still a somber situation for me personally, I strongly urge all of you to still support Formula 5 and the great music that they are and will continue to create.
I will be finishing out the rest of the calendar year playing the next 3 shows with Formula 5 – my last show being on December 12th at dinosaur bbq in Troy. If you feel so inclined, come on out and bid farewell to this chapter of F5.
In anticipation of their upcoming show on November 14 at Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, Dopapod’s drummer Scotty Zwang took some time to chat with NYS Music about summer tour highlights, Woodstock, and pranking Papadosio.
This weekend’s stop is part of the progressive groove quartet’s extensive fall and winter tour with soul-funk quintet, the Nth Power. The tour follows an action packed summer, with appearances at Bonnaroo, Mountain Jam, Red Rocks, Peach Fest, Electric Forest, Disc Jam, High Sierra and more. Dopapod refuses to stay within the boundaries of one distinct sound. Show-goers will get a taste of prog rock, synthesized keys, and even some country inspired songs, all that have aided in their ever growing and loyal fan base.
Tickets are available for $18 through Ticketmaster, or at the Bearsville Theater box office. Doors at 8, show at 9. Other upcoming dates include:
Nov 14 – Woodstock, NY – Bearsville Theater
Nov 18 – Buffalo, NY – Tralf Music Hall
Nov 20 – Brooklyn, NY – The Hall at MP
Nov 21 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Art
Erin Clary: Even though you’re touring, do you ever get a chance to go to shows yourself? And if so, who do you go see?
Scotty Zwang: Yes. That can range. I mean I’ve been off for about ten days since the last show. The day after I got home on Halloween I went to see Ben Folds with yMusic which was really awesome. All things can vary. I try to go to as many shows especially bands that really influence me and bands I don’t necessarily get to see all the time. I like to go see friends, like the Disco Biscuits are playing in New York the day after New Year’s so I am going to go see them after seeing Phish. I try to go to as many shows, not necessarily just jam band ones, but different ones as often as I can, not as often as I would like. Frankly, by the time I get home from tour sometimes the last thing I want to do is go see live music.
EC: It’s been a year since your last album release, do you have another one in the making or are you focusing on touring and improvisation?
SZ: We’ve been focusing a lot on touring for the last year since the album (Never Odd or Even) came out and yeah, usually in general we’re pretty busy with touring. We are actually planning on taking a good chunk of time off in the beginning of the year to finish songs that we’ve been working on on the road and also to write some songs from scratch so that hopefully by next year at some point, or maybe beginning of the following year, we will have an album finished. But we are going to take some time off first and see where that all goes and hopefully take some time to get in the studio shortly after that.
EC: Dopapod crosses a range of musical styles, some are sort of hard, others are a little twangy, others sound more like video games. What is your personal favorite?
SZ: I guess I really do love the darker and proggier kind of stuff. Although the video gamey kind of stuff when Eli synthesizes the sound I think is the more quirkier writing that the band does. I do enjoy all of that. And even some of the twangy… I mean we have a song that is pretty much country, bluegrass, more of an up-tempo kind of feel. As a drummer, I do have to say some of the proggier stuff, when I play correctly on stage, I do feel very good about myself like I’ve accomplished something. Even though we wrote the songs, sometimes I do end up still messing things up live. When something is that challenging it’s definitely rewarding and I still feel good about being able to pull that off live. I would like to say it’s done correctly every time, but sometimes people do mess up. I know Neil Peart from Rush said that anytime he played a song like “YYZ” or “Tom Sawyer,” he wrote it and spent a lot of time focusing on difficult drum parts, and he still gets that excitement when he actually pulls it off live and I would say the same goes for me.
Dopapod, Mountain Jam, 2015
EC: You guys have had some pretty interesting profile pictures on Facebook recently. Who is the creative genius behind those graphics?
SZ: They’re usually fan based. We have a fan page created by fans on Facebook. It’s our top fans around the country or wherever else and they call themselves “Dopafam.” There’s usually some weird stuff that goes around in there (laughs) and every once in a while there is a picture that is just gold. The one you’re talking about is Chuck in his underwear riding a razor scooter on the rainbow road from Mario Cart. That was created by a fan and I’m not even sure exactly who did it. We have some super creative fans I guess because sometimes they strike gold. If anyone in the band likes it, (it’s) usually Chuck and not just because he happens to be in this photo, but usually he will put it up. Chuck has kind of realized throughout the year – well we all have – that people don’t necessarily want to see or have the time and patience to watch a video, or read a long, thought out and touching thing. They just want to see pictures of whatever. Chuck always says that when he goes on Facebook if he doesn’t see a picture of a dog within 10 seconds then he just signs off.
EC: Was that picture from Jam on the River in Philly?
SZ: (laughs) So yeah, there was a bet that happened with Papadosio that was betting Chuck to go out on stage and ride the razor scooter in his underwear. I kind of pushed him to do it because I think those things are funny and that is what people will remember…
EC: Oh I remember it quite clearly!
SZ: I kind of pushed him to do it and I kind of had this thought of how funny this with be if this was an ongoing prank with Papadosio because we play so many festivals with them and they truly are some of our best friends. So at High Sierra, once again I egged Rob, our guitarist to do it and he went out in his underwear on the razor scooter. It was just hilarious and no one expected it. It kind of opened up a whole can of worms since I kept making people do it, I had to do it myself. So I finally did it at The Werk Out. We’ve all done it except for Eli but at this point I don’t want Papadosio to think that every time we play together that one of us is going to appear on stage in his underwear, so I’m not sure that trend is still alive.
EC: Do they ever prank you guys?
SZ: They tried to prank us at the same festival when I did it but because they had to get out of there and go to another show they didn’t have enough time. So it was passed onto the Werks and Dino, their bassist, came out in his underwear wearing…I got this poop mask, it’s a mask that looks like the emoji of the pile of poop with a smiley face. It’s essentially that exact thing. So he came out in his underwear wearing the mask because no one had a razor scooter I guess.
EC: “Nerds” from Never Odd or Even – what’s the story behind this? Are you guys mocking someone in the very beginning?
SZ: No…well kind of. It was Chuck’s idea when we were in the studio and we had a lot of empty space and build up before the lyrics kicked in, which aren’t really a lot of lyrics it’s just “no words.” But it was kind of a nod to Frank Zappa because in…I forget which song, maybe it was “Catholic Girl,” he kind of does a ‘Valley Girl’ impersonation, kind of making fun of people in the California area that he is from. Chuck just thought it would be funny. We came up with this song and originally the band just had a lot of instrumentals. Jam bands are kind of known for not having the best voices at times. We were kind of just mocking the same kind of valley girl and if she was at a jam band show, and all these songs are long and they don’t have any words. So Chuck, after we recorded all the instrumentals and everything was done, we just had a night at the studio where maybe we drank a little too much or something, and he went in there and gave it his all.
EC: I saw you a few times this summer at Disc Jam, and at Mountain Jam where you played two sets, one was on that outdoor main stage. Isn’t it huge?!
SZ: It was the biggest stage I think we’ve ever played on. I am trying to think back because we did have some big performances this summer, but I do remember getting to Mountain Jam and thinking, “this is definitely the biggest stage this band has ever performed on. It’s just massive.”
EC: Massive! I’ve been going there a lot of years and it’s just gotten bigger and bigger. I’ve seen you guys on plenty of regular sized stages so to see you on something like this was really impressive!
SZ: Thank you! It’s funny because that stage next to it is a pretty nice stage and you could have a regular production on it, but it is just dwarfed by how big that main stage is.
EC: What was your favorite festival this summer? You guys really went after it.
SZ: Yeah there were a lot of them. They start pretty early. Obviously we do have random festivals that go into the fall or destination ones in the winter, or musical festival in the end of February or beginning of march this year. So they just go all year long now. Summer Camp is a real great one as far as “real festival” season in summertime, its kind of the first weekend. Bonnaroo was a dream ours and the biggest audience we’ve ever played for. It was broadcasted over the Internet for RedBull.com and we were interviewed by Sal Masekela, who I’ve been watching as the host for the X Games since back in the day when I was a little kid and loved flinging myself off of stairs and other things, whether it was a bike or skateboard or whatever. It was just a really crazy experience to just look and someone is powdering his face and asking us if we want water, and actions like que cards in order to sync with the video. So that was definitely one of the most mind blowing experiences of the summer. There was just so many great ones. I mentioned The Werk Out is a lot of fun. High Sierra in California is great. It has a really nice family vibe and is one of those festivals that has survived two decades. It’s a festival that is almost as old as all of us in the band. It’s really cool to be a part of stuff like that.
EC: Now that the season has changed in the Northeast, it’s time to go inside. What are you looking forward to and what can we expect from your show at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock on Saturday.
SZ: It’s our first time playing in Woodstock. Although my family has a house in West Saugerties, it’s actually on the same road as the house where The Band lived, ‘Big Pink.’ So I have a lot of experience in Woodstock and when I joined the band we actually went up to my family’s house and did videos of songs like “Nerds” and “Picture in Picture” for the first time. That was all shot in Woodstock. So really excited. I’ve actually never seen a show at “the bears,” and my family really loves it there. They’re excited that we’re finally there, we get to have dinner next door at the café. It’s going to be a great time. It’s got such a great vibe, especially with music and especially this time of year, it’s just very beautiful.
EC: Will your family and friends be coming to the show?
SZ: Oh yeah, I know I have my brother-in-law, my sister, my mom and dad, in-laws and my girlfriend, everyone is coming up. It’s going to be quite the weekend. I hope I don’t disappoint them.
That day is here. Through 
As news begins to be released and we learn of those we have lost, one particular loss hits close to home, as included in this news is the loss of 
This weekend’s stop is part of the progressive groove quartet’s extensive fall and winter tour with soul-funk quintet, 
EC: It’s been a year since your last album release, do you have another one in the making or are you focusing on touring and improvisation?
EC: I saw you a few times this summer at Disc Jam, and at Mountain Jam where you played two sets, one was on that outdoor main stage. Isn’t it huge?!