Side order

Foxtrot Zulu, one of the many attractions for Phish fans

by Mark Edmonds

Phish, heirs apparent to the Grateful Dead's freeform cultural and musical legacy, land in Wormtown on Friday to kick off a three-night stay. I half-expect to hear a civil-defense message on the radio warning locals to stay out of downtown. I know that sounds crazy, but when the Dead played here in 1991, Worcester was less-than-kind to Uncle John's Band. At a city-council meeting the week after they played, a handful of business people angrily argued that the band's peace-loving followers frightened people with their tie dyes and peasant dresses. Predictably, the council's knee-jerk response was to decree that the band never return here -- the Dead happily obliged (on the next tour, they played Boston).

With that history, you wonder what will happen when Phish's large fanbase -- big enough to fill an abandoned air base in Maine this summer -- arrives in town by the bus and camperful. Will history repeat itself? One thing's for sure this time around: somebody in the city is prepared to offer those colorful minions something to do.

The Tammany Club is hosting three solid days' worth of similarly styled freeform bands. They'll play before and after the main Centrum event. One of those scheduled for this Friday is Foxtrot Zulu.

The band are really excited about playing to the spillover crowd from the first of Phish's three shows.

"We're pretty blown away about the concept of it all," says singer/guitarist Neal Jones. "This whole play-after-the-show thing is really a great idea that came from these guys who are doing this newsletter called the Pharmer's Almanac [the unofficial guide to Phish]. Their idea is give people a cool place to be when the band isn't playing. They're going to be in the parking lots during the shows, handing out fliers, and really trying to promote the heck out of it. They're hoping to catch a lot of people who don't have tickets -- that happens a lot at Phish shows -- so hopefully this will give those people an alternative to hanging around outside and trying to listen to the band through the walls."

Made up of University of Rhode Island graduates, the seven-piece outfit emerged nationally in 1995 with Moe's Diner, an amalgam of rock and funk grooves that showed great promise. Foxtrot Zulu have been barnstorming the East Coast with their energetic live sound ever since. Zulu recently produced a follow-up to Diner titled Burn Slow (Running Dog). This time, they've modified their approach by taking the commercially oriented pop from their first project in a more experimental direction. Although the basic outline (two guitars/bass/drums rhythm section with horns flying overhead) remains, songs are longer, many stretch out to the six- and seven-minute mark.

Unfortunately, this isn't necessarily a good thing. Although many tracks begin with the best of intentions -- "Ryders," the opener, runs a groove of undulating funk with wah-wah rhythms and soaring horns, and "Swamp Yankee" appears as a straight high-speed rocker with pop hooks -- most wind up with an almost unfinished feeling because the band meander off into jamdom. Sometimes they crash, as on "Moe's Diner" and "Spin Me," by taking one too many turns around a moody bridge section or getting lost in an ethereal instrumental fog.

These meltdowns come after the band, in both releases, make strong charges out of the barn with snarling guitars, blaring trumpets, and double-time percussion tracks. They fare better, however, when they stick to shorter songs, as evidenced by the four-minute "Freight Train." With the buzz of their busy guitars, they sound a lot like pre-megastardom R.E.M.

Jones admits that Foxtrot are still a work in progress. But he sees a lot ahead for the band. And, he denies that the group are trying to pander to the Phish Nation by just stretching out their songs.

"It's true that we're taking a more freeform approach," he says, "but I really don't think that the disc does us justice as far as translating the energy of our live show. It does definitely capture us going in the same direction Phish was when they were at the same stage. But things are going to change. In the meantime, we like to look at it the way our sax player does. The first album was like Star Wars, and this one is like The Empire Strikes Back. It's like got a little bit better special effects. Now, we just have to make Return of the Jedi."

Foxtrot Zulu play the Tammany Club at 10 p.m. (after the Phish show ends) on November 28. Call 791-6550.