On The Rocks

The Worcester Phoenix
Sept. 1 - 8, 2000

[On The Rocks]

Straw men

TAO invite Syd Straw to Maynard for a night of jam-packed adventure

by John O'Neill
The Adventures Of . . . are not your typical bunch of fellows. Formed five years ago in Austin, Texas, the foursome specialize in crafting psychedelic nuggets that owe as much to three-minute pop tunes as they do to long-winded improvisational jams. The result is something along the lines of Mersey Beat on a jazz bender meeting the Dead with a good deal of personal restraint. It also means
the band ride in an ill-defined gray zone between two genres that, on the surface, would seem to have very little in common. The way guitarist Brook Megg reckons it, he's got the best of both worlds. The pop purist may never be satisfied, and the jam camp might not fully embrace the brevity of their work, but TAO make the case that they're exploiting the better aspects of both genres -- creating a sound that lifts pop's tight, crisp, sensibilities and marries it with the open-ended possibilities of improvisation. The resulting byproduct is music with a basic structural root that maintains a certain freshness no matter how often it's played.
"I started out like everyone else -- a Beatles guy -- so I always try to put the song first," explains Megg. "I think some of the younger jam bands tend to think of the song as an excuse for the jamming, but I also get frustrated by straightforward pop bands. Sometimes I wish they would open up a little more, especially when you see them a couple of times and they're playing the same set list."
With nearly one-hundred original tunes under their belt to ensure they never play the same show twice, TAO subscribe to the Austin tradition of inviting guests up to sit in for the evening. But while Austin is a magnet for great music and Austin crowds tend to be open to mutated experiments like The Adventures Of . . ., Megg and company found that the road to success was rocky until they actually started to play out less.
"We were doing 60 gigs a year when we started. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it is in Austin. We got lumped into the hippie jam scene, and it's pretty active. We found out we did better when we limited the number of gigs and venues. We also started to get some airplay on the local cable-music network, so now people show up and know the songs."
Realizing Austin wasn't enough now that people actually knew their name (and in keeping with their non-traditional approach to most every aspect of their career), TAO have embarked on their first-ever out-of-state show and chose a one-off in, of all places, Maynard. They appear this Saturday, September 2, at the Sit 'N Bull Pub in what might be the oddest intentional booking of all-time.
"Actually I have a connection to the area. My mom's family has roots in Sudbury," chuckles Megg. "I've been up this way a lot and have developed a soft spot for the Sit 'N Bull. It's kinda this No Man's Land between Boston and Worcester that encourages working bands, so I've been fond of them. Plus next year we might do a tour, so this is sort of a scouting mission."
In keeping with their hometown hospitality, the boys of TAO have opted to share the Metrowest stage (in what amounts to a minor coupe for local fans) with seldom-seen recording artist and cult figure Syd Straw, a perennial industry outsider best remembered for her stint as a vocalist with Anton Fier's Golden Palominos. A rarity on the live circuit (her last swing was nearly four years ago in support of her second solo stab, War and Peace), Straw accepted the offer to sit in from Megg, who has maintained an on-again/off-again working relationship with her since they met through mutual friends nearly 20 years ago in Los Angeles.
"We met when she was just out of high school," reflects Megg, who co-wrote "Racing to the Ruins" from her first solo album, Surprise (Virgin). "She left for New York, and I ended up in New York, so I played guitar for a while. When she got the [Golden] Palominos gig, that really opened up a lot of doors. It was great to be able to play with her."
Straw is no stranger to sharing the spotlight. Her two solo discs saw Dave Alvin, Van Dyke Parks, the Skeletons, and John Doe drop in, and she has performed and recorded with a variety of artists including Michael Stipe, Ry Cooder, Richard Thompson, David Sanborn, Freedy Johnson, and Rickie Lee Jones. And while she has consistently shown an interest in working with artists outside of rock, the Sit 'N Bull show promises to be seat-of-the-pants affair for everyone involved, since The Adventures Of . . . and Straw have never performed together.
As Megg readily admits, "It's gonna be an interesting juxtaposition. Syd has done a lot of different styles but one area she hasn't done is improvisational psychedelia. So there's some potential for some interesting results. She knows my songs, and we're gonna do at least a full set of her material, so we're both looking forward to it."
Local Buzz
The lads from Garrsion are still charting on CMJ with their album, A Mile in Cold Water. They kite over the pond for a three-week tour of Europe next week. Rick Blaze and the Ballbusters are headed out on the road for a quick US tour with indie legend Nikki Sudden. A founding member of England's premiere art-punk band, Swell Maps, Sudden has remained a constant on the international scene for the past two decades and counts R.E.M. among his many disciples. Former Actions/Stags drummer Tony Serrato is currently living in Falmouth, where he sails his boat and continues to search for the area's music scene. Joe and Jamie Downchild are still hunkered down in Phoenix, Arizona and working on songs for a third album. A Worcester release party is promised.
Heavy Dates
We knew we were in trouble when we cracked open the Uncle Sammy disc and saw songs clocking in at roughly the same time it takes to bake a batch of brownies, so we went to the Village Voice for musical guidance. They advised something along the lines of "If you don't like bands that take extended solos without lyrics and you can't get down with the rhythm, then stay home." Which we are doing. Still, these guys are killin' 'em in the New York press, so perhaps you should hustle on over to the Tammany Club this Friday (September 1) to catch Jam-erica's rising sons. Elsewhere on Friday, it's a bowl full of vegan angst when Earth Crisis join In Flames and Skinlab for a little bit of finger pointing at the man, and Sober in the Sun kicks off a three-day stint (which just so happens to match our own personal record for sobriety) with a slew of acoustic outfits, including Leroy White, Aztec Two Step's Rex Fowler, funny guy Don White, and funnier guy Mike Duffy. Call (888) 707-6237 for details -- or check our listings. Saturday has plenty on tap, starting with the ultra-swank Enemy Squad. Featuring members of P-Funk and boasting a double bass attack, the E-Team is a nuts-on favorite to loosen up even the tightest of tight asses. Speaking of getting your funk on, the always wild and woolly Clutch Grabwell make a return to Liquid, while Ed Vadas and the Fabulous Heavyweights rip it up at Gilrein's. There's no doubt that Syd Straw is still best remembered for her mid-'80s work with the Golden Palominos, but we think her second solo disc, War and Peace, was a criminally overlooked slice of pop goodness. Word is, it will be open season on her entire back catalogue when she joins Austin's The Adventures Of . . . at the Sit N' Bull for three sets. The Lucky Dog is still owned by Disco Hell on Sunday night, but drop by early to see the so-incredibly-bad-they-rule (and know it) American Jackass. The name says it all, but seeing is believing. You'll either be totally offended or completely down with the power of the Ass. Elsewhere on Sunday, the Indian Ranch features moldy country oldie Charlie Daniels, who has managed to carve out quite a career for himself with many, many albums, of which we can name one. You know, the one with Ol' Scratch loosing the fiddling competition that ended up getting played right alongside Led Zeppelin and Billy Squire on Big Rock Stations. Oh, and then they scored with that other one about not fucking with Uncle Sam back when we were all bent at the Iranians for making chumps of us. (We often like to fantasize that the tune was blaring on the landing craft as the first wave disembarked to reestablish world dominance on those wise-guys from Grenada.) Anyhoo, that's most likely your encore, so feel free to mill about and work up your rebel yell at the beer tent until then.
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John O'Neill can be reached at johndelrey@yahoo.com..