Gathering of the Vibes ~
(preview coverage) ~ “Interview of the Vibes” ~ Editorial by
Roger Patteson
This week Festifarians
will embark upon Bridgeport, CT to Seaside Park for the next
installment of Gathering of the Vibes. With an all star
lineup comprised of both vets and those new to the game,
attendees are sure to gain an experience worth writing home
about. Celebrating their 18th year, GotV has
become a highly anticipated vehicle for delivering the goods
when all things music and community are concerned. Chances
are if a band has left a life changing impression upon you,
they’ve played the Vibes festival and are hopefully
returning this year. Alongside that credibility and
experience comes the tradition of putting new, emerging acts
on the stage in front of thousands of concert goers.
Jams Plus Media put
together a segment of interviews with a handful of the
artists that will be bringing the funk to Connecticut this
weekend. Among the list are Ken Hays (festival founder),
George Porter Jr., Reid Geneaur (Strangefolk/Assembly of
Dust), George Gekas (The Revivalists), and members of the
McLovins (Atticus Kelly, Jake Huffman, Justin Berger, Jason
Ott).
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Ken Hays
(interview by Pete Mason)
PM: With so many
great bands touring this year, how did you end up with a
lineup of classic rock bands and Jambands, a bit of a change
from last year when Primus, Zappa plays Zappa and STS9 were
headliners?
Ken Hays: Each year
it’s important that we change up the lineup or we become
stagnant, and this year is really consistent with previous
years. Last year after Vibes, we sent out a survey and about
2500 people responded about what they like and what bands
they want to see, and based on the responses that we got, we
put the puzzle together and now have a lineup that I feel
really good about.
A majority are bands that
have historically played the Vibes, but we are coming up
with new bands and new band configurations – Phil Lesh with
Medeski and Scofield on Friday and Saturday nights; The
Roots have never played Vibes after all this time; to have
Rob Garza from Thievery Corporation and James Murphy from
LCD Soundsystem - these guys are doing late night along with
Deep Banana Blackout and Kung Fu with a whole bunch of
friends - James Murphy and Rob Garza, these guys are really
the creators and originators of the electronic dance scene,
which is now thriving, but to have these guys represent
Saturday night late night, I'm really excited about it. To
welcome Blues Traveler to the Vibes for the first time, as
well as John Butler Trio, plus The Black Crowes, who were
with us in 2008 but recently added Jackie Greene to their
new configuration, it’s going to be an incredibly powerful
show.
PM: You have a good
25% of the lineup returning, give or take a few. What is the
benefit to having some of the same acts on the bill year
after year?
KH: It’s what the
Vibe Tribe loves and we’re all growing older together and
the Vibes is an annual reunion with friends and family,
which extends out to the friends on the stage as well. Where
I'm really pleased is with some of these bands that are
performing on the Green Vibes stage that some may not have
heard of, incredibly talented musicians lined up. A little
blues, rock, ska, a little reggae, some jazz with Scofield…
so it’s really an opportunity for people to pick and choose
the genre that they want to experience and take the five
minute walk from one stage to the next and experience all
the at we have to offer this year.
PM: After 18 years
of Gathering of the Vibes, what wrinkles do you find you
need to iron out, in order to ensure the most optimal
festival experience for your legion of fans?
KH: I feel like
we’ve got a really good model on all points, and be it the
camping, School of Rock, Kids Corner, Teen Scene, I feel
that across the board we have refined it to a point where
we’re really acting as concierges for Vibes attendees and
that’s exemplified with our hotline. If any attendees have
any questions or issues or concerns, or need a helping hand,
they can call the hotline, which is our office number that
is answered on site by a dozen or so volunteers who know
everything about The Gathering. For example, someone busted
their leg a few weeks before the festival and needs a ride
from their camp to the main stage, well, they’ll send a golf
cart out to them. Or, if someone is drumming too loud too
late, we’ll send someone out to quiet them down politely. We
serve as concierges for the 10-12,000 camping over the
course of the weekend.
PM: John Scofield
is playing with Phil and Friends as well as his Uberjam. His
versatility alone should be on the lineup. How did you first
become a fan of Scofield?
KH: I first knew
that he played with Miles Davis many years ago but got more
intimately into John because my younger brother Kevin is a
jazz pianist who toured with John for a couple years. I
remember getting a call from John and he wanted to know more
about the live concert tapers and the tape trading community
and how that all goes down. I remember spending an hour on
the phone with him and how spreading the music is good for
all artists, and how the model of selling albums and CDs at
that point was a totally different entity than a live
performance. He was in full agreement and when he last
played the Vibes eight years ago, that guy was just a
sweetheart of a guy and a monster on lead guitar. I just saw
him perform at Mountain Jam with Warren Haynes and Phil Lesh.
Seeing him is just extraordinary and something that either
you got it or you don’t, and John has just got it. He
continues to reinvent himself, either with Medeski, Martin
and Wood or the A Go Go album, Scofield is just
brilliance.
PM: Of the first
time acts playing Vibes, which acts are you most excited to
see, and on that note, what acts that are under the radar
should fans not miss?
KH: The
Revivalists, Lord Huron, Tribal Seeds and Fishbone. Fishbone
is going to be something that people are going to enjoy. I
definitely want to be in front of the stage for that one.
PM: Many festivals
like Gathering of the Vibes have created smartphone apps
that allow fans to use their phones to find out about
schedule, updates, check out the map, etc… Does Vibes have
an app for this year’s festival?
KH: Look for an app
for smartphones, as well as the printed program. An app
makes more sense for fests that have five, six or seven
stages to help you schedule your time and make sure you
don’t miss a band you don’t want to see. At Vibes, you have
the main stage and the Green Vibes stage, School of Rock and
Silent Disco – everyone pretty much knows where the
activities are after all these years at Seaside Park, but
we’ll make sure everyone knows what’s going on and when.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
George
Gekas of The Revivalists (Interview by Roger Patteson)
RP- Just played High Sierra and The Ride festivals
with All Good and Vibes coming up, is it safe to say y’all
are fond of the festie or do you prefer individual shows?
GG- Every show is different. There are certain
festivals we just really love to be at and there’s certain
venues we really love playing our own shows. We’re in the
middle of a heavy, 5 week tour where we started in Texas,
went to California, back through Colorado to the Midwest,
then All Good, and then Vibes. We are super grateful to
have this opportunity to play everywhere.
RP- Have you ever played Vibes before?
GG- No, this will be our first and I’m so excited. I
grew up 20 min. away from there. Went to my first Vibes in
’04.
RP- Ahh, so New Orleans isn’t home?
GG- No, we all came down here for college and met up.
RP- So, just how special will it be to play a fest
that you grew up around and attended?
GG- It’s a trip. When you’re 14 or 15yrs old and
you’re playing your instrument in front of people, you never
know that you’re going to get an opportunity like this.
RP- And your jazzy, funky weirdness will fit in just
right….
RP- You have an early afternoon set on Friday and a
short trip for the next show. Are you planning on kicking
it at the fest? What bands are you excited to see?
GG- We’re definitely gonna hang the rest of the day.
After seeing Scofield at High Sierra, we definitely wanna
catch his show. Tedeschi Trucks Band is a great act. And,
of course, Phil (Lesh). Then we’re off to crash at my
parents’ house before playing in Northampton, MA the next
day.
RP- I see you guys are claiming a new ride, calling
it “Van Diesel”.
GG- Ha! Yeah, we were on our way from Texas to
California and broke down. We got it fixed then broke down
again on the way to Colorado. Luckily our booking agent
lives in Colorado and helped pull some strings to get us a
new Sprinter Van.
RP- And it seems that any great artist has received
breaks along the way and gotten help when it was most
needed. Any shout outs you would like to give?
GG- Definitely! David Glassman, our first super fan
who’s a retired Lt. Col. In the Marines who helped us find
fans in the gulf coast region, i.e. ‘The first people to
really “get” what we do’. Stu Schayot, our first manager
and talent buyer at Howlin’ Wolf in New Orleans; Adam
Kowalski and Stef Scamardo, our management at Hard Head,
who’s help provided all of the great gigs this summer. We
wouldn’t be where we are without them. And, Phil Eganthal
and Owen Gray, our agents at Madison House. They believed
in us and saw our potential while other agents were passing
on us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
George
Porter Jr. (interview by Pete Mason)
PM: Thinking about
Gathering of the Vibes, what makes it stand out as a unique
music festival?
George: The name
itself stands alone. The Vibes! The whole atmosphere is
about great vibes and all the great musicians and players
bring it, and the festival gives it back. I like it, I've
done it with Runnin' Pardners this year and did it years ago
with The Funky Meters. I did a Vibes with Buddy Miles
and Ray Manzarek. It was a tribute to Jimi Hendrix and Janis
Joplin. It was a killer night. That was years and years ago,
it poured down rain and stormed, we was in the mud up to our
knees, I remember that man, it was wonderful. Ken is good
people. He takes good care of us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reid
Geneaur (interview by Pete Mason)
PM: What number
Vibes is this for you?
RG: This is 17.
I’ve only missed one Vibes.
PM: So you’ve seen
it change over the years. What’s it been like growing up as
a musician and seeing the festival grow up like that?
RG: You know, I've
think Ive seen it as not just the Gathering of the Vibes,
and I’ve said this before, for us it’s a tent pole in the
year, but I think just the scene in general has kind of
grown up around it. It’s like Tetris kinda. You see
different blocks fall and others rise, and shift around,
it’s neat. I feel like a part of something, some kind of
history.
PM: You’re playing
twice, with Strangefolk on Thursday and Assembly of Dust on
Friday. How much do you have to shift from band to band,
because this is probably the first time you are playing with
both acts at Vibes.
RG: Well, I’m a
little bit of a one trick pony, so I'm sort of myself in
both bands, but it’s interesting. It’s a different feel and
I play a slightly different role. Strangefolk’s a four piece
and I'm a little more important in terms of fills and stuff
and it’s just different styles of playing. (Drummer) Luke
Smith is really an expressive player and (Erik) Glockler
plays sort of Paul McCartney’s style bass and so somebody
needs to plunking away in the background, holding it down,
and that tends to be me. The funny thing actually is, to the
extent that there are songs that claim both bands, they’ve
got slightly different feels, sometimes they’ve got a
slightly different transition, like we’ll do two measures
more in one band than the other and I gotta remember which
band I’m in. (laughs). It’s cool, and it’s funny, some songs
feel more natural, one side or the other.
PM: Do you have to
factor in both bands when you have to work on the setlist
RG: Yeah, in
general when we’re playing back to back with Strangefolk, we
(Assembly of Dust) just try to play pure-bred AOD material,
and at this point, there’s enough with five albums. So we’re
fine, beyond fine, just trying to be thoughtful about it
because I don’t want to play one song with both bands.
PM: What other acts
are you going to try and check out?
RG: Dark Star
Orchestra and Phil and Friends is a given. I love seeing
Scofield.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
McLovins - (interviewed by Pete Mason)
PM: You guys played Gathering of the Vibes last
year. What is it about Vibes that allows you to bring
out your sound more appropriately, particularly playing
the Green Vibes Stage?
Atticus Kelly: They don't call it Vibes for
nothing. I know it sounds corny, but I've played some
festivals where you kinda feel scared for your life at.
And at Vibes, it's like the perfect ratio of authority
and good times, and that just makes it easier because no
one's really fucking around that much and can really dig
the music, and that helps us bring out a real solid
sound.
Justin Berger: Green Vibes Stage is smaller and
it's easier to connect with people on a smaller stage
than it is on the bigger stage. I haven't played the
bigger stage, but from what they (Jake Huffman and Jason
Ott) told me, they played early in the day on Sunday a
couple years ago on the main stage; a smaller stage
leads to greater connection.
PM: Playing the Vibes last year, how did you feel
received by the crowd?
Atticus - GREAT! We had a great slot between Max
Creek and Keller Williams, and there was nothing really
going on while we were playing, so we just got flooded
with heady folks.
PM: You guys are from Hartford and local to
Vibes, what's it like being a local band playing a major
music festival?
Jake Huffman - I really love that Vibes has made
us feel like a staple of the festival. Since the first
year we were there, every time, Ken (Hays) will come up
to us after and say 'Can't wait to have you guys back
next year! Put it on your calendar.' It just feels like
we're a part of it. It's our fifth year back and that's
really awesome. It feels good to be a part of something
like that. Since we were so young, playing their five
years, we've grown up with it. It's a great feeling; not
many people can understand growing up at a music
festival.
PM: What's it like going from the School of Rock
Stage to Green Vibes Stage to the Main Stage? You have
to be the first band to play all three stages at Vibes.
Jason Ott - That's true. Personally, when we
played on the main stage, going back to the Green Vibes
Stage, at least in my experience, was my favorite so
far. As Justin was saying, it's just so much closer with
the crowd, at least it feels closer. When we were on the
big stage, we're not quite at the point in our careers
that we feel we can fill that stage, having a presence
anyway. The main stage is HUGE. You feel like an ant on
that thing.
Jake Huffman - It's nice because recently, we've
been playing this staple spot on Sunday afternoon. It's
Family Day, so everyone from Connecticut comes down and
a lot of friends come down because its like $20 for
Connecticut residents. And this year there's going to be
much more than just The McLovins on the stage. it's a
set not to be missed this year. We're playing 1 pm at
Green Vibes this year.
