Other Bands

San Francisco rock quintet New Monsoon is the collaborative vehicle for the vocal and instrumental prowess of founding members Bo Carper (acoustic guitar and banjo), Jeff Miller (electric guitar) and Phil Ferlino (keys). Now well into its second decade of national touring, the band also features the muscular rhythm section of Marshall Harrell (electric bass) and Michael Pinkham (drums).

Released in 2014, Diamonds and Clay, the 5th studio album from New Monsoon, features 10 original tracks that capture the innovative songwriting, soulful instrumental interplay, lush harmony vocals and soaring energy that have become New Monsoon's trademark.

After a successful Kickstarter campaign in the summer of 2013, recording for Diamonds and Clay began at Bob Weir's TRI Studios in San Rafael, CA. This state-of-the-art environment enabled the band to play the songs together, giving the record a live feel. With the foundation for each song in place, they went on to Charlie Wilson's Sonic Zen Records in Berkeley, CA to record additional tracks including lead and harmony vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, banjo, and various keyboard parts. The end result is a deeply textured sonic experience marrying the band's raw energy with the sensitivity and craft that is afforded in the recording studio environment.

"Diamonds and Clay affirms New Monsoon as torchbearers for rock & roll with something substantive to say about the human condition. Made of sturdy muscle & heart, they stretch rock in the same winning ways as Traffic and Little Feat, where great skill, undisguised passion, and well-weathered soul combine for nourishment for folks who seek music that's more than mere entertainment." - Dennis Cook (Dirty Impound/JamBase)

New Monsoon has shared the stage with heavyweight guests Mike Stern, the late, great Martin Fierro (Zero, Legion of Mary), Steve Kimock, and Tim Carbone (Railroad Earth), to name a few. They've toured with String Cheese Incident, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Umphrey's McGee (Big Summer Classic Tour), supported Moe, The Wailers, etc. and are a featured headliner in venues such as the Fillmore (SF), Gothic Theater (Denver), and the Warehouse (Houston). They are also a perennial favorite of the festival circuit including marquee festivals like Bonnaroo, Wakarusa, Langerado, High Sierra, Telluride Bluegrass, Austin City Limits and many others.

The band's quality associations continue with their recorded output. 2007's V was produced by Grateful Dead engineer John Cutler, and 2005's The Sound was helmed by original Santana percussionist Michael Shrieve and Paul Kimble (Grant Lee Buffalo, Luna).

"They have a collective power that comes off as a real unified force on stage. It's not just a band, you know? It's something transcendental."
- Michael Shrieve (original drummer, Santana)

Miller and Ferlino have also formed a supergroup collective, The Contribution, along with Tim Carbone (Railroad Earth) Keith Moseley (String Cheese Incident) Matt Butler (Everyone Orchestra) and Sheryl Renee (Black Swan Singers). SCI Fidelity Records released Which Way World, The Contribution's inaugural album, in 2010. Miller released his first solo album, Ancient Wisdom, in 2011. Carper performs as a solo act and as half of the duo, Bo & Lebo, with Dan Lebowitz of ALO.

NMS are Eddie Roberts (guitar & tambourine), Pete Shand (bass), Simon Allen (drums), and Bob Birch (Hammond). All four of them met in Leeds, UK, and, as a BBC reviewer says, "NMS may produce some confusion: how can a collection of (mostly) pasty-faced Northerners produce with such authority the dusty funk grooves of the early 70s? It doesn't matter - they just do."

In the late 1990's, guitarist and producer Eddie Roberts was running a club night in Leeds called "The Cooker." When The Cooker moved into a new venue with a second floor in 1999, there was space and the opportunity to put a live band together to complement the DJ sets. Roberts and Allen had played together in 1997 as The Mastersounds, though with a different bassist and no organ. Through friends and the intimate nature of the Leeds music scene, Shand and Birch were added on bass and Hammond respectively, and The New Mastersounds were born. Though it was raw and more of a boogaloo sound at first, it was powerful from the start. Their first rehearsal was hot enough for Blow it Hard Records to release it as an EP in 2000.

As a band, and as individuals, they have since clocked up collaborations with an impressive array of musicians DJs and producers, including: Lou Donaldson (Blue Note), Corinne Bailey Rae (EMI), Quantic (Tru Thoughts), Carleen Anderson, Keb Darge & Kenny Dope (Kay Dee Records), John Arnold (Ubiquity), Mr Scruff (Ninja Tune), Snowboy (Ubiquity), Fred Everything (2020vision), Andy Smith (Portishead), Norman Jay MBE, James Taylor (JTQ), Adrian Gibson (Freestyle), LSK (Faithless), The Greyboy Allstars and Karl Denson.

The 4-piece band, which has been together since high school, creates a rich and cosmic sound based heavily on improvisation. As a result of their constant desire to find new influences and ability to play together without any pressure, the members of MJ Project have evolved together at their own comfortable but rapid pace. The group communicates so well that its music often sounds far advanced for such young musicians. MJ Project is an intelligent and funky mix of experimental fusion, danceable grooves and spacey but melodic sounds.

As the music begins, a catastrophic transformation of sound takes place. An eruption of sonic bass boom brings the groove alive and the addition of unique samples creates an atmospheric pressure in your brain. Quick organic drum beats and percussive genius shake the floor, while melodic trancey guitar riffs race through your veins. The only release is from the hook that grabs you and quickly sticks in your memory glands. We invite your ears to take a musical journey through time and space.... Experience the Electrogrooves!

Their shows are an explosion of visual energy as Dion sings, laughs, calls out improvised changes and jumps up and down while, all the time, laying down the groove. It makes sense that Josh's favorite band is Earth, Wind and Fire, for whom Josh says, "It wasn't just 'sex, drugs and rock and roll', it was 'life is great, love is the answer and we're badass funky dudes.'"

As Relix magazine saw it, "It only takes one song to realize that vocalist/drummer Josh Dion was born for the stage. Flanked by five friends and fellow jazz students from New Jersey's William Paterson University, and owning a genuinely slackjawing command of '70s funk--especially for a white boy--Dion sweatily bashes his tom toms and cymbals with boundless soul at center stage, channeling the spirit of Earth, Wind and Fire and The Gap Band. To be certain, it's a sight to behold."

Janover's intuitive sense of compositional improvisation and his impeccable timing helped him to win the 2003 National Hammered Dulcimer Championship. Jamie is also an accomplished drummer, percussionist and a veteran of hundreds of guest appearances with artists including Phish, Stanley Jordan, Bela Fleck, Keller Williams, and Umphree1s McGee. His Evolutions CD is solo dulcimer. The Realms CD has many styles and guests including members of Phish, String Cheese and Garaj Mahal. The CD All Strings Considered is hammered dulcimer duets with Michael Masley. Now, Center of Time is the new solo dulcimer CD. Jamie is also a core member of the band Zilla that features Michael Travis (String Cheese Incident), Aaron Holstein (Future Jazz Project) and Steve Vidaic (Citizen Cope). Zilla is remarkable for it1s ability to create spontaneous compositions, especially considering that they are 100% improvisation. You see, these guys are the best of friends and they all believe in the group mind. For them, a good show is all about listening to each other so well that each individual musician1s voice melts into the collective whole to the point where the sky cracks open and the music plays the band! Jamie Janover's new CD is called "All Strings Considered". It is an album of hammered dulcimer dialogues by himself and the innovative hammered dulcimer player, Michael Masley. Michael Masley invented "bowhammers" - his own technique for playing the hammered dulcimer enabling him to pluck, bow and strike the strings simultaneously. Attached to four fingers on each hand, they are similar in shape to traditional hammered dulcimer hammers, except the striking surface is covered with horsehair, like miniature violin bows. They produce bell-like tones when used to strike the strings and violin-like tones when used to bow the strings. Michael also uses thumb-picks, which create the "plucked" string tones. He has recorded with artists as diverse as Ry Cooder, Butch Vig, Tom Waits and Zakir Hussain and is included in "Bakers Biographical Dictionary of Musicians -8th edition". "Jamie Janover takes both the idea of dulcimer as drum and idea of travel through music to their logical extremes." - Carrie Crompton, Dulcimer Player News "(The) instrument is a hammered dulcimer and Janover is it's master." - David Surchuk, The Boulder Weekly "Excellent fusion knows no boundaries. And this sampling of jazz, rock,funk and folk shakes your moneymaker in delightful ways. Gotta give Jamie Janover an "A" with creative engineering on the songs (on this CD)." TJM - Dirty Linnen - The magazine of folk and world music. "An artist who scores heavily in the originality stakes is Jamie Janover. He plays the hammered dulcimer, and boy, does he play it! Realms is his (fifth) album to date, and what a gem it is. Janover has an all-star cast of heavy friends including members of Leftover Salmon, String Cheese Incident, Phish and The Jazz Mandolin Project, as well as Darol Anger, Sally Van Meter, Tony Furtado, (Kai Eckhardt and Howard Levy). But rest assured; it's Janover's incredibly diverse and imaginative playing that occupies the limelight. The music he tackles is far more complex and experimental than of most hammered dulcimer players." Mick Skidmore, Relix Magazine "All musicians play music, but it's rarer the player who's so at home in his craft that he can let the music play him. Jamie Janover is that precious sort of musician who seems to create from the very source of music itself. His liquid, haunting, seemingly effortless lines ring with uncanny familiarity because there are so many traditions flowing through Jamie's dancing hands: Celtic Highland folk forms, modal jazz reflections and odd time mountain echoes, all in the flux of improvisation. Jamie's music always sounds fresh because it's always in the process of discovering itself. It can be followed note-for-note with all the intensity a careful listener can muster, and it's fertile explorations weave shimmering backdrops for deep human occupations, like reflection on What Matters and making love." Steve Silberman, coauthor of Skeleton Key: A Dictionary For Deadheads (Doubleday) "I've never seen anything like it - amazing! A very great musician!" - Trey Anastasio, guitarist, Phish

By skillfully integrating short quotes of current and traditional cover songs into their tight jams and performing full covers that regularly knock audiences' collective socks off, Jazzam relies heavily on highly composed original tunes while maintaining a close connection to a wide variety of audience favorites.

In a recent 2006 review of Jazzam's new album "It's About Time," the music editors at The Homegrown Music Network noted that, "Jazzam has something for everyone in their splendid sound. Rollicking bass lines, spirited guitar, keyboard, and horn solos, and intense vocals are just some of the building blocks of their texturally diverse music."

While maintaining a refined and subtle approach, Jazzam draws on the raw energy and power emitted from their frenzied, gyrating fans. Sending the energy back full force while creating an overflowing pool of dancable funk that pours out from the stage, the band immerses the crowd with hypnotic grooves and complex melodic harmonies, dragging them deeper and deeper into the music. Whether audience members choose to stand dazed by the intermingling structures of sounds, or possesed by the music's siren call to shake your ass harder and harder- two things are certain- the dance floor will be bumping and in the end you'll be screaming for more.

With J-san and the Analogue Sons we are united, reminded of struggle, inspired to seek resolution and yet left content... upfull and bright. ...Dub-Rock music is born. J-san and the Analogue Sons have been making heads nod and bodies groove for over a decade. Imagine the Lover's Rock stylings of reggae legend Gregory Isaacs, the socially conscious world/rock of Michael Franti & Spearhead, the energy of Ozomatli and you may begin to understand the Word-Sound-Power that J-san and the Analogue Sons will take you to. With their extraordinary sophmore effort SoundResistance, these dub-rock warriors are sharing their music with the world.

Son of a radical vietnam vet father and an Okinawan mother, J-san was raised on the road. Living at times with artists and musicians and other times with ganja growers and hustlers, music was always a companion. J-san's incredibly powerful vocals are reminiscent of the great soul singers of any era, deftly moving from love songs dripping with emotion to fiery protest songs that send fists pumping and spines tingling! J-san sings with real sincerity and universal love. Energy explodes from saxophonist Lee Hamilton, who has gained critical acclaim as former lead horn and horn arranger for John Brown's Body, of which J-San was also an original member. On the organ and keys is Michael Stark doing double duty and giving the group nuanced, dubby bass lines courtesy of his Hammond B-3. Lars Burggren's heavy drums bring the foundation. Kalani Logan, keyboardist for the legendary Itals, holds down the guitar and harmony vocal.

The music is a genre bending blend of reggae, rock, afrobeat and roots soul, innovative modern sounds with a decidedly urban flavor that will at times make the dance floor tremble, and then make it sway. This is Dub-Rock for the 21st Century!

This is the band’s second studio effort that has one foot in the door paying homage to traditions of folk, Americana and bluegrass, and the other wildly kicking out in every direction of the musical universe. HBR’s sound is as familiar and inviting as it is fresh and original, seamlessly weaving elements of folk, rock, reggae and bluegrass within the fabric of intelligent and inspiring songwriting.

Read some of the reviews of the album: “If you are looking for a group pursuing some new sounds, with a mind of its own, not willing to stay on the big wide traditional bluegrass highway, this may just the ticket”. - Bluegrass Underground

“With pretty melodies from every instrument (even the banjo), progressive bluegrass quintet Hot Buttered Rum smoothes out some of bluegrass’s ragged edges. Although the band plays in a genre often defined by its self-imposed limitations, Bryan Horne breaks from the root-5 box with sweet counter-melodies and lyrical jazz-influenced solos. His arco accompaniment and solo underpin the light bounce of the instrumental “Water Pocket Fold” and make it one of the albums highlights!” - Bass Player Magazine “

Musically accomplished, lyrically thoughtful and compositionally satisfying, Hot Buttered Rum dips into bluegrass' roots while juicing it up with their own brand of infectious elixir. This joyfully innovative collection is guaranteed to make you smile. It will also make you want to dance. And, it will also make you recall that wonderful bluegrass fusion collection, "Old and In the Way" (1975), featuring Jerry Garcia, Vassar Clements, David Grisman and Peter Rowan. The key to the fun is how Hot Buttered Rum takes the edge off of traditional bluegrass without losing any of its essence. The result is music performed for its sheer pleasure by musicians who sound as if they have been playing together for a few decades, not just a few years. You really need to hear this intoxicating collection." - Minor 7th Webzine