our man in zambiland

our man in zambiland:

how col. bruce hampton and the aru helped start the jamband revolution

by rob johnson

click here for the full story.

discography

hampton grease band

• music to eat (columbia records) 1969

col. bruce hampton

• outside looking out (terminus records) 1980
• isles of langerhan (terminus records) 1982
• arkansas (terminus records) 1987

col. bruce hampton & the aquarium rescue unit

• self-titled (capricorn records) 1992
• mirrors of embarrasment (capricorn records) 1993

col. bruce hampton & the fiji mariners

• fiji (volcano entertainment) 1996
• live (capricorn records) 1998

the codetalkers

• bootleg live 2000
• deluxe edition 2004
• now 2006

compilations

• one ruined life of a bronze tourist (terminus records) 1978
• strange voices: a history 1977 - 1987 (landslide records) 1994
• the best of mountain stage vol. 6 (blue plate) 1994
• wintertime blues: the benefit concert (evil teen records) 2000
• bonnaroo 2002 vol. 2 (sanctuary records) 2003

special guest

• cedell davis - best of cedell davis (capricorn records) 1994
• various artists - mucho mojo: best of fat possum (capricorn records) 1997
• kevin kinney - the flower & the kife (capricorn records) 2000
• project z - project z (terminus records) 2001
• medeski martin & wood - uninvisible (blue note records) 2002
• widespread panic - live in the classic city (sanctuary records) 2002
• mike gordon - inside in (ropeadope records) 2003
• blueground undergrass - faces (landslide records) 2006

the origin of the codetalkers

col. bruce hampton and bobby lee rodgers both knew upon first meeting that they were destined to work together. it has now been 5 years since the pair formed the code talkers, and once again col. bruce hampton has managed to bring us music will tickle your fancy and kick your ass, as he has been doing for over 30 years now. after starting acts such as the hampton grease band, aquarium rescue unit (where he helped start the h.o.r.d.e. tour), and the fiji mariners, in 1999 he formed his most accessible group yet. along the way, col. bruce appeared with billy bob thornton in "slingblade" and in phish's mike gordon’s movie “outside out,” which features bruce as a guitar instructor who teaches "how to play out." the film won best picture at sxsw 2000.

hampton seemed to be astrologically attracted to rodgers, as he immediately guessed his birthday, and went on to discover both shared the same major planetary influences, as well as the same unique sense of humor. hampton also saw a great song-writing and musical talent and set upon the mission to get rodgers' music heard. the band these days consists of hampton on guitar and vocals (and occasionally harmonica,) rodgers on guitar, banjo and vocals, tyler greenwell on drums, and ted pecchio on bass. this line-up has been intact since last spring (when pecchio re-joined after a brief hiatus,) and have really gelled over the past months into one of the tightest jam bands on the scene, thanks in part to this rock-solid rhythm section which keeps things “groovy and neck-nodding as hell (jambands.com).”

hampton grease band reunion

the infamous hamton grease band will be playing at the variety playhouse in atlanta on saturday june 2nd. the band, of which our very own bruce hampton was a founding member, came to being in 1967, after bruce declared that he was "going to be the world's best vocalist" in response to glenn phillips' declaration that he was going to be "the best guitar player in the world." well, after such seemingly innocent and ambitious statements were made some 40 years ago, the band that holds the record of having one of the worst-selling records in columbia records' history will come together again. any band who can both claim fame to the former accolade and to the fact that the legendary bill graham (who booked the band to perform the same night as frank zappa and the mothers of invention) said that the hampton grease band "went over better than any new band that had ever played there" is surely a band worthy of notice. be there to honor the beginning of the man we call "colonel." visit the band's myspace page by clicking here. a lengthy history of the band written by glen phillips is available there.

the legacy continues

tonight marked another chapter in the rich musical history of the legacy of col. bruce hampton. yet another jamband supergroup descended on charleston this evening and some of bruce's brightest and most talented disciples comprised the majority of that ensemble. jimmy herring, jeff sipe, neal fountain and bobby lee rodgers have all performed with the col. in the past and tonight they got together along with mark van allen to rock the charleston pour house in their very first gig. much of the evening featured the songwriting wizardry of bobby lee with some incredible string picking from bobby, jimmy and mark. jeff and neal did a fantastic job of laying down the groove and the crowd bobbed and weaved to the jam the whole night. the group is going on to play a handful of dates in the south including smilefest and the jerry garcia birthday bash.

click here for more informaiton on herring / rodgers / sipe.

setlist for this inaugural performance:

• deep end
• niagara falls
• going through the motions
• miles ahead
• mr. kellum
• lord
• see you
• fresh
• beggin'
• revolutionize
• animal people
• broken home
• all we wanna hear
• blow my brains

encore:

• i remember