Disco Biscuits

The Spirit of the Dead

originally published April 16, 2008

Say "jam band" to a casual music fan and images of grown men playing hacky sack during a 20-minute drum solo and buying laced cheese quesadillas in a parking lot after the concert immediately spring to mind. The one thing that doesn’t immediately pop into the head of the uninitiated is electronic music. Philadelphia’s Disco Biscuits are trying to change all of that.

“We like to think of ourselves as on the edge musically. Using a lot of electronic elements in our sound has caused us to look at what else is out there,” says bassist Marc Brownstein in a phone interview with Flagpole.

The electronic elements that the band adds to their songs and their lengthy jams act as the hooks to reel fans into the Disco Biscuits' world of staggering time signatures, musical virtuosity and a sonic playfulness that many acts on the jam band circuit just don’t have. But the technical ability of the musicians is only half the story.

“[In Disco Biscuits] it’s not really about playing the fastest or the best,” says Brownstein. Sure, audiences can still see the band stretch out the songs for lengthy expeditions into some sort of substance enhanced world, but just don’t expect the standard late '60s country rock vibe from Disco Biscuits. Instead, they blaze a trail with their own style of music, which Brownstein refers to as “trance fusion.”

“A lot of jam bands tend to look back, [but Disco Biscuits] are a band that tries to move forward with our music.” But the blips, pulses and squeaks of the electronic age aren’t the only signs that Disco Biscuits wishes to remain in the forefront of the jam band scene. Recently the band has commenced working with Philadelphia hip-hop producers Don Cheegro and Dirty Harry in an effort to expand their sound even more. To some, the unification of the hip-hop set and the cargo shorts-wearing drum circle set is a rather frightening concept - but according to Brownstein, it’s just part of being a Disco Biscuit.

“Playing electronic music in the jam band world is what we’ve been doing for a while, and now other bands are starting to realize what we are doing. We’ve always [tried to stay] ahead of the pack,” says Brownstein. “The really great bands find a way to stay ahead of the curve.”

While Disco Biscuits aren’t a great band yet, they certainly are an entertaining band. The flourishes of digital noise rise up along with a stormy sea of drums; the guitars cascade; and the bass provides a hint of funk just below the surface in your typical Disco Biscuits song. It’s a sonic ride that even the most adamant jam band hater can find compelling, and it's devoid of the more obvious Grateful Dead influences that plague the rest of the jam band scene.

“The key to being an artist who is in it for the long term is the willingness to change our sound and experiment with that,” says Brownstein.

But just because the Dead’s music isn’t immediately recalled within Disco Biscuits’ sound, that doesn’t mean that their shadow doesn’t loom large over the band.

“We are indebted to the Dead because we're doing the same thing as them - but we don’t sound like them,” says Brownstein.

Brownstein instead sees the Dead’s influence as meaning something greater than the songs themselves. “The bands that sound like the Dead aren’t like the Dead. Their sound doesn’t matter; it’s the idea behind the music. They don’t have the spirit that the Dead had behind them.”

In contrast, the spirit of what Grateful Dead has done is all over Disco Biscuits’ music. It’s a willingness to create, a desire to eliminate musical boundaries and an eagerness to stretch the limits of a live show.

“How we sound isn’t what defines us, the fact that our sound is unique defines us,” says Brownstein.

Jason Bugg

WHO: Disco Biscuits
WHERE: Georgia Theatre
WHEN: Friday, April 18 & Saturday, April 19
HOW MUCH: $22 (adv.), $25 (door)