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Zilla: Enigma wrapped in music |
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Written by Glenn BurnSilver
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Wednesday, 17 May 2006 |
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As a band living in one reality but trying to fit into another, Zilla is a paradox. The band has no songs, per se; no written material and their five albums were all recorded live, improvised on the spot.
It’s not jazz, and it’s not really jamband music either. According to Zilla hammer dulcimer player Jamie Janover, the closest approximation might be electronica.
This is the first paradox.
Electronica by and large is made with computers or by deejays mixing and shaping snatches of already pre-recorded music. Zilla can lay claim to using plenty of electronic effects to alter their sound, but the truth of it is, they are playing real instruments.
“We’re trying to emulate music that is fairly perfect, music that is made by computers, and we can’t do that because we are human,” Janover explained by phone from his Boulder home. “But the mere act of attempting to play that music in this way, makes the music we play come out totally different sounding than other music.”
That’s where the second paradox comes in.
Zilla is a live band with Janover, bassist and guitarist Aaron Holstein, and drummer/percussionist Michael Travis of String Cheese Incident.
The simple fact that the band relies on constant improvisation and that Travis is with the über-popular SCI attracts legions of fans looking for an ethereal jam session.
Often, they find it; only not in the place they might traditionally find it.
“We are considered part of the jamband world, because of Travis, but we joke that we are the only real jamband because that’s all we do. We are 100 percent improvisation,” Janover said. “We don’t even say hello. We just go out on stage and play. And then somebody says it’s time for a set break and we figure out an ending. It’s that very process of being on the edge where people expect you to play something cool and you don’t have any idea what you are going to do.”
Janover explained that the idea of the two-day Sonic Bloom Festival at Mishawaka is based on festivals like Burning Man where the concept is more than just music.
Zilla has invited performers that include rappers, deejays, stilt walkers and fire dancers in an effort to merge cultures that normally would appear disparate. That electronica and break beats deejays have found a way out perceived urban jungle and into the mountains emphasizes the point.
The underground culture of the past is now in the open and Janover sees a merging of cultures making this happen.
“We are all about the energies and the ways people can play jamband music and get people excited, but we are trying hard to get away from that while still being conscious of why people like that,” he said.
“We still have this human jamming esthetic. So hopefully, people who don’t like jamband music but like electronica are going to like this sort of jammy version of electronica being played live.”
THE SONIC BLOOM FESTIVAL
The festival is May 19-20 at the Mishawaka Amphitheatre, 13714 Poudre Canyon Highway, Bellvue. Tickets are $25 individual days, $45 both.
Show times: Friday, 6 p.m.; Sunday 2:22 p.m. For details, call 970.482.4420, or go to Sonic Bloom.
THE FESTIVAL LINEUP
Sonic Bloom performers include:
Zilla (live electronica)
Xage (featuring Michael Travis & Jason Hann of String Cheese Incident: improvisational jamming)
Bassnectar (hip hop to electronica to breakbeat)
Ooah (turntablism)
Sasha Butterfly (multi-instrumentalist)
The Funginears (puppeteers, storytellers and more)
Souleye & Sleepyhead (experimental hip-hop fusion) | Only registered users can write comments.
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