After playing for a festival crowd of more than 3,000, Ohio-based jam rockers the Werks will be trading big venues for the intimacy of Jackie O’s Pub and Brewery.
Despite the national attention the group receives, the band said it has found its niche in the Athens area.
“We have a lot of good friends in Athens,” drummer Rob Chafin said. “College towns seem to be a sanctuary for jam music.”
The Werks will play at 10 p.m. today at Jackie O’s Pub and Brewery. The band previously sold out Jackie O’s three times.
The sound of the Werks is not completely unfamiliar to the jam music that originally gained popularity in the days of bands such as the Grateful Dead and Phish, but Chafin said influential differences have led the group to put a new twist on the genre.
“We’re a little bit of everything,” Chafin said. “My personal tastes are pretty eclectic. I also really enjoy electronic music.”
Chafin also said that being categorized into a particular genre is limiting.
“Our music is always compared to Phish and the Dead, and we get pigeonholed,” Chafin said. “It’s not doing our music justice. We try to keep it different.”
Although they strive for a different sound, the Werks share a quality possessed by its jam band predecessors: an affinity for playing music festivals.
The Werks have played a variety of notable festivals since their inception, including Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival, Summer Camp Music Festival and the annual The Werk Out Music and Arts Festival in Bellefontaine, Ohio.
The festival scene exposed the band to a myriad of different musicians that helped the group expand on its own sound.
Before the Werks started taking the stage at major music festivals, it was making a name in the Dayton jam music scene. The city has launched other bands, such as Guided by Voices and the Breeders, into the national spotlight.
The band currently makes its live show available to fans: at livedownload.com, fans can watch the Werks on demand.
ap338210@ohiou.edu
