Jam bands come in all different styles and genres nowadays, from world fusion to electronic, but some bands stay firmly rooted in rock ‘n’ roll.
“You got jam bands that play bluegrass, jam bands that play jazz and jam bands that play house music with a lot of electronica stuff now,” said Alex Hall, guitarist for Aliver Hall. “We consider ourselves to be firmly rooted in the rock ‘n’ roll and progressive rock side of the jam band world.”
The Akron band Aliver Hall will play alongside fellow Ohio bands LZRPNY and Manitoa at Jackie O’s Pub & Brewery, 24 W. Union St., for a night of music they’ve titled “The Quest For JAMelot.”
LZRPNY and Aliver Hall last played together at a show in Cincinnati with the same title and Hall said it was a big success. Friday’s show will be the sequel.
Hall said the band will have new music to test out at the show as it prepares to record its next album.
“We’re going to try and make this record an album instead of just a representation of the live show,” Hall said. “This time we’re going to think of the record as a separate art form from the live performance, and I think that’s going to open us up for some experimentation that was overdue.”
The album is unnamed at this point but Jim Garibaldi, bassist, said the band has big plans to make this a concept album.
“The new album touches on mass media and the manipulation through that, and how you have to tune that stuff out and look to yourself instead of believing all that crap,” Garibaldi said. “There are lots of really serious things going on in the world, and the thing everyone was talking about was Miley Cyrus. If it’s not Miley Cyrus, it’s Janet Jackson’s nipple slip ... it’s just stuff that really doesn’t affect our lives.”
The band said it absorbs influences from many other bands and continually updates its sound to reflect that.
“We’re all big music nerds, and we all delve into (different genres),” Hall said. “It all comes full circle. The band’s the mad scientist, and we have all these ingredients that we throw into a weird potion that comes out sounding like Aliver Hall.”
wh092010@ohiou.edu
