Disco Biscuits, Fool’s Progress bring jam-oriented rock to Crowbar

By GEOFF RUSHTON
Collegian Staff Writer

One band takes its name from a semi-obscure, 500-page novel. The other takes its name from a virtually dead music form and a bakery item.

With unique names and even more unique musical styles, Fool's Progress and the Disco Biscuits promise to serve up an evening of diverse music when they play Monday night at Crowbar, 420 E. College Ave.

Both bands are officially touring in support of their new albums. But touring is what they do: Both have become forces on the jam-band scene by touring relentlessly. Night after night of live performances has allowed these bands to develop their own sounds into something new -- the energetic folk rock of Fool's Progress and the "trance-fusion" of the Disco Biscuits.

Fool's Progress, formerly Acoustic Junction, has gone beyond the boundaries of folk rock. The band even felt the name Acoustic Junction might be misleading, because it is so much more musically. So the members came up with Fool's Progress, taken from the title of Edward Abbey's autobiographical novel.

This name is appropriate for a band that writes songs about life. Fool's Progress deals with - surprise -- relationships, such as on its self-titled album's first cut, "Think About It," released by Capricorn Records. The band also deals with environmental and spiritual matters. Its songs range from rockers to ballads, dealing with both the spiritually deep and the humorous.

Fiddles, guitar, harmonica and a near-perfect three-part harmony also help set Fool's Progress apart.

But possibly the most innovative group on the jam band scene is the Disco Biscuits. The band's self-proclaimed "trance-fusion" music incorporates jazz, rock, funk, techno and reggae in a way reminiscent of, well, nothing. The Biscuits have been compared to Frank Zappa, Santana, The Grateful Dead and Phish. At any given moment the band can sound like one or all of these.

"They are intense live. If you want to get down, this is the band," said avid fan Carla Ngo (senior-sociology).

On its new album, Uncivilized Area, the Biscuits' members have captured their unique live performance on disc. The opening track, "Vassillios," is an amalgam of everything that is the Disco Biscuits. The song opens with a hard-rock, almost metal, groove that transforms into funk and jazz until spiraling into a techno rhythm, all with Zappa-esque baritone vocals and bizarre lyrics.

The Disco Biscuits' unpredictability and vocal style has earned frequent comparisons to Zappa.

"He was trying to create crazy-ass music and we're trying to create crazy-ass music," Biscuits' drummer Sam Altman said in a press release.

Guitarist and lead vocalist Jon Gutwillig agrees.

"The goal of the Disco Biscuits is to create the wildest, or craziest, music of all time," he said.

And this goal is realized on Uncivilized Area. The Philadelphia-based quartet lays out songs like "Jamillia," a tale of lust with a reggae and hip-hop hook. Then on the epic "Little Betty Boop," the band starts with a Phish-like, organ-driven sound, but soon adds its own flavor when the song flies off into techno space.

With the techno sound prevailing, the Disco Biscuits does not establish itself as the heir to Frank Zappa or The Grateful Dead, but rather as urban rock icons for the next millennium.

"They've evolved into their own sound. They're not just like a baby jam band anymore," Ngo said.

This new sound should be going full-blast Monday night.

"I expect a huge jam, everybody getting moved by the music and having fun," said Eddie Jayne (senior-elementary education).