Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to Shecky's Jam Bands.
I'm your host Shecky, and if you're joining us
for the first time, this is the show where we
go all the way in on bands that make the live
music world turn. No fluff, no rankings, just
the music and the stories behind it. Today, I
want to tell you a story. It starts in a suburb
of Atlanta that most people have never heard
of. It winds through Mayan cosmology, a battle
against the music industry, a sold -out Red Rocks
show in a rainstorm, and an unexpected moment
on a September night in Colorado where five musicians
were inducted into the Hall of Fame they didn't
even know they were being considered for. The
band STS9, Sound Tribe Sector 9, and if you don't
know them buckle in because by the time we're
done today you're going to want to find a show,
buy a ticket, and show up ready to dance until
your legs fall off. Let me paint you a picture.
It's 1997. You're in Snellville, Georgia, a suburb
just outside of Atlanta. This is not a music
industry hub. This is not a city where record
executives are wandering around looking for the
next big thing. Snellville is a regular place.
Quiet roads, strip malls, Friday night football,
not exactly where you'd expect a genre -bending,
festival -headlining, hall -of -fame -worthy
band to spark into an existence. But that's exactly
where it happened. Guitarist Hunter Brown, bassist
David Murphy, and drummer Zach Velmer had been
knocking around together, experimenting with
fusing live rock instrumentation with the electric
music they were obsessed with. They weren't trying
to be a jam band. They weren't really trying
to be anything defined. They were just chasing
a sound. Keyboardist David Phillips joined soon
after and the four of them played their inaugural
show on October 3rd, 1997. October 3rd, 1997
is a date that STS -9 fans treat almost like
a birthday. In fact, nine years later to the
day the band marked the anniversary, with a celebratory
show at the historic Georgia Theater in Athens.
That's how much the first show means to them.
Now, at this early point, they actually were
called Sector 9. Just Sector 9. The expanded
name came a little later, and then not long after
the debut, percussionist Jeffrey Lerner joined
the group. With Lerner on board, adding layers
of rhythmic complexity, Conga's auxiliary percussion,
and the stuff that makes you feel music in your
chest, the five -person core of this band were
complete. Self -described as post -rock dance
music, STS -9 from the very beginning was adamant
about one thing, no solos, no one musician showing
off at the expense of the group. Everything was
in service of the collective sound. Group rhythm,
texture, movement, and that philosophy, born
in a suburb outside of Atlanta in 1997, has never
left them. Okay, let's talk about the name, because
the name is fascinating and I don't think enough
people know the full story behind it. Sound Tribe
Sector 9, when they graduated from just being
Sector 9, the full name came in two pieces. Each
piece means something specific. Sound Tribe,
that refers to the band's nomadic followers,
their fans, the people who travel from city to
city, festival to festival, who make this music
their lifestyle. There is a tribal quality to
a STS9 crowd. A sense of belonging, of shared
language, of being part of a community. The word
tribe wasn't chosen casually. It was chosen to
honor the people who make the whole thing possible.
Now, Sector 9. This is where it really gets interesting.
Sector 9 is derived from a specific period in
the Mayan calendar. A period associated with
what the Mayans described as boundless creativity.
Infinite creative potential, no ceilings, no
limits, just pure generative power. Think about
it for a second. These guys from Snellville,
Georgia in 1997 are naming their band after a
concept from an ancient Mesoamerican civilization
because it represents the exact philosophical
space they want to inhabit. That's not an accident.
That's a mission statement. Hunter Brown, STS
-9's guitarist and one of the band's primary
creative visionaries has said that that story
will always be their founding story. It never
was just a cool sounding name. It was, as Brown
put it, always this inspiration for us, an anchor,
a compass, a reminder of what the music is supposed
to reach for. And here's the thing about STS
-9, they live up to it every single night. STS
-9 built their reputation the way all great ones
do, by touring constantly, by taking care of
their fans, and by being absolutely undeniable
on stage. They released their debut recording
called The Brown Album, a live improv document
in 1999. That same year came their first real
album, Interplanetary Escape Vehicle. The name
alone tells you what kind of band you're dealing
with. They began playing small clubs in Atlanta,
they expanded into the southeast, then the whole
country. It wasn't overnight, it was relentless.
And the reputation for live shows grew. and the
word spread about this instrumental electronic
band that made a room full of people move like
one organism. Bigger and bigger things started
happening. In 2003, they got one of those validation
moments that young bands dreamed about. They
were tapped to open for the String Cheese Incident,
a band we covered on a previous episode of Shecky's
Jam Bands at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado.
Red Rocks one of the most beautiful, most storied
outdoor venues on the planet. And get this, the
night before that Red Rocks show, they played
the Fox Theater in Boulder. And tickets sold
out in under 15 minutes. 15 minutes. These tickets
gone. For a band that still didn't have a major
label deal, that was a seismic moment. By 2004,
they were back at the Red Rocks. this time as
headliners, and they didn't stop going back.
As their 20th anniversary in 2017, they had played
Red Rocks 23 times. 23 times in one of the greatest
venues in America. Every year consecutively.
That is a residency in everything but the name.
Their 2005 album, Artifact, hit number 12 on
the Billboard's top electronic albums. They opened
for Jay -Z in Denver in 2010, a band that describes
itself as post -rock dance music, playing for
Jay -Z's crowd. That's definitely a range. And
then there's the night of September 8th, 2017,
the 20th anniversary celebration at Red Rocks.
Three nights, the first night they performed
their beloved 2005 album, Artifact, in its entirety,
something they hadn't done since a release 12
years earlier. The crowd was electric. Fans had
flown in from all over the country just for this.
During the song Artifact itself, it started to
rain over Red Rocks. One reviewer wrote that
it felt like a sign from the gods. Whether it
was or not, it was perfect. And then, quietly,
on the first night, while the audience was still
buzzing, the band was inducted into the Red Rocks
Hall of Fame. As a surprise. The band members
didn't know it was coming. Hunter Brown, Jeffrey
Lerner, David Phillips, Zach Velmer, and Ilana
Rocklin, standing at Red Rocks on their 20th
anniversary, rain -soaked, euphoric, and then
someone tells them that they've been inducted
into the hall. Every band member was shocked.
Every one of them was honored. That story, that
is STS9. The music first, The recognition catches
up eventually. Let's talk about the music itself,
because STS -9 exists in a space that is genuinely
difficult to define, which is, in my view, the
highest possible compliment. They call it genre
live -tronica. That's a word that the community
created for what STS -9 and a handful of bands
like them do. Full live instrumentation. real
drums, real bass, real guitar, blended with the
electronic elements, synthesis, loops, and productive
techniques you'd normally associate with studio
work or DJ sets. The result is something that
feels both organic and futuristic all at the
same time. Their sound draws from instrumental,
rock, jazz, funk, drum, and bass, psychedelia,
dub, and hip hop. And the key word here is instrumental.
There are no lead vocals, no lyrics telling you
what they feel. The music has to do all of the
emotional work itself. And it does. Powerfully.
Percussionist Jeffrey Lerner has described the
challenge and the gift of their genre perfectly.
He said, the challenge of defining STS -9 sound
is ultimately the greatest compliment. because
they simply play the music they love. They refuse
to be cornered by genre. And the lights. I have
to mention the lights. STS -9's light shows are
legendary. Their longtime lighting designer Saxton
Waller has been pushing the creative edge for
live lighting technology for as long as they've
been touring. Seeing STS -9 in a dark venue with
their full light production is an experience
that fans describe as transcendent. The music
and the visuals work together as one. They complete
sensory environment. You don't go to an STS -9
show, you enter it. I told you I was going to
pick one song for this episode and I've thought
hard about this. Because STS -9 has a catalogue
of incredible tracks. Camus, Inspire Strikes
Back, Golden Gate, When the dust settles, grow,
any of them could anchor an introduction to this
band. But I'm going with Scheme. Scheme was released
on STS9's 2011 EP, When the Dust Settles. And
when it dropped, it announced itself immediately
as something special. From the first few seconds,
the song makes a promise. I'm about to take you
somewhere. And it keeps that promise every single
time. Here's what makes Scheme extraordinary
as a piece of music. It starts with a groove,
layered bass, a shimmering keyboard figure, percussion,
and feels like almost ritualistic in its patience.
It doesn't rush. It doesn't announce itself in
a big dramatic opening. It just builds a floor
under your feet, and then the melodic theme arrives.
And it has the quality that is very specific
to SDS -9. at their best. It sounds ancient and
futuristic all at the same time, like it was
transmitted from a civilization that hasn't been
discovered yet. So here's where I land on STS
-9. They named themselves after a period of the
Mayan calendar associated with boundless creativity,
and then they spent the next 27 plus years trying
to justify that name. And mostly, overwhelmingly,
they have. What separates STS -9 from the pack
isn't just the music, though the music is extraordinary.
It's the totality of what they are and who they
are. They built an independent infrastructure
when the industry was against them. They committed
to environmental responsibility before it was
fashionable. They raised funds and literally
constructed homes for displaced families. They
named their label after a frequency, built a
community around it, and then gave other artists
a home. And every night they walk out onto the
stage, no lead singer, no lyrics to hide behind,
and they say the music alone is enough. Come
with us, trust the groove, let the sound take
you somewhere. They are, in their own words,
the biggest band you've never heard of. If that's
still true for you after today, go find them,
go to a show, Stand in the dark under the lights,
feel the bass in your chest, and let the Sector
9 do what it was always meant to do. Take you
somewhere you've never been. Thanks for being
here for Shecky's Jam Bands. I'll see you on
the next episode. Until then, stay curious, stay
dancing, and keep the flowing tribe.