WEBVTT 00:00:20.740 --> 00:00:24.120 Welcome back to Shecky's Jam Bands. I'm Shecky 00:00:24.120 --> 00:00:27.019 and today we're talking about a band that almost 00:00:27.019 --> 00:00:30.559 nobody outside the jam world knows about. And 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:33.460 that absolutely should not be the case. Picture 00:00:33.460 --> 00:00:38.039 this. It's December 2018, Burlington, Vermont. 00:00:38.759 --> 00:00:41.460 One of the most beloved small music venues in 00:00:41.460 --> 00:00:44.859 the country, Nectar's. The same legendary bar 00:00:44.859 --> 00:00:47.820 where Phish played their very first shows back 00:00:47.820 --> 00:00:52.179 in 1983. And on this particular night, three 00:00:52.179 --> 00:00:54.979 musicians who have spent decades at the top of 00:00:54.979 --> 00:00:58.479 their respective worlds walk onto the stage together 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:01.640 for the first time. Nobody had planned a band. 00:01:01.859 --> 00:01:05.099 Nobody sent out a press release. It was just 00:01:05.099 --> 00:01:08.459 three incredible musicians in a room. A packed 00:01:08.459 --> 00:01:11.299 crowd that showed up to see what would happen. 00:01:12.019 --> 00:01:14.819 And two hours of music that left everyone in 00:01:14.819 --> 00:01:17.719 that room understanding they had witnessed something 00:01:17.719 --> 00:01:21.299 brand new. That's how LAMP was born. And that 00:01:21.299 --> 00:01:24.579 story is what we're diving into today. To understand 00:01:24.579 --> 00:01:27.219 LAMP, you need to understand the three people 00:01:27.219 --> 00:01:30.200 who make it up. Because each of them carries 00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:33.079 a pedigree that would be extraordinary on its 00:01:33.079 --> 00:01:36.739 own. Together, they are something else entirely. 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:40.040 Let's start with Russ Lawton, the drummer. Russ 00:01:40.040 --> 00:01:43.239 is from Massachusetts, grew up with drum corps, 00:01:43.700 --> 00:01:47.359 Portuguese feast parades, marching rums in the 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:49.900 street, He eventually found his way to Burlington, 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:52.680 Vermont and became one of the most in -demand 00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:55.500 drummers in the entire jam scene. He played with 00:01:55.500 --> 00:01:58.379 Mike Gordon of Phish, he played with Strange 00:01:58.379 --> 00:02:02.400 Folk, he became core member of the Trey Anastasio 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:06.319 band, the backing group for Phish's own frontman, 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:10.000 and has been there for over 20 years. When Trey 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:12.460 Anastasio needs a drummer for Saturday Night 00:02:12.460 --> 00:02:16.039 Live or The Tonight Show, he calls Russ Lawton. 00:02:16.259 --> 00:02:19.879 Ray Piekowski is the keyboardist. Ray's from 00:02:19.879 --> 00:02:23.979 Vermont, spent years milking cows in a Middlebury 00:02:23.979 --> 00:02:27.240 farm at night while playing gigs and recording 00:02:27.240 --> 00:02:30.139 music during the day. That is not a metaphor. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:33.740 He literally milk cows and he'd go play a show. 00:02:34.500 --> 00:02:37.060 Ray toured with Dave Matthews and friends for 00:02:37.060 --> 00:02:40.000 three years. built a reputation in the Burlington 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.240 music scene that stretched back to the late 1970s 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:47.659 and eventually joined Trey Anastasio band alongside 00:02:47.659 --> 00:02:51.879 Lawton. Ray plays Hammond B3 organ, Hohner Clavinet 00:02:51.879 --> 00:02:55.020 and Wurlitzer electric piano and his ability 00:02:55.020 --> 00:02:58.659 to work all three simultaneously, painting melodies 00:02:58.659 --> 00:03:01.759 and bass lines at the same time is something 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:04.560 genuinely you have to hear to believe. Russ and 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:08.159 Ray have a duo project called Soul Moaned. And 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:11.180 the chemistry between them is what the band's 00:03:11.180 --> 00:03:14.919 own bio describes as improvisational leaps interpreted 00:03:14.919 --> 00:03:18.340 telepathically. 20 plus years of playing together. 00:03:18.699 --> 00:03:20.719 They don't need to look at each other. They don't 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:23.379 need to count off. They just know. Then there's 00:03:23.379 --> 00:03:26.539 Scott Metzger, the guitarist. Scott is from Brooklyn 00:03:26.539 --> 00:03:29.919 and the Village Voice once called him an ace 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:33.639 guitarist of a thousand styles. He's the founding 00:03:33.639 --> 00:03:36.930 guitarist of Joe Russo's almost dead the beloved 00:03:36.930 --> 00:03:39.650 Grateful Dead tribute project, fronted by one 00:03:39.650 --> 00:03:42.310 of the most creative drummers in the jam world. 00:03:42.909 --> 00:03:46.270 Metzger on the guitar is a thing of beauty. Melodic, 00:03:46.669 --> 00:03:49.750 adventurous, with a telecaster tone that slides 00:03:49.750 --> 00:03:53.669 between jazz, twang, and full -on fuzz depending 00:03:53.669 --> 00:03:56.250 on where the music wants to go. These three people 00:03:56.250 --> 00:03:59.449 have been aware of each other for years. But 00:03:59.449 --> 00:04:02.349 it wasn't until that December night at Nectars 00:04:02.349 --> 00:04:04.729 in Burlington that anyone asked the question, 00:04:05.099 --> 00:04:08.240 What if we got on the stage together and played? 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:12.219 The Nectars show in December 2018 was the first 00:04:12.219 --> 00:04:15.319 and the only public performance as this trio 00:04:15.319 --> 00:04:18.480 for quite some time. But the crowd that packed 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:21.579 into the room that night knew immediately that 00:04:21.579 --> 00:04:24.639 something special just had happened. The way 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:27.639 Metzger described it later, the debut show produced 00:04:27.639 --> 00:04:31.560 a fresh, so tight it's free sound permeated with 00:04:31.560 --> 00:04:35.149 technical prowess and deep pocket punch. which 00:04:35.149 --> 00:04:37.930 is a pretty good description of what happens 00:04:37.930 --> 00:04:41.430 when you put a world -class rhythm section, two 00:04:41.430 --> 00:04:44.410 musicians who play together like it's one organism, 00:04:44.730 --> 00:04:48.089 behind a guitarist who can absolutely do anything. 00:04:48.509 --> 00:04:50.550 The following spring they decide they create 00:04:50.550 --> 00:04:53.750 a name, and the name they landed on is wonderfully 00:04:53.750 --> 00:04:57.810 straightforward. LAMP, capital L, capital M, 00:04:58.009 --> 00:05:02.259 capital P. Lawton, Metzger, and Pekowski. the 00:05:02.259 --> 00:05:05.240 first letters of each member's last name, simple, 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:08.399 clean, direct. There's something I love about 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:12.139 that choice. These three people are all already 00:05:12.139 --> 00:05:15.079 well known under their own names in the world. 00:05:16.100 --> 00:05:19.399 They could have invented a completely new identity. 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:22.519 Instead, they said, this is literally who we 00:05:22.519 --> 00:05:26.259 are, our names, our last names, right there in 00:05:26.259 --> 00:05:28.699 the band name. If you know, you know, and if 00:05:28.699 --> 00:05:32.490 you don't, you're about to find out. They went 00:05:32.490 --> 00:05:36.069 to Sugarhouse Soundworks Studio in Vermont in 00:05:36.069 --> 00:05:40.709 May 2019, laid down seven tracks over two days 00:05:40.709 --> 00:05:44.569 with engineer Roger Strauss and their self -titled 00:05:44.569 --> 00:05:50.329 debut EP dropped in July 2020, a pandemic project 00:05:50.329 --> 00:05:53.050 that became a full band movement. My one song 00:05:53.050 --> 00:05:57.029 for LAMP is Ramblin from the debut EP. At just 00:05:57.029 --> 00:05:59.839 over six minutes, It's the longest track on that 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:03.019 record and it earns every second. It starts out 00:06:03.019 --> 00:06:06.339 with Pachowski's organ settling into a groove 00:06:06.339 --> 00:06:09.519 that feels like a late afternoon sunshine. Warm, 00:06:09.779 --> 00:06:13.920 circular, just slightly hypnotic. Then Lawton 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:16.860 drums drop in and the whole thing immediately 00:06:16.860 --> 00:06:20.220 has weight. Not heavy weight, the right weight. 00:06:20.660 --> 00:06:23.079 The kind of drumming that makes you feel like 00:06:23.079 --> 00:06:25.839 the floor just got more solid under your feet. 00:06:26.120 --> 00:06:28.910 Start with rambling. then let the record play 00:06:28.910 --> 00:06:31.769 through and find the Live at Nectar's album. 00:06:31.970 --> 00:06:34.089 You'll get that in a moment. Some things you 00:06:34.089 --> 00:06:36.709 should know about Lamp. As I mentioned before, 00:06:37.009 --> 00:06:40.649 Ray milked cows until showtime. For 15 years, 00:06:40.810 --> 00:06:43.730 keyboardist Ray Piekowski held down a day job 00:06:43.730 --> 00:06:46.310 milking cows on a farm in Middlebury, Vermont 00:06:46.310 --> 00:06:49.389 and then went out at night to play music. He 00:06:49.389 --> 00:06:51.949 describes that period simply, you just made it 00:06:51.949 --> 00:06:55.730 work. The man who now fills rooms with Swirling 00:06:55.730 --> 00:06:59.829 Hammond B3, was waking up pre -dawn to Milk House 00:06:59.829 --> 00:07:03.889 before driving to a gig. That backstory is everything. 00:07:05.370 --> 00:07:07.829 They've appeared on late night TV repeatedly, 00:07:08.370 --> 00:07:11.129 as members of the Trey Anastasio band, Russ Lawton 00:07:11.129 --> 00:07:14.449 and Ray Pekowski, have appeared on Saturday Night 00:07:14.449 --> 00:07:17.269 Live, The Late Night Show with David Letterman, 00:07:17.670 --> 00:07:20.709 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Conan O 'Brien, 00:07:21.189 --> 00:07:25.139 and Jimmy Fallon. When Fish's Tray needed a band 00:07:25.139 --> 00:07:27.939 for national television, they called Russ and 00:07:27.939 --> 00:07:31.160 Ray. The debut EP was recorded in two and a half 00:07:31.160 --> 00:07:36.399 days. Lamp's entire self -titled debut, seven 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:39.480 tracks, was recorded in just two and a half days 00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:42.699 at Sugarhouse Soundworks in Vermont. The session 00:07:42.699 --> 00:07:47.600 started from an email chain in early 2019, moved 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:51.360 to a studio that summer, and became a fully formed 00:07:51.449 --> 00:07:55.790 artistic statement no overdubs no fuss just three 00:07:55.790 --> 00:07:58.990 people in a room playing all right here's my 00:07:58.990 --> 00:08:01.430 verdict here's what i keep on coming back to 00:08:01.430 --> 00:08:04.930 with lamp there's a thing that happens when musicians 00:08:04.930 --> 00:08:08.230 who have separately become world class at what 00:08:08.230 --> 00:08:11.970 they do who have each built decades of experience 00:08:11.970 --> 00:08:15.949 trust in their own instincts and the confidence 00:08:15.949 --> 00:08:19.470 to take real risks finally get into a room together 00:08:19.579 --> 00:08:22.160 Something clicks that couldn't have clicked earlier 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:25.180 in their careers. The restraint is hard work 00:08:25.180 --> 00:08:27.899 and hard won. The pocket is deep because it's 00:08:27.899 --> 00:08:31.000 been dug over many, many years. The willingness 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:33.919 to leave space for the other person is a skill 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:36.899 that most young musicians don't have yet. LAMP 00:08:36.899 --> 00:08:40.440 has all of that. And what makes them special 00:08:40.440 --> 00:08:43.480 in this world is that they combine that maturity 00:08:43.480 --> 00:08:47.019 with a genuine sense of play. They're not showing 00:08:47.019 --> 00:08:49.240 off. They're not trying to impress each other. 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:52.179 There are three people who love music and love 00:08:52.179 --> 00:08:54.960 playing with musicians that make them better. 00:08:55.580 --> 00:08:58.480 And that joy comes through in every note. Starting 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:02.139 with Rambling on their debut EP, move to the 00:09:02.139 --> 00:09:05.779 live at Nectar for the full live experience and 00:09:05.779 --> 00:09:09.019 find one of us and hear what this band sounds 00:09:09.019 --> 00:09:11.580 like when they've got some miles under their 00:09:11.580 --> 00:09:14.740 belt and some attitude to go with it. That's 00:09:14.740 --> 00:09:17.340 Lamp and that's Shecky's Jam Bands. Thank you 00:09:17.340 --> 00:09:20.960 for listening. Please like and subscribe my podcast 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:24.480 and if you get a chance email me at SheckysJambands 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:28.059 at gmail .com and we'll see you on the next show.