WEBVTT 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:22.739 Welcome back to Shecky's Jam Bands. I'm Shecky, 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:24.879 and today we're doing something a little different. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:28.140 Every episode of this show we talk about bands 00:00:28.140 --> 00:00:31.280 you may already know, legends with decades of 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:35.280 history, Hall of Fame moments, farewell tours, 00:00:36.100 --> 00:00:39.759 reunion shows, the whole arc. But live music 00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:42.880 doesn't just belong to the bands that have already 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:45.700 arrived. It also belongs to the bands that are 00:00:45.700 --> 00:00:48.560 in the middle of the journey right now. The ones 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:51.700 who are still playing club shows, still building 00:00:51.700 --> 00:00:55.079 their sound, still earning every room they walk 00:00:55.079 --> 00:00:59.280 into. Today's band is one of those. Today we're 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:02.820 talking about Roundtrip. Four musicians out of 00:01:02.820 --> 00:01:05.980 Boston, Massachusetts who set out on a mission 00:01:05.980 --> 00:01:09.219 that is stated right on their website. Plain 00:01:09.219 --> 00:01:12.319 as day. They are determined to take you there 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:16.819 and back. I love that. Determined. not hoping 00:01:16.819 --> 00:01:21.060 to, not aiming to, determined. That's a band 00:01:21.060 --> 00:01:24.079 that knows where they're going. Let's get on 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:28.620 board. Round trip is Jake Stevenson on guitar 00:01:28.620 --> 00:01:32.719 and vocals, Chris Cooper on keyboards, Drake 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:36.760 Milhousen on bass, and Walker McMillan on drums. 00:01:37.319 --> 00:01:41.219 Four people, four instruments, one city, Boston, 00:01:41.260 --> 00:01:44.780 Massachusetts. Now, Boston has one of the richest 00:01:44.780 --> 00:01:48.230 and most underappreciated jam and indie music 00:01:48.230 --> 00:01:51.109 scenes in the country. It's a college town at 00:01:51.109 --> 00:01:54.250 heart, more colleges and universities per square 00:01:54.250 --> 00:01:57.810 mile than almost anywhere in the U .S. And that 00:01:57.810 --> 00:02:01.689 means a constant influx of young musicians who 00:02:01.689 --> 00:02:04.609 are serious about their craft, who have studied 00:02:04.609 --> 00:02:08.629 theory, who have been sitting at clubs and open 00:02:08.629 --> 00:02:12.110 mics since they were teenagers. The music that 00:02:12.110 --> 00:02:15.379 comes out of Boston tends to be thoughtful. It 00:02:15.379 --> 00:02:18.620 tends to have structure and freedom. It tends 00:02:18.620 --> 00:02:22.020 to care about both the song and improvisation 00:02:22.020 --> 00:02:25.039 within that song. That is exactly what Roundtrip 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:27.659 brings to the table. The band describes their 00:02:27.659 --> 00:02:31.300 sound as blending diverse songwriting and powerful 00:02:31.300 --> 00:02:35.159 riffs with experimental improvisation. They call 00:02:35.159 --> 00:02:38.740 themselves versatile and exploratory. They describe 00:02:38.740 --> 00:02:41.699 their mission as taking onlookers under their 00:02:41.699 --> 00:02:45.879 sonic wing and inviting any and all to take the 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:48.719 journey with them. That is the language of a 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:52.599 band that genuinely believes in what music can 00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:55.599 do for people in the room, not just for the band 00:02:55.599 --> 00:02:59.020 themselves. They built their sound on the reputation 00:02:59.020 --> 00:03:01.900 the way you're supposed to by playing Boston 00:03:01.900 --> 00:03:05.879 clubs, college venues, regional shows, opening 00:03:05.879 --> 00:03:09.080 slots for bands that were further along in their 00:03:09.080 --> 00:03:11.689 journeys. They've shared stages with Dogs in 00:03:11.689 --> 00:03:15.229 a Pile, High Fade, and Neighbor, three of the 00:03:15.229 --> 00:03:18.370 most exciting acts in the modern jam scene. They 00:03:18.370 --> 00:03:21.569 played the Northlands Music Festival in New Hampshire, 00:03:22.050 --> 00:03:25.009 one of the best regional jam band festivals in 00:03:25.009 --> 00:03:28.250 the Northeast. Every single one of those shows 00:03:28.250 --> 00:03:31.689 was another deposit in the trust account they're 00:03:31.689 --> 00:03:34.870 building with their audience. Round trip. Two 00:03:34.870 --> 00:03:38.229 words contain entire philosophy about the music, 00:03:38.409 --> 00:03:41.460 if you let them. A round trip, by definition, 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:44.159 takes you somewhere and brings you back. You 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:46.599 leave from one place, you travel somewhere new, 00:03:47.180 --> 00:03:51.360 maybe somewhere surprising, maybe somewhere disorienting, 00:03:51.860 --> 00:03:55.340 maybe somewhere transcendent, and then you return, 00:03:55.879 --> 00:03:59.300 changed, expanded. You're back where you started, 00:03:59.819 --> 00:04:02.810 but you're not the same person who left. That 00:04:02.810 --> 00:04:05.270 is exactly what a great jam band show is supposed 00:04:05.270 --> 00:04:08.449 to do. You walk into the venue, you know a few 00:04:08.449 --> 00:04:11.370 of the songs, or none of them. The band starts 00:04:11.370 --> 00:04:14.250 playing the music, moves through different terrain, 00:04:14.990 --> 00:04:18.569 structured songs opening into improvised sections. 00:04:19.230 --> 00:04:22.069 Those sections taking unexpected turns, landing 00:04:22.069 --> 00:04:25.850 back on the melody, lifting off again. And when 00:04:25.850 --> 00:04:29.069 you walk out, two hours later, you're back in 00:04:29.069 --> 00:04:32.180 the parking lot, but something has shifted. You 00:04:32.180 --> 00:04:38.040 went somewhere. You came back. Roundtrip. The 00:04:38.040 --> 00:04:41.379 band puts it on their homepage in the most direct 00:04:41.379 --> 00:04:44.560 possible terms. Roundtrip is a progressive jam 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:48.019 band determined to take you there and back. Not 00:04:48.019 --> 00:04:51.720 just take you there, there and back. The full 00:04:51.720 --> 00:04:54.860 journey. That commitment to returning the listener 00:04:54.860 --> 00:04:58.759 to a place of resolution, giving the improvisation 00:04:58.759 --> 00:05:01.660 a landing strip. is one of the things that separates 00:05:01.660 --> 00:05:05.060 good jam bands from great ones. Roundtrip has 00:05:05.060 --> 00:05:07.699 thought about this. The name is not accidental. 00:05:09.100 --> 00:05:12.279 Roundtrip released their first EP titled Break 00:05:12.279 --> 00:05:15.860 Failure before going bigger. Break Failure, as 00:05:15.860 --> 00:05:18.220 a companion piece to the band name Roundtrip, 00:05:18.839 --> 00:05:21.800 that title is doing a lot of work. You're on 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:24.680 a round trip, but what if the brakes fail? What 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:27.100 if the journey doesn't stop when you expect it 00:05:27.100 --> 00:05:31.110 to? What if the music keeps on going, keeps pushing, 00:05:31.649 --> 00:05:33.649 keeps building past the point where you thought 00:05:33.649 --> 00:05:36.149 it would resolve? That's not an accident either. 00:05:36.670 --> 00:05:39.269 This is a band that thinks about what their music 00:05:39.269 --> 00:05:43.209 means and how to signal it to listeners before 00:05:43.209 --> 00:05:46.110 the first note even plays. Their self -titled 00:05:46.110 --> 00:05:50.209 debut album followed in December 2023 and it's 00:05:50.209 --> 00:05:53.129 where I want to point new listeners. The debut 00:05:53.129 --> 00:05:56.480 album is the fullest picture of what roundtrip 00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:59.759 is capable of. Diverse songwriting that moves 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:02.639 between styles without ever losing that groove. 00:06:02.759 --> 00:06:05.740 Powerful riffs that give the improvisational 00:06:05.740 --> 00:06:08.759 sections something to push against and a keyboard 00:06:08.759 --> 00:06:11.899 presence from Christopher Cooper that gives the 00:06:11.899 --> 00:06:14.980 band a textural range you don't always find in 00:06:14.980 --> 00:06:18.220 a four -piece jam configuration. Now, every band 00:06:18.220 --> 00:06:22.500 has a show, a specific performance where all 00:06:22.500 --> 00:06:26.000 of the work they put in The rehearsals, the small 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:29.920 club gigs, the nights of playing for 20 people 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:32.620 who weren't really paying attention suddenly 00:06:32.620 --> 00:06:36.300 pays off in a single concentrated burst of music 00:06:36.300 --> 00:06:38.639 that makes everyone in the room understand that 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:41.420 this band has arrived. For Roundtrip, the Northland 00:06:41.420 --> 00:06:44.079 Music Festival represents exactly that kind of 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:47.060 milestone. The Northland's Music and Art Festival 00:06:47.060 --> 00:06:50.009 in New Hampshire has quickly become one of the 00:06:50.009 --> 00:06:52.750 most beloved regional jam festivals in the Northeast. 00:06:53.449 --> 00:06:55.769 The kind of festival that books headliners like 00:06:55.769 --> 00:06:58.889 The String Cheese Incident, Mike Gordon, and 00:06:58.889 --> 00:07:02.009 Twiddle, while also carving out space for the 00:07:02.009 --> 00:07:04.649 next generation artists who are still working 00:07:04.649 --> 00:07:08.069 their way up. Getting a slot at Northlands is 00:07:08.069 --> 00:07:11.490 not nothing. It means the festival is paying 00:07:11.490 --> 00:07:14.209 attention. It means the regional booking community 00:07:14.209 --> 00:07:17.250 is paying attention. When Roundtrip walked onto 00:07:17.250 --> 00:07:20.250 the festival stage, They were playing for a crowd 00:07:20.250 --> 00:07:22.649 that might not have known a single song they 00:07:22.649 --> 00:07:26.629 played. Festival audiences are different from 00:07:26.629 --> 00:07:29.910 club audiences. Club audiences, even small ones, 00:07:29.970 --> 00:07:33.569 tend to be there specifically for you. Festival 00:07:33.569 --> 00:07:36.490 audiences contain hundreds of people who are 00:07:36.490 --> 00:07:40.069 just passing through, wandering between stages, 00:07:40.370 --> 00:07:42.449 looking for something to stop them in their tracks. 00:07:43.529 --> 00:07:45.750 What Roundtrip did at Northlands was stop them 00:07:45.750 --> 00:07:48.939 in their tracks. They brought the energy, the 00:07:48.939 --> 00:07:52.339 riffs, the improvisation, all of it. Songs opened 00:07:52.339 --> 00:07:55.779 up in ways that casual listeners couldn't perfectly 00:07:55.779 --> 00:07:59.319 predict, and that unpredictability is exactly 00:07:59.319 --> 00:08:02.139 what festival crowds responded to. When a band 00:08:02.139 --> 00:08:05.819 you've never heard of takes a musical left turn 00:08:05.819 --> 00:08:08.319 that makes you grab the shoulder of the person 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:11.399 next to you and say, wait, what just happened? 00:08:12.300 --> 00:08:16.120 That is the moment. That is how you earn a new 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:19.660 fan. in a festival setting, not by being safe, 00:08:20.339 --> 00:08:24.160 by being willing. Roundtrip was willing and the 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:27.079 people who caught their Northlands set left with 00:08:27.079 --> 00:08:30.300 a new name to remember and a reason to look forward 00:08:30.300 --> 00:08:32.840 to the next show. That's the Roundtrip story 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:35.980 right now. Not a legend yet. In the middle of 00:08:35.980 --> 00:08:38.860 becoming one, every night out there, there's 00:08:38.860 --> 00:08:40.940 another chapter. Here's what I want to leave 00:08:40.940 --> 00:08:44.330 you with about Roundtrip. The jam world right 00:08:44.330 --> 00:08:47.870 now is one of the most exciting periods in decades. 00:08:48.590 --> 00:08:50.990 There's a new generation of bands, Dogs in a 00:08:50.990 --> 00:08:55.029 Pile, High Fade, Goose, Great Blue, and yes, 00:08:55.149 --> 00:08:58.190 Round Trip that grew up listening to Fish and 00:08:58.190 --> 00:09:02.149 String Cheese Incident and STS -9 and Railroad 00:09:02.149 --> 00:09:04.549 Earth and all the bands we've been covering in 00:09:04.549 --> 00:09:07.750 this podcast. And they are carrying the tradition 00:09:07.750 --> 00:09:11.470 forward with their own voices. They are not imitating 00:09:11.470 --> 00:09:15.370 what came before, they are adding to it. Roundtrip 00:09:15.370 --> 00:09:17.990 is Boston's contribution to that conversation. 00:09:18.690 --> 00:09:21.870 For musicians who believe deeply enough in the 00:09:21.870 --> 00:09:24.870 Roundtrip, in taking you somewhere and bringing 00:09:24.870 --> 00:09:28.250 you home, to put it right at the center of everything 00:09:28.250 --> 00:09:31.529 they do, the name, the mission, and the music. 00:09:32.049 --> 00:09:35.750 Find the Break Failure EP, find the debut album, 00:09:36.210 --> 00:09:39.820 check their website out. roundtripband .com for 00:09:39.820 --> 00:09:42.259 new show dates. And if they're playing anywhere 00:09:42.259 --> 00:09:45.899 near you, in Boston, in the Northeast, at a festival 00:09:45.899 --> 00:09:50.580 this summer, go. Pay the $12 at the door, stand 00:09:50.580 --> 00:09:53.899 in the room, take the road trip. That's Road 00:09:53.899 --> 00:09:56.519 Trip. That's Shecky's Jam Bands. Thank you for 00:09:56.519 --> 00:09:58.860 listening, and I'll see you on in the next episode.