WEBVTT 00:00:21.480 --> 00:00:24.859 Welcome back to Shecky's Jam Bands. I'm Shecky 00:00:24.859 --> 00:00:28.679 and today I want to start with a quote from keyboardist 00:00:28.679 --> 00:00:35.880 Todd Stoops of Rack. That's R -A -Q. Describing 00:00:35.880 --> 00:00:39.979 what this band means to him and his bandmates. 00:00:40.500 --> 00:00:44.700 He said, Rack is always there. It's like an application 00:00:44.700 --> 00:00:46.820 on your phone that's running in the background 00:00:46.820 --> 00:00:51.280 at all times. Rack is how we got our start in 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:55.020 this scene. It's how we ground our teeth from 00:00:55.020 --> 00:01:00.500 the early 2000s onward. So when we come back 00:01:00.500 --> 00:01:04.480 to Rack, it's like coming home from college for 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:08.540 Thanksgiving or Christmas. An app running in 00:01:08.540 --> 00:01:11.420 the background. That is the perfect description 00:01:11.420 --> 00:01:17.280 for a band that has been active on hiatus, reformed, 00:01:17.579 --> 00:01:22.659 expanded, contracted, perpetually presented in 00:01:22.659 --> 00:01:26.760 the Vermont Jam scene for over two decades without 00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:30.859 ever really going away. The app never fully closes, 00:01:31.400 --> 00:01:35.329 it just runs quietly until someone taps it and 00:01:35.329 --> 00:01:39.969 then it explodes into what Reflex magazine called 00:01:39.969 --> 00:01:44.370 hyperkinetic improvisational splendor. Today 00:01:44.370 --> 00:01:47.629 we're talking about Rack from Burlington, Vermont. 00:01:47.909 --> 00:01:51.930 and the story of how a band named after a biblical 00:01:51.930 --> 00:01:55.790 fiery furnace became one of the most technically 00:01:55.790 --> 00:01:59.510 accomplished and consistently surprising acts 00:01:59.510 --> 00:02:02.950 in the Northeast Jam world, where all good stories 00:02:02.950 --> 00:02:20.219 start with a name change. and Greg Stuckey on 00:02:20.219 --> 00:02:23.360 drums come together with a band name that tells 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:26.139 you exactly what kind of music you're about to 00:02:26.139 --> 00:02:30.580 hear. They call themselves Shadrach. S -H -A 00:02:30.580 --> 00:02:35.199 -D -R -A -Q. If you went to Sunday school or 00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:39.599 if you read the book of Daniel, you know Shadrach. 00:02:39.860 --> 00:02:44.139 One of the three men thrown into a fiery furnace 00:02:44.139 --> 00:02:48.680 and emerged unscathed. accompanied by a mysterious 00:02:48.680 --> 00:02:52.340 fourth figure. It's a story about surviving the 00:02:52.340 --> 00:02:55.620 impossible, about coming out the other side of 00:02:55.620 --> 00:02:58.979 something that should have destroyed you, intact 00:02:58.979 --> 00:03:03.080 and possibly accompanied by a supernatural presence. 00:03:03.740 --> 00:03:06.740 That is a very specific energy for a jam band 00:03:06.740 --> 00:03:10.740 name. Bold, biblical, slightly intimidating, 00:03:11.340 --> 00:03:14.659 and practically speaking, a little long for a 00:03:14.659 --> 00:03:18.050 marquee. So before they even cut their debut 00:03:18.050 --> 00:03:22.669 album, they shortened it. Shadrack became rack. 00:03:23.210 --> 00:03:27.270 Three letters pronounced rack. Clean, punchy, 00:03:27.569 --> 00:03:31.110 the biblical weight is still there if you know 00:03:31.110 --> 00:03:35.330 where to look. And most people don't, which is 00:03:35.330 --> 00:03:39.229 also correct. They released their debut album, 00:03:39.590 --> 00:03:45.960 Shed Tech, in 2001. Mark Scortino departed. Todd 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:48.099 Stoops, one of the most distinctive keyboard 00:03:48.099 --> 00:03:51.139 voices in the Vermont Jam scene, who would become 00:03:51.139 --> 00:03:54.740 one of the band's defining creative forces, joined 00:03:54.740 --> 00:03:59.360 in time for the follow -up. And Regrouped Rack 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:04.439 released Carbohydrates in 2002, which is also 00:04:04.439 --> 00:04:08.439 an extremely effective album title for a psychedelic 00:04:08.439 --> 00:04:12.180 progressive rock band. Just Carbohydrates, no 00:04:12.180 --> 00:04:17.410 subtitle, no explanation. just carbs. By 2004 00:04:17.410 --> 00:04:22.790 and 2005, Rack hit what guitarist Chris Machetti 00:04:22.790 --> 00:04:26.689 later described as their stride. They were touring 00:04:26.689 --> 00:04:29.550 relentlessly. They were playing Bonnaroo and 00:04:29.550 --> 00:04:32.689 High Sierra Music Festival and Gathering of the 00:04:32.689 --> 00:04:38.250 Vibes and Jam Cruise. JamBands .com named them 00:04:38.250 --> 00:04:44.040 their new groove of the month. Relix put them 00:04:44.100 --> 00:04:47.079 In their spotlight section, they were nominated 00:04:47.079 --> 00:04:51.160 for a Jammy Award for the best new band. The 00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:55.810 app was running at full power. Rack's own self 00:04:55.810 --> 00:04:58.709 -description is high performance rock and roll, 00:04:59.069 --> 00:05:02.730 which to be fair is exactly right and also completely 00:05:02.730 --> 00:05:05.750 understates what's happening. High performance 00:05:05.750 --> 00:05:10.029 as in, this is high precision machinery. This 00:05:10.029 --> 00:05:13.230 is a race car, not a pickup truck. Every part 00:05:13.399 --> 00:05:17.579 is exactly where it needs to be. What makes rack 00:05:17.579 --> 00:05:21.360 generally distinctive in the jam band world is 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:26.279 the combination of compositional rigor and improvisational 00:05:26.279 --> 00:05:29.459 freedom. Most bands in this space lean one direction 00:05:29.459 --> 00:05:33.990 or the other. Jam bands that love songs can sometimes 00:05:33.990 --> 00:05:37.449 be afraid to leave them. Progressive rock bands 00:05:37.449 --> 00:05:41.029 that love compositions can sometimes be afraid 00:05:41.029 --> 00:05:44.730 to lose control of them. Rack does both simultaneously, 00:05:45.490 --> 00:05:48.230 often within the same song, sometimes within 00:05:48.230 --> 00:05:53.269 the same 30 -second stretch of music. In 2006, 00:05:53.910 --> 00:05:56.209 Rack did something that almost no band in their 00:05:56.209 --> 00:06:00.649 position gets to do. They hunkered down at Trey 00:06:00.649 --> 00:06:03.670 Anastasio's Barn studio in Vermont to record 00:06:03.670 --> 00:06:07.170 their third album. Now, regular listeners of 00:06:07.170 --> 00:06:10.170 the podcast know that Trey Anastasio's Barn has 00:06:10.170 --> 00:06:13.819 appeared in our story before. The Trey Anastasio 00:06:13.819 --> 00:06:18.939 Band episode cover how Trey recorded at his own 00:06:18.939 --> 00:06:23.360 Vermont facility, how Russ Lawton and Ray Prakowski 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:28.000 of LAMP are core members of that band. The barn 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:31.680 is Trey's personal studio, a legendary Vermont 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:35.120 recording space where Fish has worked, where 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:38.120 Tab has worked, where some of the most important 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:40.740 Jam World recordings of the last three decades 00:06:40.740 --> 00:06:45.790 have been made. Rack recorded there in 2006, 00:06:46.410 --> 00:06:50.310 a four -piece from Burlington who had named themselves 00:06:50.310 --> 00:06:53.529 after a biblical fiery furnace victim who had 00:06:53.529 --> 00:06:56.829 been grinding clubs and festivals since 2001, 00:06:57.550 --> 00:07:00.709 who had just lost and regained their keyboard 00:07:00.709 --> 00:07:03.829 chair, who called their music high -performance 00:07:03.829 --> 00:07:07.550 rock and roll. They went into Trane Anastasio's 00:07:07.550 --> 00:07:10.769 personal studio and made their most ambitious 00:07:10.769 --> 00:07:15.170 record. The resulting album is consistently cited 00:07:15.170 --> 00:07:18.709 as the peak of their studio output. The production 00:07:18.709 --> 00:07:22.089 has the warmth and depth of what that barn is 00:07:22.089 --> 00:07:25.529 known for. The same acoustic character that makes 00:07:25.529 --> 00:07:28.629 Vermont recording sessions sound specifically 00:07:28.629 --> 00:07:32.250 Vermont -like, rooted and organic even when the 00:07:32.250 --> 00:07:36.310 music is operating at its most technically complex. 00:07:37.290 --> 00:07:39.800 Now some things worth noting about Rack. They 00:07:39.800 --> 00:07:43.579 are the home of the wayward dopapod drummer. 00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:46.779 When asked about their relationship with dopapod's 00:07:46.779 --> 00:07:50.279 drummer, Todd Stoops laughed and said the band 00:07:50.279 --> 00:07:53.000 likes to refer to themselves as being the home 00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:57.300 of the wayward dopapod drummer. The Vermont Jam 00:07:57.300 --> 00:08:01.160 scene is small and interconnected and Rack has 00:08:01.160 --> 00:08:04.199 served as a landing pad for excellent drummers 00:08:04.199 --> 00:08:07.519 between their commitments. They embrace the status 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:10.620 with appropriate humor. As I mentioned earlier, 00:08:10.860 --> 00:08:13.939 Relix put them on the summer watch list in 2005. 00:08:14.740 --> 00:08:17.759 Relix magazine, the publication of record for 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:20.259 the Jam World, highlighted Rack as one of the 00:08:20.259 --> 00:08:23.779 top bands to look out for in the summer of 2005. 00:08:24.220 --> 00:08:27.720 They also named them a new groove of the month 00:08:27.720 --> 00:08:31.899 on jambands .com and nominated them for a Jammy 00:08:31.899 --> 00:08:35.509 Award for the best new band. all this before 00:08:35.509 --> 00:08:38.649 most of the country has caught up with what Burlington 00:08:38.649 --> 00:08:42.029 had been known for for years. Catching a rack 00:08:42.029 --> 00:08:45.450 show is like finding a four -leaf clover. NYS 00:08:45.450 --> 00:08:47.730 music described the experience of catching rack 00:08:47.730 --> 00:08:51.450 live as being like finding a four -leaf clover. 00:08:51.669 --> 00:08:54.909 It doesn't happen often, but when it does, you 00:08:54.909 --> 00:08:58.429 know you're having a great legendary day. For 00:08:58.429 --> 00:09:01.570 a band that has never toured at the pace of some 00:09:01.570 --> 00:09:05.899 of the other contemporaries, scarcity has become 00:09:05.899 --> 00:09:09.080 part of their legend. When Rack plays, people 00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:13.529 show up. When Rack plays well, people talk about 00:09:13.529 --> 00:09:16.970 it for years. Here's where I land on with Rack. 00:09:17.580 --> 00:09:21.019 They started as Shadrack, named for a man who 00:09:21.019 --> 00:09:24.259 walked out of a fiery furnace intact. They shortened 00:09:24.259 --> 00:09:27.659 the name and deepened the music. They built a 00:09:27.659 --> 00:09:30.799 following in Burlington clubs and then took it 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:35.919 to Bonnaroo and High Sierra. and Jam Cruise and 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:40.009 Trey Anastasio's personal recording studio. They 00:09:40.009 --> 00:09:43.590 hit a hiatus. The app kept running. They came 00:09:43.590 --> 00:09:47.769 back and everyone returned has produced the same 00:09:47.769 --> 00:09:51.070 reaction from people who have been waiting. There 00:09:51.070 --> 00:09:54.909 they are. There's Rack. Relic said it best. Hyperkinetic 00:09:54.909 --> 00:09:59.190 improvisational splendor. That is exactly what 00:09:59.190 --> 00:10:02.830 this band does. The compositions are rigorous. 00:10:03.149 --> 00:10:07.409 The improvisational is ferocious. The four pieces 00:10:07.409 --> 00:10:10.450 move together like a machine that has been running 00:10:10.450 --> 00:10:14.350 long enough to stop needing instructions. And 00:10:14.350 --> 00:10:18.490 they go to a place in a jam that you didn't expect, 00:10:18.870 --> 00:10:22.590 which they will reliably every time. It's the 00:10:22.590 --> 00:10:25.649 kind of left turn that makes you understand why 00:10:25.649 --> 00:10:28.570 you came to the show in the first place. Find 00:10:28.570 --> 00:10:32.090 any rack show happening near you. because they 00:10:32.090 --> 00:10:36.549 are, as NYS music correctly observed, like finding 00:10:36.549 --> 00:10:41.159 a four -leaf clover. And when you find one, you 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:44.399 know you're having a great legendary day. That's 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:47.440 Rack. That's Shecky's Jam Bands. Thank you for 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:49.620 listening, and I'll see you next time.