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International Report
Edited by Evan Newman - newmando@hotmail.com

• When the circus came to town
• Do they actually know how to jam in Europe?
• A Look Back At The Year That Was
• No Touring = No Audience.
  Why Jam Bands are a non-existent phenomenon in Australia.

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When the circus came to town
by Nils Hallberg, Linkoping, Sweden - nilhal@hotmail.com

First of all, the freetown Christiania in Copenhagen is a quite odd place, to say the least! Inside a colorful fence, people have been living their lives in the spirit of alternative lifestyles for the last decades. There is no sense in trying to describe this place in words - you simply have got to see it with your own eyes to really understand what it's all about!

With its roots in the hippie-movement and the following years of "drop out mentality", Christiania has remained over the years as one of the last (the last?), still going in style, alternative societies in Europe. People who live, or just hang around here, aren't easily shocked, they've seen it all!

Still, the old hippies in Christiania surely were astonished by the change the place went through during three nights last summer. As one of the local newspapers wrote: "Christiania has had more hippie-vibes during these three days, than it ever had during the hippie-era itself! The communal spirit grows strong among the people who have gathered here for this event."

It all began in the afternoon on the 30th of June. During a few hours, hundreds of Americans - many of them looking like they'd just stepped out from the motionpicture "Easy Rider" - took over every green spot available inside the fence. My girlfriend and I, who had just arrived after a 14-hour drive from Sweden, took the opportunity to get a well-deserved rest on the lawn among all the Americans. As usual at events like this, we found ourselves surrounded by a familiar, totally friendly vibe - people relaxing, talking, eating, drinking, playing the guitar, just hanging out, waiting. Expectations drifting in the cool afternoon breeze.

At what seemed to be an invisible sign, people started moving towards "The Grey Hall", one of Christiania's famous concert-halls, and the object for the activities of this last evening in June. Once inside we sat down on the floor, had a Danish beer, and just looked at all these people. At least 95% must have been Americans, very easily sorted out from the minority of Europeans. Most of the Europeans, probably attending a thing like this for the first time, had this surprised look on their faces, just staring at the hippie-trolls sitting next to them, apparently having difficulties in believing this was really happening at all. Unlike more experienced people in the crowd, many of them didn't have water-bottles, fruit or candy or even comfortable shoes, a sure sign on that they were about to have a "learning by doing" experience that night

After X amounts of time, a guy came out and lit the candles on the guitar & the crowd started moving. A certain tense filled the air...it felt almost explosive.

Moments after this, Phish entered the stage, accompanied by a storm of hand clapping, cheering and whistling. A few riffs later the entire audience burst into furious dancing. The magic spell was cast upon us, and we all drifted along into Phish-land - the place where reality and imagination blends together - the place where time seizes to exist, as we know it. The best of it all - we got to stay there for three nights this time, hearing several songs being played for the very first time - and of course - a bunch of long-time favorites too!

The circus had COME to town!

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Do they actually know how to jam in Europe?
by Nils Hallberg, Linkoping, Sweden - nilhal@hotmail.com

More than 30 years have passed since The Rolling Stones stopped throwing blues-jams in small, obscure clubs in Hamburg. The Stones have turned into the Jurassic-park of rock 'n' roll, and the blues they used to play is now being tortured by an endless stream of small wannabe-bands, performing at even smaller clubs, in front of audiences with even smaller minds. Clapton is stuck unplugged on MTV. Pink Floyd took a turn into a dead-end alley some 15 years ago - and they still haven't found what they're looking for. Oasis, for once, made a good decision and crawled back to the little hole in the ground they came from (they'll surely pop up again soon, more angry at the world than ever before). The promising art form called acid-jazz died before it even could walk. "Alternative" music, hip and cool, is made entirely by computers and - if you're lucky - with additional sounds created by ancient synthesizers (most of them were knocked off the market by an obvious reason as soon as they were built!). Techno, mainstream pop/rock and hip-hop (always containing a loop of some old song that often was quite good in its original texture) rules the European music market.

The live scene here often feels as interesting as a TV-set jammed between two channels. At least a lot of it sounds like that! A mellow, slightly distorted, background noise.

High quality, steaming jazz can still be found in several cities throughout Europe. Jazz as an art form is, as it always has been, especially strong in Copenhagen, Paris and Amsterdam. Here you can find really, really good modern jazz - often similar to the music played by bands like Medeski, Martin and Wood. And, as a matter of fact, you can sometimes even hear music closely connected to the ancient art called fusion! For a purely nostalgic reason this is quite pleasant from time to time (as long as "time" is measured in months not weeks!).

Actual jam bands (as we who like Phish, The Discobiscuits, Ominous Seapods, moe, ARU and others would like to describe them) do exist! On the "we haven't been signed yet" level, you can actually find a lot of interesting bands that are experimenting with funky rhythms and straight-ahead jams. The problem is, if you don't know people involved in the jam band scene of Europe, you've got to have more luck than Forrest Gump to bump into one by accident.

Is this absence of a strong European jam band scene good or bad? The question one can't refuse to ask is - do we really want a widespread jam band trend here at all? Getting as hyped as britt-pop (Oasis and others) or techno? I mean, isn't that the worst thing that could happen? It would probably only be a matter of weeks before all bands would be (Copyright) "The biggest record company around" - companies hungry for big bucks, aiming to build a trend that survives at least one hysterical Christmas shopping-mania. They'd wrap it all up in a beautiful package and send it of into the musical wax-cabinet to be exposed along with Elvis and the other guys. Not too tempting, now is it?

For as much as I care, Europe might as well continue to be a white spot on the jam band map! It's a shame people miss a lot of good music over here, but little ol' selfish me can't help but smile when people avoid Phish shows since they think they'll see the singer in Marillion! Isn't it beautiful!!! The ironic thing is that the jam band scene is getting into a jet-lag dilemma. Europeans can't afford to follow interesting bands on the rise in the states, and most Americans can't afford to follow "big bands" at small venues over here. (Not that everyone miss Phish live in front of a 400 people crowd, but for those who do it really is a shame).

Well, I'd better be going now. My favorite local funk-stompers are just about to nuce some oldies down in the bar on the corner - it's gonna be a blast

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A Look Back on the Year That Was

1998 is coming to a close so it's time to reflect on the past year of the jam band scene in Canada. It was a great year for the improvisational music scene as new bands came around and more venues were established. The western coast of Canada has some great new bands that have begun to make a name for themselves across the country. A band like Gift has toured extensively up and down the coast attracting quite a devoted following. Their blend of funk and grass roots is unique and posseses a great deal of potential. Back in Ontario, The Burt Nielson Band and One Step Beyond have continued to flourish and are gaining nationwide recognition. Phish never made it North of the 49 but there was a strong Canadian contingent on the fall tour and all of the shows were phenomenal and I wish all of those headed to New Years a safe and fun journey. My favourite jam band moment of 1998 had to come at The Comfort Zone in Toronto when Merl Saunders joined up with One Step Beyond for a fanatical three and a half hour set of funk, Dead, and jazz. It was a sweaty night but one that will play itself over and over again in my head.

Now, it's your turn to tell me your favourite jam band moment of 1998. Whether it's a great road trip, an awesome CD, your favourite international band or just about the jam band scene in your area. We want to hear from you. We will pick the funkiest replies toappear in our next issue. So start trying to remember your year and sed us the highlights. Until then, have a great new year and I look forward to reading your responses!

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No Touring = No Audience.
Why Jam Bands are a non-existent phenomenon in Australia.
by Dylan Behan - d.behan@student.canberra.edu.au

An Australian discussing Jam Bands, I feared, would be something like an Egyptian doing a column about skiing conditions. There is no doubt the main geographical focus of jam bands is in North America. Name a successful European jam band? I can't. But why is the focus in North America? I wish I knew. It probably has something to do with a wealthy diversified educated audience, coupled with a large mass media presence to do a little promoting.

Let me put it this way. If you have a product in the USA that 0.4% of the population will purchase, you have a million selling hit! Unfortunately in poorer or less populated countries, this is not true. The "Fosters" beer company hardly advertises or promotes its product in Australia any more, because it sells 10 times as much product overseas. Cigarette manufactures would be willing to lose the entire Australian market, for just 1% of the market share in China. That's the difference between having a population of 18 million and a population of one billion people.

"But how does this relate to Jam Bands?", I hear you asking. Well, Europe is made up of several countries and many hundreds of millions of wealthy educated and multilingual people. Therefore it's no surprise that Phish, the Dave Matthews Band and the Grateful Dead have toured there. When Australia has so few people, it is no surprise that the only Jam bands to tour here in recent years have been Widespread Panic and Santana, both reasonably unsuccessfully. For your information, the Widespread Panic show in Australia's 5th largest city, Adelaide was only attended by about 60 people, most of them visiting American students and tourists. So, as most jam bands create an audience from their touring and live shows, when there are no shows or tours, creating an audience is particularly difficult. It's made even worse by the lack of diversity in radio.

On any FM dial on a major city you will probably find only 4 or 5 music stations. One will be in the style of "Classic Hits and Memories", another will be "Easy Listening", another will play "Rock", another will be "Hot New Music" and the final alternative will be "Triple J". (There may also be a fuzzy community station in there somewhere, which no one listens to.) Triple J is the nationwide government funded youth broadcaster, and as its funding does not depend on ratings, is the only station to take risks on unknown and new bands. Meanwhile, the "new music" stations are playing Celine Dion around the clock. And as MTV is almost non-existant here, Triple J is without a doubt the most influential broadcaster and selector of new talent. And what new talent does Triple J expose? Silverchair, the Smashing Pumpkins, the Whitlams, Massive Attack, the Beastie Boys, Bjork and anything else that relies on 4 minute - synthesised or distorted studio effects.

They've never played Phish, and their playlists clearly show that they see Rock music as digressive, and only play recent neo pop-punk to satisfy the more low brow members of their audience.

We live in a country that lacks "Progressive Rock" and "Adult Contemporary" audiences. And as a result, jam bands like Phish, Dave Matthews Band, Bela Fleck and the Dead have a purely word-of-mouth following. And if you couldn't tell, word of mouth doesn't spread very fast when your population density is about one person per 2 square kilometres.

Even so, rumours have abounded recently about a possibility of a Phish tour next year sometime, possibly tying in somehow with the rumoured 1999 New Years Show in Hawaii. However, maybe half way across the Pacific is the best Phish can manage. If so, I'd better start saving my money, and I hope to see you all there.

Dylan Behan is a student at the University of Canberra in lives in Sydney, Australia. Check out his Phish and Australia web page at http://student.canberra.edu.au/~u984239/phishstralia.html