First a brief introduction, we are...

Andy Gadiel- Webpage designer and creator of Andy Gadiel's Phish Page, a major networking tool for many jam bands fans, not only of Phish. He is lover of live music, and helps to spread live music to all who love to listen. He has coordinated many on-line musical projects including, Interactive Tours Database, Tapelist Creator, and several other sites. Andy is thrilled to be apart of this new emerging magazine and hopes it will enable all live music fans to stay informed, educated, and aware of the growing scene.

Dean Budnick- writer: appearing in various forums and publications devoted to improvisational music, author of The Phishing Manual and perhaps most notably Jam Bands, a book which will appear in the fall- this book will provide an encyclopedia of Groove bands, featuring more than 170 individual essays (which include photos, interviews with band members conducted specifically for this project, biographies, discographies, web info and more), along with an oral history of the Wetlands, an essay on taping, an appendix on other resources and a setbreak/travel game "Zero Degrees of Separation." Jam Bands, the book, will be released in September (it will be available in book stores, amazon.com, through the Homegrown Music Network, the Dupree's store and elsewhere). As for Jam Bands the web site, read on...

How it came about...

While discussing the creation of a web site in conjunction with the book, the two of us started brainstorming and decided to take things a bit further (there will be a separate home page for the book but right now we're hyped about the web zine). We thought it would be fun to draw on each other's respective skills and our collective love and fervor for this music.

We think that www.jambands.com can become a comprehensive, entertaining web resource. Initially, it will appear as a monthly web zine with various features (band profiles, interviews, venue of the month, shows of the month, tape of the month (a monthly tape tree). Additionally, this site will contain links to various band sites (starting with the 170 sites from the book Jam Bands), taping links, daily show updates and so forth.

At this point we are a few weeks away from our debut. We are actively looking for individuals who may wish to write for the site. While the two of us are currently overseeing all of the various phases and topics, at some point we may try to bring on editors to oversee particular phases and features. As we get started though, we are particularly looking for regional reporters who are devoted to their own local music scenes- we intend to provide regional reports on past happenings, current developments and future events. These reports will be updated on a bi-weekly basis initially but we may move to a weekly format. New ideas are always welcome and we hope the community can contribute to growth in the site. Feel free to let us know any features you'd like to see. Designers who can help with the graphical layout of the site are welcome to contribute. Photo contributions are also welcome as we will try to incorporate these whenever feasible. Finally, we also will have an open forum page where anyone can raise issues and talk up their favorite bands.

We are very psyched about the possibilities for this site and feel that it can help spread the word about bands, venues and shows in an entertaining, timely manner. This is an exciting time for us as we start to put this together. So of you would like to help or you have any ideas please let us know. Ultimately we hope that this will expand into a cooperative, interactive community forum (at the very least we know there will be some kick-ass content).

So if you're interested, please mail us at: jambands@jambands.com.

Be sure to check back often as we'll be posting updates on the progress of this exciting new project!

Thanks,

Dean Budnick
Andy Gadiel