Pride and Patience Continue to Propel The New Deal

By Evan Newman

It's been eight months since The New Deal were featured in jambands.com New Groove of the Month.  At the time, the band was starting to excite crowds all over the U.S. and Canada, and a buzz was beginning to surround the trio. They had played Berkfest and were moving upstairs at the Wetlands from playing the downstairs lounge, The New Deal were preparing for take-off.

Now, eight months later, the band finds itself to be one of the hottest touring acts around and have found themselves to be the focus of every record companies desire.  Their performances are delivered with spiritual intensity as The New Deal has become one combustible self contained unit: Jamie Shields, Darren Shearer and Dan Kurtz  make up what's become the most innovative band in music today. The New Deal is an experience, when you see a show, you become part of the family. The band uses their audience as an instrument, taking their energy and giving back to them in the form of an organic blend of infectious grooves and propulsive beats. The turbulent interplay between these three stellar musicians builds to a claustrophobic peak and then released, only to be built up again in a totally different but equally enjoyable manner.  With this being said, the sky is the limit for these three guys who had little idea as to how many people their music would touch.

I recently sat down with keyboardist Jamie Shields to gain his perspective on all that's occurred in the past year at a bar in downtown Toronto right before the beginning of the North By Northeast Music Festival. The next night, The New Deal will be the featured act at The Reverb club, where it is expected that many top record executives will be attending to catch a glimpse of what is sure to be an explosive concert performance.

EN: The New Deal have really skyrocketed in the past year. Were you expecting such an overwhelming response to your music?

JS: Not at all, we just loved the music being made. I remember driving to a gig in Oshawa (small town outside of Toronto) and listening to the first show (which has become the bands first release, "This is Live") at The Comfort Zone and being so amazed and ecstatic at the music that we had played I couldn't believe it was me. I was so entranced by what I was hearing it made me miss my exit.  There was high expectations for the music, we wanted to create The New Deal Experience and play for the moment. It was cool to see many people at the end of a show in awe and dumbfounded as to what they had just witnessed

EN: How have you grown musically during this time and what possible avenues will you take in the future?

JS: Basically, myself, I've become more patient. More in touch with the groove and letting the groove exist for a while and carry itself. I can sit back and be totally entranced with what Dan and Darren are doing. The band itself has become more patient, the manual groove is what we call it. In recent shows, we've begun to take more chances and the audience excepts it as most of the crowds that come see us are very open to musical exploration.

Each New Deal experience is new and different for the audience and for us, it's fun. We're open to interaction with the audience, we want people to feel a part of The New Deal family

EN:You were part of The Maui Project with Marc Brownstein (formerly of Disco Biscuits). How was that?

JS: It was great, Marc and I hit it off immediately. I really got to know him and the other guys well and had a blast playing them. Within the group, the focus was patience and letting the groove develop and I really took a lot from that.

EN: The New Deal have been self managed since it's inception, how have you guys been able to handle it and are there any future plans to add a manager?

JS: If a reason calls for it but we would need the manager to become the fourth member of the band, not someone who oversees the operation, someones who's involved. If it were to happen, I'd want someone who could add and contribute to us. Between the three of us, we've been able to use our individual skills to do all the stuff that a manager would do.

EN: When we last talked, there was thoughts of bringing the act overseas to the U.K. where your music would obviously make an immediate impact. Are there still plans to do so?

JS: Before, we were going to go but things fell through for a variety of reasons. Mainly, we wanted to continue to grow as a group in the U.S. and Canada and we've been able to do that. As of now, there's so much going on that we've been unable to plan on anything, but yeah, I think you right in saying that the sound will have a great impact.

EN: The band has played with many acts, what's been your most enjoyable musical experience?

JS: Playing with The New Deal. It's the ultimate musical experience. I'm having so much fun in this band. Whether I'm happy, sad or mellow, it's my outlet.

EN: Are there plans to release more shows like the Portland Maine EP in the near future?

JS: It's going to be a limited edition series called the sound and light series, 500 copies per release with a new show to be expected every 4-6 months. A special event like a New Deal show. We now tape all of our shows and give fans an opportunity to get a high quality recording at at very cheap price.

EN: Is the New Deal part of a current trend or the leaders of a new one?

JS: I wouldn't call us leaders of a new trend but if we were part of a current trend wouldn't there be more bands doing what we do? It's different every night for us. Our focus lies in the live performance and creating something innovative every night and the response has been amazing. It's just really fun to see so many people dancing and having fun at our shows.

After the interview, I was driving back home and came to a few conclusions. Jamie Shields is someone who has a lot of pride in what he does and the music he makes.  Through all of the recent hype surrounding the act one might tend to get a little big headed but Jamie has remained grounded and has maintained a realistic perspective. His focus is on the music and having fun, not many people get to do what they love for a living, he does and he appreciates it.

The Day the Cheese Got Big

By Eric V. Segalstad

Any band that can fill a field full of freaks that all trekked a thousand miles or so to a foreign country to see them is big. String Cheese Incident´s third annual international incident in Damas, Costa Rica was huge by these standards.

Not only did 2,000 fans or so show up for an incident of sun, beach, and music, but the band appeared more confident and professional than ever before. Strong sets both nights with few if any down spots at all. Who knows what the local Tico´s and the oddball gringo tourists thought when they showed up at the show to see "some American band" that nobody had heard of except us freaks and hardcore jamjunkies that have been saving money and looking forward to this for months. They were met by a summer festival ready crowd consisting of hardcore cheesers and improvised music fans traveling Central America. Rumor has it only 600 or so tix were sold in the states (a lot of fans bought tickets locally), but us already down here months prior to the shows did our best to spread the word to people we met on the road from Tihujana to Panama City, and we saw a lot of those same happy, friendly faces in the crowd both nights. For some frequent jamband show goers this was even their first Incident and every single one of them got "converted" that night. I have to give it to the local "shaman" that came prepared with his grandfather´s recipe for sacred mushroom tea: "Take three spoons, no more."

The band showed up with their beach gear or travel kits if you like - Billy and Kang both brought down their racks, but opted for different amps, probably locally rented to reduce weight and bulk coming down. Billy used a Roland Stereo Jazz Chorus and Kang played through a Fender Twin, but they yielded their usual palettes of tones and timbres. Kang´s acoustic mandolin, however, was deeply missed. Travis and Keith had more or less their usual setup, but poor Kyle had to strip down the hardest - the Hammond and the Rhodes were left at home, but his substitute toys were no disappointment - Roland boards with the funkiest, grooviest samples, presets, and tones you have ever heard - guaranteed. His perception of tone and his choice of sounds all added to the evening´s flavor. Hanging above the boards you can literally see the tones come from his mouth and body through his arms and out to his fingers dancing on the keys and BOOM hit you in the face before you know it. I think the different tones, more funky than previous shows (and just as fresh as during Winter Carnival, after he got his JP-8000 analog/digital synth for Christmas!). I will not be going into setlist details because it was the entire experience that really flavored these shows - just about every state were represented down here in Costa Rica, people flew in from as far away as Norway just to catch the shows. Sage colored weed from New York City, the guy with the garbage bag full of locally picked shrooms passing them out to everybody that wanted some, and all the other usual assortment of concert ailments added to the concert experience for a lot of people - jugglers with fire torches at setbreak, the hula hoopers (A Cheese head trademark), the glowsticks, the tapers, everything and everybody were there; young and old, and it was as if the greatest, most perfect show you have been to was transmorphed from somewhere stateside down to a completely new and different setting - a clear starry sky, the palm trees framing in the field, lighting going off in a distance, but no thunder, and the sound of the tropics with all its squeeks, hums, and chirps. I know other bands could pull this off, but SCI is currently the only band doing it and that makes them different and grand.

The band is going into a new phase and I think we´ll see a lot more fans showing up for larger shows. Opening this Summer for Phil and Dylan at the Gorge is a definitely a big step on the ladder of success, but knowing the band as a frequent show attendee I´m sure they will stay true to their roots and keep playing the Rockies and West Coast ski towns during their annual Winter Carnival's. At least I hope so.

The String Cheese Incident´s 3rd International Incident took off and those of us that all came a long ways away for the shows had big smiles on our faces, grooving and moving to the beats and tones cascading from the amps and speakers, looking at each other and saying with our eyes "Yep, the Cheese is getting BiG", so do me a favor when you catch some Summer shows or perhaps the three-day Cheese festival in Oregon and email me and let me know if you see the change. SCI is a band that will attract huge crowds in the years to come and May 26th, 2000 is the day the Cheese got BiG. Get the CD´s from these shows quick and share, share, enjoy, and send me a copy would you? Pura Vida !!!

Written on the fly somewhere in South America by a starving musician looking for a band.