Photo by Pavel Antonov via http://www.ranaweb.com/pictures.html

Maybe it's something in the water or maybe it's that their high school is right across the street from the acclaimed Westminster Music College of Rider University, but rock musicians from Princeton no doubt gravitate to the technical proficiency of being in a jam band.

First there was Trey Anastasio from Phish, Chris Barron from Spin Doctors, Lo Faber from God Street Wine and all of Blues Traveler. Now there's RANA, a cross between the funky jams of Phish and the Zappa-meets-the Beatles-by-way-of-punk crafty, edgy quirkiness of Ween.

Led by Andrew Southern and Scott Metzger of Amfibian, the new band of Phish lyricist Tom Marshall, RANA is making some serious waves, having recently reached headline status New York's Wetlands Preserve, the spawning ground of the jam scene.

The following cyber chat with Southern, who formed the band in 1995 with keyboardist Matt "Mr. Durant" Trowbridge and drummer Ryan Thorton, hopefully will inspire you to check out RANA as they tour in the days to come. Amfibian fans also can see Metzger and Southern with Marshall and company May 4 at Toad's Place, New Haven; May 18 at Saratoga Winners, Cohoes, N.Y.; and June 2 back at Stanhope House.

For additional dates and info, visit ranaweb.com or amfibian.com

What does RANA mean and how does it relate to the band?

It was actually made up word, or so I thought. It means all sort of things, including "king" in Russian and "frog" in most romance languages. To us it is the perfect name. It is one word which representing one thought -- one idea. It is four letters -- there are four members of the band. The philosophy is embedded in the name and reminds us of our goals daily.

How did you guys get together

Mr. Durant, Mr. Thornton and myself went to the same grade school and learned to play our instruments together during that time. Later, when I joined Amfibian, I met Mr. Metzger and asked him to play with those beginnings of RANA. Everything just worked out from there. Now we are celebrating our first full calendar year together.

How much did growing up in Princeton where Trey, Blues Traveler, Chris Barron from Spin Doctors and Lo from God Street Wine also grew up, influence the kind of improvisational music you make?

There is a joke around here that there is something in the water. Maybe a 'jam' impurity that yields this kind of musical mentality. I would be lying if I didn't say these bands influenced our music. What we have learned is that songwriting is the door and improvisation is the key. Inside this door, the room is warm, exciting and crowded. RANA is currently wallpapering the room to get it all ready.

Comment on how the Princeton-oriented acts Ween and Chris Harford also influenced you.

We practiced last summer in Ween's rehearsal space at Chris Harford's house, and I think it had an amazing influence on us. It's more rock now and we love it.

Speaking of Phish, comment on being in Tom Marshall's band Amfibian and how it's been good for RANA.

That band is great fun too and it definitely helps promote RANA. I get to talk with a lot of cool people at Amfibian shows who find out that Scott and I are in RANA, and we see them at the next event we play! Perhaps there will be a time in the future when the two bands meet for a big night of music.

How are Amfibian and RANA much different from each other?

I find RANA to be a group that can lock together and also turn on a dime. The songs are paramount and we respect them, which is something a lot of bands tend to say but not do. It is sleek and polished but still has a rough edge to scratch your back on. On the other hand, Amfibian is a seven-piece monster with the power of two drummers, three guitars, bass, keys and four vocals, like a Mac truck. Both groups are awesome but in very different ways.

You have several MP3s and a live disc available. What are your recording, label and release plans?

We are currently recording some more tracks at our favorite studio in New York. I think our next plan is to release some EP discs, maybe a series of three discs with each three new songs on it. That way, the music will always represent the most recent creations, and you'll always be able to get the older stuff too. As for labels, we would love to get on one in the future, but we'll wait until the time is right. I think we have a good sense of pace and we know when to make the 'next move.'

Comment on what makes your Web site unique.

I made it. I am always working on it. Expect some big changes soon: new pictures, MP3s, interviews. I have a sibling who is at a leading Internet company so our site is on one of the fastest servers in the nation. I plan to put up some mpeg video in the near future as well. Also, there are two great fan websites: http://www.ranaband.com/ and http://www.ranafrog.homestead.com/rana.html. I dig these guys.

Comment on how you've built quite a following at Wetlands, now headlining the club, and how that will lead to national dominance soon.

With RANA, once people are in the door, most of them like it. We seem to have a very high rate of 'turn ons' -- so the more people come to see us play, the bigger the crowd seems to be the next time. A RANA event is the only place you can see RANA play. That is why people come again and again. There is a quality that I don't ever want to define, but I can feel it and I know it is special.

Comment on each of the following songs, what inspired them and the different ways you approach each live: 'Backstage Pass':

This song began an obsession with 'glam rock' music. We wrote it together off a hook that I made up. It is so much fun to play live, it kind of makes me want to act like the guy in the song.

'Your Brain':

This song is a lot different from the way I originally recorded it. That is due to Ryan Thornton's really great drum groove that pushes the song a lot measure by measure, slowly changing your brain.

'Silver, Not Gold':

Scott and Ryan wrote this song. It is about a girl they met who was wearing a lot of jewelry. It is a great way to open a show and has a really cool section at the end where I feel like I'm in Prince's band.

'Do I Have To?':

I wrote this song from the viewpoint of a person I could be in the future. It is me, but older and not in a rock band. I think I wrote it to avoid ever being that guy, but he has something to say so I let him say it. The groove is taken from my obsession with the soundtrack to 'Real Genius.'

'Olafe':

This is a song that completes the life of 'Joe' who has a different song named after him. After he dies, the people who knew him remember his life. Ryan and I have a great time holding down the lumbering groove on this one, it feels massive.

'Montel':

This is just a mean song that I sometimes feel bad about playing. That is why we keep playing it, because you got to have the bad to have the good.

'Smile':

This song is so much fun, I can't even put it into words. Just music.

I love the quote RANA will be bigger than The Beatles -- Jesus. Comment on your Beatles influence from both a humor and pop construction standpoint.

If I dared to speak about RANA alongside The Beatles, I would say that both bands recognize the way to get 'there.' It is expressive and popular at the same time. It is meaningful as well as inviting.

Do you think the jam band scene will be the next big thing in 2001 from a music industry standpoint? Would you like to be a part of that or would you prefer that it stay grassroots?

I personally don't think the jam band scene will break into the music industry just yet. When and if it does, RANA would like to be the band that leads it. I'd love to get our music heard on the radio and pushed nationally.

I'm basically looking at how the jam scene is growing in NJ and just would like a comment about how you appreciate that so you and your following can stay a bit more local for great shows.

I think it's great the way Jersey is warming up the scene. We play so muchin NYC, I think it is important to play for the Jersey fans as much as possible. I look forward to more gigs in Jersey as a result.

Bob Makin is an entertainment writer with Gannett NJ. Bands can contact him at makinclan@aol.com and send him material to the Courier News, P.O. Box 6600, Bridgewater, NJ 08807.