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Music Trends
May 2004
"Could have fooled me," I said to myself as I walked down the long flight of stairs at BB Kings into a full-on neo-hippie scene. A sea of tie-Dyes, dirty backpacks and bug eyes greeted me from every nook and cranny of this small underground venue, packed to the walls with a young audience that was electrified to get its groove on. Wait. Isn't Sound Tribe Sector Nine an electronic band? Without one glow stick to be found, I knew that this wasn't going to be your typical club "Live PA." Sound Tribe Sector Nine was formed in the Atlanta, Georgia suburb of Stone Mountain by three childhood friends: Dave Murphy (Bass), Hunter Brown (Guitarist), and Zach Velmer (Drums). The friends would get together and free form jam around musical styles that happened to be stimulating them at the moment. "DJ culture influenced us from the start, but also jazz, funk, industrial and ambient," Brown reveals. When keyboardist David Phipps joined the group, he pushed them deeper into the electronic realm with his expansive rig of keyboards, drum machines and samplers. Sonic tapestries, emotive textures, and sampled environments seeped into their sound, and they started to develop a following of suburban kids who were infatuated by the band's ability to seamlessly migrate from one musical style to another.
As soon as the first note was sent soaring over the PA, the crowd instantly turned into a kinetic mass of energy. Anchored by Velmer's monster drum playing, the band burst out of the gate at full speed. The ecstatic crowd responded to every musical nuance with their movements, and the collective became one. About ten minutes into the first song, I noticed a guy painting a psychedelic pattern on a large canvas on the side of the stage. Moving closer, I realized that this was J. Garcia (not to be confused with Jerry Garcia, a sometime painter and former lead guitarist of the Grateful Dead). J. Garcia is part of the band's "sound tribe" and creates an original painting at every one of their shows. Cool. As J. Garcia's outline expanded, so did the band's musical mural. They revved up to full on drum 'n' bass workouts and then, just as suddenly, dropped out into ambient textures. Unlike other jam bands, there were no real out-front guitar solos. Brown's guitar playing was reserved and mature. And that goes for the rest of the band, as well. So where did the band get such a complicated name? The band originally wanted to be called Sector 9, referencing a renaissance period in Mayan history. However, a skateboard company in California dubbed Sector 9 was in full swing and upon advice from a lawyer, they decided to expand the name to Sound Tribe Sector 9 to aptly describe their burgeoning scene of musicians, artists and hipsters.
Each member has an Apple PowerMac G4 running Reason, Ableton Live, Native Instrument's Reaktor and Digidesign's ProTools. Since they live apart, they swap files by exchanging removable hard drives or sending the files over the Internet. While on the road, they bring along a portable laptop studio for composing on the fly. "The new Mac laptop we purchased allows us to have access to a recording studio no matter where we are," Phipps observes. Lerner also carries a MiniDisc recorder with him wherever he goes to "grab sonic environments."
Phipps is certainly the gear whore of the group with an elaborate keyboard set up that includes a Motif 8, Novation K-Station, a Voyager and the new tube version of Korg's Electribe synth. He also utilizes Korg's new MicroKontrol as a MIDI controller and to trigger samples. When asked what they're looking for in the future as far as gear goes, they all nodded in unison when Phipps stated "stability." "If I could just get Reaktor to work in OS X without crashing, I'd be very happy," Phipps explains. Coming out of an ambient soundscape, bassist Dave Murphy steps forward and hammers out a heavy groove. The crowd cheers and Sound Tribe Sector 9 are off and running into a new song. The band never plays the same set twice. With an ever-expanding repertoire that currently contains 50 to 60 songs, the audience can always expect something new. Even with the constant improvisation, it is obvious that the songs are tightly orchestrated. "What we do is re-generation," Lerner reveals. "We re-generate our songs live...so even if we're playing the same notes, its always different." Sound Tribe Sector 9's songwriting is very unique for a jam band and illustrates just how much the process has changed for many groups thanks to powerful computers and versatile software. As mentioned before, the band members each compose songs separately in their own studios. After a musical idea universally congeals through file exchange, they then get together and jam in a live setting to solidify the structure.
Defenders of the live PA posed the question "what is a truly live electronic music show anyway?" Good question. Even Orbital, a pioneering live electronic act, programmed their Alesis MMT-8 sequencers with their tracks prior to performing on stage. However, they could still play to the crowd by changing their songs on the fly. The biggest problem is that the audience could not see them actually making music. Bobbing heads with alien flashlight eyeglasses and fingers twiddling knobs somehow doesn't translate into "we're creating magic right before your eyes." Roni Size provided one of the most effective live electronic performances during his Reprazent Tour. Flawlessly combining electronic facets and a line up of star instrumentalists from his native Bristol, Size created a truly compelling live Drum 'n' Bass experience. Unfortunately, the provocative experience didn't rub off state side and the Live PA went into further decline. Enter Sound Tribe Sector 9. By effortlessly intertwining electronic and live elements into their live show, they reveal the future of the Live PA. Just make sure to pack your tie-dye. Sound Tribe Sector 9 is on tour this summer, and they can also be seen on the Lollapalooza Festival. Hit www.sts9.com for tour information.
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