It’s precisely a band like U-Melt that allows me to keep faith that the jamband scene hasn’t morphed into a hippier, hettier (gah!), scruffier version of indie rock, filled to the brim with lightning flash buzz bands that are followed seconds after their debuts with heaps of backlash and hipster scorn. Too much to deal with, man; that kind of pressure makes bands essentially have to compete against themselves, let alone navigate the quotidian shitshow of trying to make it as a working musician.
[Photos by Jeremy Gordon]
No, U-Melt is that latter day jamband that’s done right by itself and its fans through earnest and steady growth. Where I was once skeptical of their “all-in” approach – so many styles, genres and components strained into a mass that wasn’t once much for hooks and songs and more on long, occasionally great passages of improvisation – every time I’ve seen them I feel like they’ve been a bit more “on”: more authoritative, more interesting, more assured and more fun. If there’s still such a thing as a grower band in this fractious scene, U-Melt is it.
Hidden Track caught up with keyboardist Zac Lasher at the start of the band’s extensive winter and spring tour, following a terrific kick-off show at Mulcahy’s on Long Island. If you haven’t checked ’em out in a while, or even if you have, do yourself a favor, as the saying goes…
HIDDEN TRACK: U-Melt really continued to hit the road hard in the last year. Looking back over 2008, any particularly great nights or individual sets come to mind?
ZAC LASHER: Oh yeah, two in particular. One was our moe.down show, which was pretty spectacular because we were fortunate enough for moe. to have invited us back—they don’t often do that for bands that have played moe.down before. We played the Beer Tent again and sometime during that day a friend of mine pointed out to me that it was Michael Jackson’s 40th birthday. So, we decided to do an impromptu Michael Jackson thing and I’ve never heard an ovation for U-Melt like we got for that Michael Jackson medley. And the other one was we started out the year with a bang, our New Year’s show late night at the Highline Ballroom was pretty excellent.
READ ON for more of our interview with Zac Lasher of U-Melt…
