Into the groove

Shakin' it up with God Street Wine

by Mark Edmonds

A decade ago, before "hippie groove band" became the tag tied to any outfit that played beyond the constraints of the three-minute pop song, young turks like God Street Wine, who take over Northampton's Iron Horse this Monday and Tuesday, had to tough it out in smoky bars, playing to anyone who might wander in to listen. That's exactly how I found them nine years ago. I'd slipped into the now-defunct Ed Burke's, in Boston, and saw them set up in all their flannel glory, playing their asses off for tables and chairs.

Things are different now for them, and freeform in general. Since the H.O.R.D.E. festivals proved that rock without structure still had commercial and artistic potential (while simultaneously lifting God Street out of that one-niter grind), dozens of bands have entered the fray -- from Phish to Ominous Seapods. Of the entire lot, I'd say God Street are among the best. Their ability to write songs that marry pop to harmonious grooves puts them in the same league as the bands who were standard-bearers during freeform's first generation.

You can sample that metamorphosis on God Street Wine (Mercury), wherein the five New Yorkers deliver 12 pop-tinged parables that betray their devout study of the Beatles and the Byrds (themselves roots-music derivatives) and well as an assortment of country and folk rockers, gospel crooners, and Southern soulsters. Here, in harmonized choruses and multilayered arrangements, the band manage a double coup. Not only do they come up with songs that possess the familiar feeling of tunes you've been listening to for years, but, simultaneously, they distance themselves from their mentors.

"Diana," the disc's opener, rides a steamy midtempo groove, straight from Muscle Shoals, through several transitions punctuated by slide guitars, electric piano, and exclamatory refrains. The electric folk of "Feather" recalls Crosby, Stills and Nash with its vocal stylings and strummed acoustic-guitar framing, yet it stands on its own, thanks to the syrupy trilling of guest John Popper's harmonica. And both the chirpy drives of "Happy Birthday, Mr. President," and "I'll Still Like You" have a buoyant, R.E.M.-ish quality that would make them pop songs if it weren't for the band's penchant for quick sidetrips into the ether.

That's something they do throughout as they attempt to recreate the spontaneous energy of their live shows -- a key element that's been missing on their other projects: the indie-issued Bag, Who's Drivin' (Ripe & Ready), $1.99 Romances (Geffen), and Red (Mercury). Guitarist Aaron Maxwell credits veteran producer Bill Wrey (of Little Feat fame) with helping them get it right this time.

"This record was really a breakthrough for us," he begins. "This may sound funny, but it takes a lot of work to be spontaneous in a studio environment. On the other projects, our first inclination was to make things perfect. If something was out of tune, we'd stop and fix it. Bill helped us get to another level, where we really listened to each other in the studio. We used that to work on working off each other. He helped us realize why we destroyed the live feeling we were trying for on the other projects. Once we stopped trying to make things perfect, we sounded like ourselves."

As Manhattan's School of Music students, they formed the band but with no goal in mind. "I met Lo [Faber, God Street's other singer/guitarist] and Dan [Pifer, the group's bassist] there," Maxwell says. "I'd written a lot of songs, and we just began with those."

After the addition of a drummer and keyboardist Jon Bevo, the band began touring until they were invited to perform at the first H.O.R.D.E. festival. Overnight, they went from playing little haunts at home and on the road to touring with vets like the Allman Brothers.

"Its the kind of thing you don't think of while it's happening. But later, you just go, `wow,'" Maxwell says in retrospect. "We learned a ton of things just by watching those guys."

One of them, apparently, is to never forget your roots.

On this tour, which they've dubbed the "The Shindig," they'll be back to driving their own van and lugging their own equipment. They're especially looking forward to returning to the Iron Horse.

"It was one of the first places we played," he says. "After being through all we've been through, it'll be nice to go back to the intimacy of a place like that."

God Street Wine play at 8:30 p.m. on February 2 and 3 at Northampton's Iron Horse. Tickets are $10. Call (413) 584-0610.