As members of the Trey Anastasio Band and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Russ Lawton, Ray Paczkowski and Scott Metzger are used to the creature comforts of the road, like tour buses and crew members to set up their gear. But with LaMP, their instrumental trio?
“We have no crew people,” says Metzger, the band’s guitarist. “It’s funny. They have a van up in Vermont, but we have so much gear and merch that there’s no room for me. So I drive myself around either in my car or in a rental. I follow those guys around. It’s a very unique way to be doing it, but it’s most cost effective.”
That less is more approach is the calling card of the group, which brings together TAB’s Lawton on drums and Paczkowski on keyboards and New Jersey native Metzger from JRAD. The trio is an extension of Lawton and Paczkowski’s duo, Soule Monde. The three often crossed paths on the festival circuit “and felt like we were simpatico type people and musicians,” Metzger says. “We had a few conversations and the idea got brought up at some point that we should all get together and play. Musicians say that kind of thing to each other all the time, and scheduling can be really, really difficult when you’re in full-time groups.”
The trio first performed at Nectar’s in Burlington, Vt., in 2018 and went on to release a studio EP and the double-disc “Live at Nectar’s.” On March 21, they’ll release the full-length studio record “One of Us,” 35-minutes of taut, rocking instrumentals. LaMP is currently on tour and will hit Le Poison Rouge on March 20 and Assembly in Kingston on March 22.
Here are some more highlights from our chat with Metzger.
How do you feel your role has grown since LaMP first got together?
I’ve definitely gotten more comfortable. I’ve definitely gotten more comfortable to take more chances and to insert myself into the, you know, my voice, whatever that means, into the music. The biggest thing that’s changed is that we have a lot of original material that the three of us have written over the years. So we have a lot more source material to work off of that was written with the three of us in mind. The fact that the tunes have, you know, started with the three of us really gives it an identity, that it’s a real band.
On “One of Us” you built the songs up from Russ’s drum parts, rather than write melodies and go from there. Was this a unique way of composing for you?
It really is a groove-based thing. The beats that Russ comes up with are very, very musical and very melodic, much more than than a lot of drummers that I’ve heard. Usually an idea will come immediately on the first listen to it, which I’ve never experienced before. You know, I’ve never heard melodies, you know, so consistently just from a drum beat. No one’s ever been as consistent with that as Russell. Wow.
The songs don’t jam out too much on the record. Was it important for you to keep it concise and leave the jumping off and the exploration more to the stage?
Yes, exactly. You just nailed it. With a band like LaMP, I see a record as sort of the advertisement to get people to the gig. And the gig is really the thing. So I don’t feel the need to bombard people with a record full of eight-minute-long guitar solos or something. You’ll get the long extended sick jam versions if you come out to the gig.
One of my favorite instrumental records is the Beastie Boys, “The In Sound from Way Out!” it’s called. And all of those tracks are, like, two minutes long, but they’re so memorable. And like you said, it’s like you get in and get out, say what you need to say to me.
How have the crowds been? Have they grown each time you come back to a town?
Oh, man. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Like in all caps, yes. I can’t wrap my head around it, frankly. I mean, this is exactly what I’ve always dreamed of. You know, like having having a little band that’s self-contained. We just went to Saint Louis on, like, a Tuesday, and 200 people showed up for our first time there. I mean, I wouldn’t change a thing. I think I can speak for all three of us that it’s kind of blowing our minds. And I’m really loving seeing it happen, and it just means so much.
I assume your tour entourage with JRAD is quite different than with LaMP.
What can you say? JRAD is like the Rolling Stones compared to how we travel [with LaMP]. We have two buses, one bus for the band, one bus for the crew. At this point we’re probably traveling with nine crew people altogether. So it’s a whole different touring experience. I show up on stage and someone has set my gear all up for me very pristinely, and my cables are all coiled perfectly, and with LaMP, it’s like a total free for all. I’m in charge of setting all my shit up.
Some guys would have a problem with that. It’s like once you fly first class, you don’t want to go back to coach.
You guys clearly don’t see LaMP as a step down though.
No, no. I think that all three of us enjoy the small club gig energy, you know? I don’t think that any of the three of us are sitting around plotting how do we get to the bigger venues and more money and sponsorships and this, that or the other. God, for me, my very first concert that I ever saw that changed my life was seeing the Ramones in like ’94 at a club that held maybe 800 people. So in my mind, I feel like in my DNA, that’s what a concert is. I go to arena shows, bigger shows, and I get really uncomfortable, frankly. We just did two nights in Portland at a club that held like 300 people. And, you know, they were turning people away at the door because the place was so packed. And at the end of the night, the walls were sweating and stuff, you know, it was like that kind of energy. There was beer spilling everywhere. And I said, yeah, man, this feels like success.
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