Four Weekends in October with Ghost Trane

Maybe it was their macabre name, or that they could be counted on to fill the house on four consecutive Friday nights, that made the Brandy House book Ghost Trane throughout the month of October. Whatever the reason, the hardcore of Atlanta’s jam community looked forward to these shows with great anticipation. The Trane has rapidly risen to prominence in the populous Atlanta jam scene, probably because they, along with the North Mississippi Allstars, are one of the few jam bands that could be called “heavy.” Ghost Trane doesn’t mind a little fuzz on the guitar, a little grit in the voice, or a little introspection in the lyrics. There are no zany tunes about “Golgi Apparatus” here; Ghost Trane music is about catharsis of the soul through danceable rhythm. The guitars of Alex Ginzburg and Alex Picca don’t bubble and foam so much as they pound and churn. Clark Lee’s bass is felt even more than it is heard. Spencer Pope seems to “read mysteries from the keys” as The Doors’ Ray Manzarek was once described as doing. Willis Gordon is one of the only jam band singers who doesn’t sound like he’s kidding; when he sings “Reaper Man,” you feel that he is truly being pursued by a demon, either physically or personally. Conducting this electric rhythm circle is Brian Weinberg, who shows an incomparable knack for inventing eccentric beats from behind his creamy-gold drum kit.

10.05.01 All the staple faces were there, or as I call them, “The Cast of Regulars”: The tall brown-skinned girl; the guy with the really long hair, really baggy pants and long chin hair who rides a skateboard outside; Robbie in his hat and Adam with his camera. Seeing all these key faces assembled means that you’re at “the show to see.” Only occasionally do we speak, and most of them probably don’t know my name and I don’t know theirs, but we’re always there, sandwiched between the Brandy House’s dark oak paneling, Tiffany lamps, old photos and yachting artifacts, bathing in nicotine fumes as we hope to be transported for another evening.

Though it may be inaccurate to describe a band scarcely more than a year old as having “traditions,” it is already a Ghost Trane tradition to not take the stage until about midnight, maybe even later. I always wonder if the idea is that we’ll be so starved for music that it will sound even better when we get it. As long as you can hang around until four a.m. the late start times are no big deal, as Ghost Trane almost always plays three hours or more, until the bar staff demands they call it a night.

As I write about this evening it’s more than a month in the past, so what I mainly recall about it is that it was... good. The show opened with “Just Can’t Keep from Cryin’.” The tunes Trane reworks are often so esoteric, and so transformed, that I’m not sure what is original and what is a cover. Also, so much of what they do is one syncopated rhythm U-turning into another that to get deep into song titles is futile. It’s difficult to trace where “In 3s” turned into “Monkey vs. Robot.” Instead, we’ll talk about the general mood and feel of each evening, with a set list at the end.

The first set was brisk and energetic, no glitches in communication between the musicians, and no major breaks in the flow of tunes. The set was heavy on the funkier tunes in the middle, with what I consider the band’s hardest-rockin’ tune, “Reaper Man,” closing the set. This is a good one to either start or finish with because it’s so high-energy, and has such an immediately-recognizable, powerful riff. It seems to be, so far, the tune that best captures the “Ghost Trane sound,” which I would describe as the Allman Brothers meets Sector 9.

Also aiding the band were the lights of a guy named Squintz, who is from the hill-bohemian enclave of Boone, North Carolina. Mr. Squintz’ lights rarely induce squints, but, silhouetting the band from behind, do give an other-worldly cast to the dancing crowd.

Set two started with, amazingly, Ghost Trane’s first-ever playing of Black Sabbath’s “Fairies Wear Boots.” This song proved to have a groove that eluded me when Sabbath did it, but sure enough, it turns out this is one `70’s metal song you can dance to! In my enthusiasm I found myself jumping up and down, clapping my hands and shaking my head just like Ozzy Osbourne did on The Black Sabbath Story Vol. I home video. I looked foolish, and was proud of it.

The show lasted until about 4 a.m., and then the Cast of Regulars returned to the solitude of our dwellings, where we would spend the week in anticipation of another Friday night with Ghost Trane.

SET I: Just Can't Keep From Cryin' > Stealth, In 3's, Molly Jane, Stampede > Reaper Man

SET II: Fairies Wear Boots > Bullfrog, Aneurysm, Tennessee, Rough Music > Worm in the Wood, Green Monster Mojo

10.12.01 Sometime in the second set I felt a push from behind. I spun around to see my pal who said that he had just run into Ghost Trane earlier in the evening at Philips Arena... at the Tool concert! When a lot of jam fans won’t listen to anything that hasn’t been stamped with the Homegrown Music Network label, it’s refreshing to see a band that not only covers Nirvana and Black Sabbath, but goes to Tool concerts. Generally I felt this Ghost Trane show was good, but it seemed like they strayed a little too far into the instrumental and too far away from the vocal this night. One of the dangers of jam band music is the potential for the personalities to disappear behind the instruments. Nothing makes a human connection more than the human voice, so when instrumentals go on a just a bit too long, the audience is left to relate to amplifiers, foot pedals and cymbal stands rather than people. Overall, though, it was still a good one.

SET I: Ball and Stripes, Ride Me High, Rama, Ridge, Valalong

SET II: Shuma, Funk-E > Jaw Harp Breakdown > Funk-E > Planet Uhm > Easy Rider, Monkey vs. Robot, In 3s, Zion Ship

10.19.01
Sometimes a show is good even before the first note is struck. You can feel it when you get up in the morning and first reflect in the fact that you’re going to be in one of your favorite musical spaces that night. The whole day seems to have a perfect tempo, everything flows, you don’t burn anything in the toaster oven, traffic moves like a mountain stream, you finish your work early with time to spare. When you get to a show at the end of a day like that, the show, too, carries that infallible beat. That would sum up the 10/19/01 Ghost Trane show.

The Cast of Regulars had been in and out for the past couple of shows, but the faces were fully aligned for this one. Set one started with “Reaper Man,” a good closer, but an excellent opener. When things start with a furious riff like that, things can only escalate.

“Reaper Man” gave way to a long improv section, where I watched Willis Gordon synch his percussion to Brian Weinberg’s drums through facial expressions. The two were leaned forward over their instruments, squinting at each other from opposite ends of the stage, either trying to see each other through the Camel haze in the air, or facing off like gunfighters. Weinberg ultimately upped the ante, taking “Git a Home” to ridiculous heights. All the “hits” were in this set, as you can see below.

Awhile back I developed a taste for standing on the Brian Weinberg side of the stage. He has the unusual habit of setting his drums up stage left, in profile to the audience, so you can stand right next to him and watch his stick-and-feet-work. This night he was absolutely on fire, filling with one-handed rolls on the snare (I don’t play drums but I’m told that’s tough as hell), always finding unique combinations of drums to fill with, and doing double bass drum work that would make Metallica’s Lars Ulrich traffic light-green with envy. Ulrich and The Who’s Keith Moon are the only two rock drummers I can think of to compare Weinberg’s knack for constant invention. The big difference is that whereas Moon and Ulrich always looked like they were straining and wrenching in pain, Weinberg dances behind his drums, showing no signs of duress, his tongue resting on his bottom lip the only sign that he’s working at all. This night was a little different, though, because Weinberg always wears some sort of hat, and tonight he got so worked up he actually took it off.

At break time I knew I had to get CD-Rs of this show. This was the epitome of Ghost Trane, plain and simple. I heard one girl saying, “It’s like they’re really good at speeding up and slowing down. It always feels really natural.” I explained that it’s like sex: the jam starts, builds, accelerates, friction happens, sweat streams, hair flies, the climax, you pop your cork, and then it winds down and cools out. I think that freaked her out. Actually it just freaked me out. Set two began with “Smokestack Lightning,” a nice slow one to work us back into the frenzy. Things built with “Molly Jane,” another one of the “hits,” and the Trane was chugging down the track again. Those who stayed (it was around 2 a.m. now) were many, and the perfect rhythm of the previous morning continued into our early Saturday.

SET I: Reaper Man, Git a Home, Dillem Down, Glory B, Finally

SET II: Smokestack Lightning, Shot my Pistol, Molly Jane, Green Monster Mojo > King Kong, Stampede, Just Can't Keep From Cryin', Little Wing, Run For Your Life

ENCORE: In 3's

10.26.01 Before show time I was quite pleased to receive three shiny discs of the 10-19 Ghost Trane show from Mr. Sam Phillips, Webmaster, taper and (it seems like) unofficial manager/PR man for Ghost Trane. Like a hippie Santa he pulled them from his backpack and then continued cruising the club, and I had to wonder if anyone else there was looking forward to receiving goodies like I had just gotten. The energy of this show was not as frenetic as the 10-19 show, but had a better mix between vocals and instrumentals than the 10-12 show. Overall, this one is probably comparable to the first Friday night in terms of energy and vibe (if you’re trying to decide which one to get CD-Rs of). The 10-19 show took the hemp cake of any of the estimated 10 Ghost Trane shows I’ve seen, though.

The first set included “Dillem Down,” which has become one of my favorite Trane tunes alongside “Reaper Man.” Happily set two would contain “Fairies Wear Boots” again, and I found that the guys around me also knew a Black Sabbath tune when they heard one. Once again I was charmed into doing a drunken Ozzy impression, and loved every minute of it.

SET I: Walkin' After Midnight, Dillem Down, Rough Music, Save Your Soul, Run For Your Life

SET II: Stampede > Fairies Wear Boots, Molly Jane, Funk-E > Rama, Walkin' After Midnight

It was appropriate that this show took place during fall, the season of change. Just two weeks later we would learn that the Brandyhouse was going to go “mainstream,” which meant this would probably be the last time we saw Ghost Trane there. Fall is also the season of new beginnings, however, and Jake’s Roadhouse, a new Homegrown Music Network venue, already had several Ghost Trane shows scheduled for November.

When the Ghost Trane pulls into your station, have your ticket in hand and get onboard!