Spring Break
Jam band will get its groove on in surround sound
Contributed by David Bikoff
The Savannah-based quartet will take the stage for a concert to be presented entirely in 5.1 Dolby surround sound as part of their "Speed of Surround" Tour.
Keyboardist Matt McDonald said the band's front-of-house soundman, Michael Gaster, and speaker company Renkus Heinz constructed the sound system especially for this tour.
The setup includes almost 40 speaker boxes, 3 to 4 miles of cable and 150 feet of rigging.
McDonald said the new system adds a remarkably noticeable change in the overall experience.
"The sound quality is just so good right now," he said.
Perpetual Groove, which includes McDonald, Brock Butler (guitar, vocals), Adam Perry (bass guitar) and Albert Suttle (drums, percussion), has a sound too complex to classify in a single genre.
Their music fuses rock with a blend of jazz, reggae, funk, blues and electronic looping, creating a sound that is at times surreal and at others intensely hard-driven.
McDonald said Athens is one of the band's favorite places to play.
"This is consistently the most attentive and interactive crowd we play for," he said. "The energy is always right there in your face, and you can feel it."
Their loyal and grassroots fan base plays a very important part in the band's overall success.
The official Perpetual Groove Web site (www.pgroove.com) hosts an online message board. Audience recordings of the bands performances are allowed and encouraged, and live CDs are handed out at concerts to help spread the music.
The band is also using the tour to support their new studio album, "All This Everything", released in September.
The album consists of both older road-tested songs and new unreleased works. Its production was much different from that of their debut studio release, 2003's "Sweet Oblivious Antidote," McDonald said.
"We were able to take more time and do the things in the studio we were not able to do with the first album," he said.
The band's performances this year have taken them across the country with appearances at the High Sierra Music Festival in California, moe.down in New York and Harvest Fest in North Georgia.
But McDonald said the release of "All This Everything" marks a high point in the band's history.
"Recording the album was definitely the highlight of the year for us," he said. "I think this sealed the deal for our career."
