Story by Art Howard
All photos by Adam W. Gulledge
except Jon Trafton by Bryan Gay

  


Reid -- Where ya goin'?
 


Erik Glocker

Reid Genauer, now ex-lead vocalist of Vermont's Strangefolk, described the success of his band thusly, "I really don't think we could have imagined it, you know? I always equate it to watching a plant grow. You hope its going to grow into a tree, but you never quite know." Three months after making this statement, it is announced Genauer is leaving the band. A couple of weeks after that, his band's name is in Entertainment Weekly as part of an article on Phish; their album Weightless in Water is listed among the Top 10 jam band records of all time.

When I meet Strangefolk in May of this year they're playing the Music Midtown festival in Atlanta. A native Vermontian in the audience tells me he drove all the way up from Jacksonville, Florida to catch their abbreviated set. He claims Vermont has turned on Phish due to some ticket situation, but says the state still cheers Strangefolk. "These guys are just about being real, down to earth, good music."

Talking with Reid Genauer (vocals/guitar), Jon Trafton (lead guitar) and Luke Smith (drums) in their van after the show, it is difficult to disagree.
 


Jon Trafton, co-founder

 VOYAGER: What was going on in Burlington, Vermont in 1991 when you started? Was anyone using the phrase "jam band" and saying, "Let's start this genre in New England that's going to sweep the nation?" Have you been surprised to be taking part in the founding of a new form?

TRAFTON: Reid and I were actually playing as a band before the term "jam band" was coined. There were all kinds of labels, "groove rock..."

GENAUER: "Omni-genre."

TRAFTON: "Omni-genre." I don't know if I would consider us one of the founders, we're just following along in a good tradition.

VOYAGER: Just go ahead and say you're one of the founders. Run with it. Trust me. Its good PR.

Was there an epiphany moment when you knew this would be more than a hobby?

SMITH: We wanted that to happen as quickly as possible. We all wanted to avoid the real world and live in the music world full-time. Its been a struggle and its gotten easier along the way.
TRAFTON: There have definitely been milestones along the way. We've had some solid milestones where we were like, "Wow, this is a real growth from what we had before. Maybe there is something going on."

VOYAGER: I read on your Web site that you were doing the coffee houses and then at some point you played at one of the biggest clubs in Burlington. So I guess that in itself...

TRAFTON: Exactly. Those are like Reid was talking about, the little branches that came off of the plant. Then there's our first CD release party, or our first time selling out a club in Boston, New York or San Francisco. There are so many little ones and there's some big ones. Every good show is another one in a way, toward the goal.

GENAUER: Its often in hindsight that you realize those were the moments. When you're in it you're living it. Then when you sit back and compare, say, from where we started and then you think about where you're at now, your perspective...Its usually just a shift of perspective and what you consider "the norm." Six years ago if we had played on this stage we would have been terrified and today we walked on and, aside from some technical stuff, we were pretty comfortable. Just that in itself is evidence of our growth and level of maturity as a band.

VOYAGER: Yeah, you guys seem so low-key, actually, like you've just gone to work and now you're sitting in the break room. If I walked off of that stage I would be on a payphone going, "YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT!!!" But that's me.

What does Vermont offer a band, as opposed to being in L.A. or New York?


Read the first interview with Jon Trafton about Reid Genauer's exit from the band HERE !
 
SMITH: The opportunity to get away, get away from the mass media, the mainstream, out into the woods, into the hills, into the lake. Just to take a step back so then you can go back into the mainstream.

GENAUER: Solace. A one word answer, solace.

TRAFTON: Its a fusion of energy that recharges my batteries. We play in cities all the time, that's all we do, so we see all the cities. I love cities, but I prefer to visit and I find more comfort in spaces and things green.

VOYAGER: Yeah, I find it interesting that there are so many bands coming out of Burlington and Boulder these days, and they seem to have more momentum than any L.A. band now.

SMITH: You can make it right in your own hometown. With the right attitude and the right mindset and the dedication you can make it from anywhere. You don't have to be in the big music hot spots anymore.

VOYAGER: Yeah, you don't have to be played by (MTV VJ) Carson Daly, although I wouldn't turn him down if he wanted to give me a plug.

The new CD, A Great Long While, when are we going to see that hitting the peeps?

TRAFTON: I think you just said it! No, no, we sort of had some premonition when we named it that, that it could come around to bite us in the ass. Here we are, feeling the pain and looking at the teeth marks! We're hoping for a summer release (out September 2nd -- Art). We can't say anything for sure, we still have to wrestle it out...well, "wrestle" is a bad way to put it, but we have to finalize the arrangements so the record is ready to roll in any direction we decide to roll it. All the label red tape is over.

SMITH: Right now it feels like Sisyphus rolling the rock up the hill.

TRAFTON: We're hoping for mid-summer, to make a long story short.
   
Yes, let's make a long story short! To read the full version of this interview, which includes the band talking about their soured record deal, their upcoming festival, and working with Nile Rodgers, along with what the hell the "nipple covers and violent pornography" are all about, get the Aug./Sept. issue of Voyager. Order it here.
 

READ THE FIRST INTERVIEW with Jon Trafton about Reid Genauer's exit from the band HERE !

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