By: Tim Groves
A solitary figure is shrouded in smoke, head down with his sweaty hair covering his face as his fingers move ferociously across the neck of his guitar. In the background, all that is visible is the outline of a drum set, drumsticks flying every way as the thunderous rhythms dot the guitar riffs. Beneath the layered drum patterns and quick-fingered guitar play, is the thumping bass, bringing the song to life. The figures on stage seem lost in a trance. They seem hypnotized and emotionless, but in reality, they’re deep in concentration.
Gainesville’s psychedelic rock trio Ancient River consists of lead singer/guitarist Jamie (pronounced Hi-may) Barreto, drummer Chad Voight, and bassist Zach Veltheim. The three friends are all business on the stage, focusing solely on their music and performance at hand. It’s easy to get lost in their music, especially when the jams reach their chaotic peaks or fall into pools of ambient noise. However, once the show ends, the trio begins to look for the party. They are drawn by the wild nights, ridiculous stories, and overall good times of the rock n’ roll industry. They become apart of the crowd, a part of those wild tales that begin with “Dude, I can’t believe what happened last night.” It’s that sort of liberation that helps their exploratory music.
Their musical landscape draws listeners in with hot and heavy guitar work, dream like lyrics, crushing drums, and a smooth bass. Only a basic concept of their music can be ascertained from the recordings and Youtube clips available on the Internet. To truly understand what they are capable of is to experience a live show. Ancient River puts it all on the line during their performances. The staple of their shows is the prolonged sets of improvised music, melding together different influences from blues to jazz to psychedelia into a single song.
“That’s the real moment when you get to see musicians playing, yout know, on the spot. That’s when you see them create what you listen to on record and you are hearing them create it right in front of you,” Voight says while lounging in the group’s studio/home.
Voight and the crew take great pride in the music they have created over the years, and there’s lots of it. Ancient River has a catalog of dozens of songs that owe their inspiration to Black Sabbath, Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd.
“We have loud stuff, quiet stuff, fast stuff, slow stuff, long stuff. It’s one of our strengths,” argues lead singer Barreto.
Check Ancient River out at Durty Nelly’s in Gainesville.
Barreto and Voight at Austin Texas' Psych Fest.
Their shows have turned many fans, but none more important than a man who was absolutely floored after witnessing a live performance. After being blown away he agreed to help finance a full-length album, currently titled “Shiny Things” set for release in the spring. Their ability to put on a show has also led to interviews with online sites such as Break Through Radio and tour dates as far out as Austin, Texas for Austin’s Psych Fest 3 this past summer. However the band is also trying to reach fans face to face.
Ancient River DJs at LUX on Saturday nights, which gives them an opportunity to socialize, network, drink and spin a lot of fantastic vinyl.
“When we are at a show it’s hard to talk to people, it’s our chance to socialize with the fans,” Barreto said.
Unfortunately, Ancient River still has their share of problems when it comes to promotion. Living in Gainesville has presented unique challenges to the group. Unlike most major cities, Gainesville is and always will be a college town.
While a college town brings tons of new fans to the band each year, that same benefit can be a horrible curse. “We have already had people like become fans, come to shows, start bringing their friends to shows and then move away,” Baretto lamented during the interview. “It’s a transient town.”
The problem is compounded by their chosen genre of music. No one else in the Gainesville music scene is trying to compete for the psychedelic blues fan base, but psychedelic blues is an extremely niche genre. You won’t find a section for it at the local Target or Best Buy music sections, and you won’t find any radio stations dedicated to playing it 24/7. It can be loud, noisy and sometimes inaccessible. Although the basis of the genre is groove oriented, some people can’t look past the wilder side.
They hope that their live shows make the fans keep tuning in.
Jeff Lancaster, Ancient River's manager.
“They like to cut loose at live shows,” their newly minted manager Jeff Lancaster responded. “It’s a chance to get really, really loud with their equipment, and they have really nice loud equipment.” Ancient River is also constantly evolving, constantly tinkering with some aspect of their performance. “You won’t see the same song, the same set list, or the same performance of a song, you will hear new songs because we are a prolific band,” asserted Voight. “We usually present a song or two every time we play.”
They are beginning to put their enormous backlog of songs into physical music releases. Outside of the album Shiny Things, the band just sent off a two year, self-released anthology to be mastered. They hope to get it in the hands of their listeners soon, hopefully by the end of November. “Before the kids leave,” responded Lancaster. “Yeah then they all have something to give out as presents,” added Veltheim as the rest of the members chuckled along. They are also planning another self-released full-length album following the release of Shiny Things.
“We are always gonna wanna do what we want to do and what we like to do. It’s just fun to play music.”
Check out Ancient River at www.facebook.com/ancientrivermusic
