Jam-rock band Grasshopper Pie will bring their “rock ‘n’ roots” sound to Columbus this weekend, performing at Little Brothers and Oldfield’s.
The original band members got their start as students at Bowling Green State University in 1995. Perfecting the original sound in a basement, which often flooded and froze, they soon became a fixture in the local music scene around Toledo.
After about three years of extensive playing, the band reached a turning point.
“There are hills and valleys in this whole journey, and I think we just kind of hit a plateau,” said Mike Switzer, vocalist and guitarist for the band. “Our original guitar player got to a point where he thought he was going in another direction, and he was getting kind of burnt out.”
At a career crossroads, Switzer thought that would be the end of the band. Fortunately, drummer John Horvath and bass player Warren Kile came to him with decided certainty that they wanted the band to continue.
The remaining members began the search for a replacement guitarist finally settling on Greg Lesinski, a member of an acoustic trio that had opened for the band a number of times.
“We already knew his personality and his dependability,” Switzer said. “He is just a yes-person. He’s got a great work ethic and a great attitude. He had a great energy that pumped up the whole band.”
“When Greg joined, it was really a breath of fresh air to the band,” Horvath said. “Good things started happening for us again.”
Rejuvenated musically and spiritually, the group regained their momentum and started performing in all major Ohio cities with stops in Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
In 2000, Grasshopper Pie released its first studio CD with “Gypsy Sky.” The album features 14 songs, 13 written by Switzer with one contributed by Lesinski.
“Greg hadn’t really been in our group long when we started writing the CD,” Switzer said. “Now, we include a lot of Greg’s songs in our live sets, and the next CD will be about half-written by Greg.”
“Gypsy Sky” is an excellent blend of the great classic rock of the 1960s and 1970s with instrumentation reminiscent of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Rocking instrumentation starts off the album on “Edisto” with emotions flickering to the hopeful in “Optimist” and the lyrically poignant lament on love of “Spin Around.”
The band came up with the term “rock ‘n’ roots” music to describe their sound. Their influences come mostly from rock’n’roll, but specifically from the roots of rock ‘n’ roll.
“I grew up on classic rock and that led me to the roots of classic rock, namely blues, old time country and bluegrass,” Switzer said. “I sort of stumbled into all of those styles and I’ve found them really rewarding to pick from each of these styles and come up with unique combinations of music.”
Switzer says the band shares a mentality and philosophy with Phish or the Dave Matthews Band, but he hates to classify Grasshopper Pie. Much in the same way, the band doesn’t identify with popular bands of today; they don’t actively search out record deals.
“We recognize it’s not really pop music that we’re doing and that bands like us aren’t really getting the multi-million dollar deals,” said Switzer. “The jam bands that are being successful are the ones that are touring hard and slowly but surely building an audience. That’s the route we’re taking.”
All the band members are focused on making good music and building a fan base, not finding their big break. They believe that hard work and longevity is what will finally pay off for them.
“I think any band that can stay together for several years has an edge on other bands,” Switzer said. “There is no substitute for time playing together and building chemistry. We’ve been together for so long and we know each other so well as people and as musicians.”
The band opens for Uncle Sam’s Dream Machine at 10 p.m. tonight at Little Brothers. Tomorrow, the band will split the night with Station beginning at 10 p.m. at Oldfield’s. Cover charge is $4. The album “Gypsy Sky” is available for $5 at www.grasshopperpie.com.
