How does the Jersey Shore jam
band scene you now are a big
part of compare to that old Hub
City scene and what made you
want to gravitate to it?
We gravitated to the Shore and
The Stone Pony in particular be-
cause when we were coming up,
legends like Johnny Winter, Levon
Helm and Dickey Betts were play-
ing Asbury Park, and we wanted to
get heard by them. We ended up
opening for all of those guys and a
bunch more.
The Jersey Shore jam band scene
right now is hyper-focused on trib-
ute music. It is a very nice thing
that the music is being played
but creates problems for origi-
nal acts. The Jersey Shore sound
has always been a throwback to
soul music and Motown. It makes
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sense. The bands in the bars dur-
ing summertime had to entertain
the tourists and party folks. The
same phenomenon is happening
inside the jam scene as well. Tal-
ent buyers want to keep their job,
which is totally understandable,
and the safest thing to do is to
book cover bands that put butts
in the seats and rings on the regis-
ter. I don’t blame them at all, but it
creates a backlash against new lo-
cal music and prevents new awe-
some original bands from even
gaining traction.
Jerry Garcia said the Dead were
like licorice, you either loved it
or hated it. Unfortunately, some
people live on a licorice-only diet
and are hesitant to give new music
a try. I’d frankly like Secret Sound
to be considered more than a jam
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