Flapjack-of-all-trades
Friday, May 18, 2001
WHO: Mary McBride and the Pancake Party Boys.
WHAT: Country-rock-roots.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
WHERE: Wetlands, 161 Hudson St., Manhattan, (212) 386-3600.
HOW MUCH: $12.
By TOM DUNPHY
Special to The Record
Aaron Maxwell -- ex-God Street Wine-o, current Pancake Party Boy -- isn't
given to nostalgia.
Maxwell spent 11 years with God Street Wine, the band from the Lower East
Side he helped found in the late Eighties. Like fellow jammers Phish and
the Dave Matthews Band, God Street Wine had a concert taping-friendly
policy and created a fervent, word-of-mouth fan base with its high-energy
shows and skilled musicianship. The group recorded several albums for
various labels that garnered critical acclaim but didn't make much money.
The band dissolved in late 1999 after 10 years together.
"It was time for it to end naturally," says Maxwell, who was born in
Englewood and raised in Ridgewood. "People were going in different
directions, getting married -- we couldn't put into it what we once
could."
Maxwell's now with Mary McBride and the Pancake Party Boys and is a
sideman in the downtown group the Coby Brown Band.
Born from a jam session at a recurring pancake-and-beer bash at a Lower
East Side bar, the band cultivates a country-rock-roots sound that's heavy
on McBride and Maxwell vocal duets.
"It's very soulful and bluesy," Maxwell says. "We want people to see we're
having fun with it, the way you could tell we were having fun with God
Street Wine."
The duo are writing original material and covering such chestnuts as Hank
Williams' "Tear in My Beer" and Neil Young's "Motorcycle Mama." The songs
are less jam-oriented than God Street Wine's, but the keenness for melody
is still there. Fans are welcome to tape a gig.
Maxwell and McBride are part of Thursday's "60-song Marathon Musical
Salute" to Bob Dylan at Wetlands in Manhattan. Maxwell will be teaming up
with ex-GSW mate Lo Faber for a song or two on the same stage God Street
Wine tramped all over.
"I can't think of an artist who hasn't been influenced by Bob Dylan,"
Maxwell says. "You know, some people love his voice, some people can't
stand it -- and I've felt both ways at times myself. But the lyrics always
ring true."