Blogs > Indie Outing (the secret jambands roots of indie rockers)

Indie Outing: Dead Confederate

Indie-Jam Connection: Many fans of jamband music first heard of Dead Confederate when the Athens, GA rock band opened Widespread Panic a few years ago (the two groups share a booking agent). Panic bassist Dave Schools championed the young band in the press and Dead Confederate scored spots on festivals that ranged from Bonnaroo to Telluride Blues & Brews and Wanee (in addition to several Panic-related multi-band bills). But the band’s jam roots go far deeper: in college, the members of Dead Confederate played in a variety of groovy jambands and attended numerous Phish and Panic shows. Even in its early days, Dead Confederate played unabashed jamband music. But, after graduating college, every changed, according to Dead Confederate’s Hardy Morris: “Our band dabbled in jam stuff for a while, but there was this huge shift when college ended, and we moved to this big concrete city. Your friends are gone, and you are forced to decide if you want to play music for a living or get a job in some shitty city. Some of that carefree spirit and desire to show off your chops kind of went away—and with reality came heavy songs.”

Notable Jamband Moments: Though Dead Confederate’s current sound owes more to Nirvana’s grungy rock and Neil Young’s feedback heavy Crazy Horse period, the band hasn’t shied away from its jamband past completely. This past October, the members of Dead Confederate brought out both DJ Logic and Drivin’ ‘N’ Cryin’ singer Kevn Kinney during a show at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg. Dead Confederate bassist Brantley Senn—the band’s most outspoken jamband fan—met Logic at Warren Haynes’ Christmas Jam a few years ago and the musicians struck up a friendship.

Lot Talk: “I went to see a bunch of Widespread Panic shows with my brother, who is our manager now, and some of the guys in our band were really into Phish. But, as opposed to the other our jambands, I was drawn to the dark side of Widespread Panic—they would do things like cover Vic Chesnutt. I always knew Dave Schools was a rock guy deep down,” Hardy Morris, Dead Confederate