Features

"Stout Hearted": Reid Genauer’s Return to Strangefolk

After 11 ½ years, tonight is finally the night. The original Strangefolk quartet will take the stage once again, as the group opens a four show tour at Brooklyn Bowl. The group began in 1991 at the University of Vermont where fellow students Reid Genauer and Jon Trafton first performed together on a patch of grass outside their dorms. A bit later they enlisted Luke Smith on drums and Erik Glockler on bass to form a band that blended songwriting chops with an improvisational spirit. Over the course of the ensuing decade, Strangefolk built a fervid fanbase, created the vibrant Garden of Eden festival and signed a record deal with Mammoth. Then, during the summer of 2000, Genauer announced he would be leaving the band to pursue a graduate degree at Cornell University. Some feelings were hurt and frustration ensued.

Trafton, Glockler and Smith soon recruited a new Strangefolk lineup (Smith would depart in late 2003), while Genauer eventually resurfaced after graduation with a new group he dubbed Assembly of Dust. Trafton and Genauer then embarked on parallel journeys even as many of their fans held out hope that their paths might intersect once again. Such faith was rewarded this past January when the reunion gigs were announced, facilitated by the earnest entreaty of a longtime band booster, club owner Peter Shapiro (Brooklyn Bowl, Capitol Theatre, Wetlands Preserve).

In the following conversation Genauer looks back on Strangefolk’s history, shares what the reunion means to him and discusses some classic songs that appear on the group’s new archival release, Live at The Capitol Theatre, 12/27/98.

For another perspective on these events, check out the interview with Jon Trafton on Jambands.com.

So this all was put in motion through an invitation from Peter Shapiro for the original Strangefolk to appear at the Capitol Theatre when he re-opens the club later this year. Can you talk a bit about that conversation?

Well from Pete’s perspective, I’d imagine he was thinking, “Hey, I’m going to reopen the Capitol and it wouldn’t it be great to see my old friends on stage together? Wouldn’t the combination of these things be fun?” Pete’s got a lot of emotional equity in Strangefolk. We played Wetlands many, many times and we spent a lot of time just getting to know each other. It’s a great thing when the people you work with have emotional connections, so he is definitely emotionally invested in seeing this happen. And in the absence of anybody else taking the helm, he got everybody on the phone and said, “Pick up your toys and let’s play.” (laughs)

There were a couple conversations but the one that inked the deal, so to speak, was when he more or less gave us a rock and roll sermon that lasted all of 35 seconds, concluded that he was right and then hung up on all of us (laughs). We were left on the phone trying to figure out what was agreed upon. It was comedic.

What people might not realize is that Peter made the trek from NYC up to Vermont to see Strangefolk a number of times, including some Eden appearances. He just really enjoyed his Strangefolk.

He did. He was a big part of it. He was our Bill Graham or our Ken Kesey or some odd combination of both.

In his honor, you’ve released a live show that the four of you performed at the Cap on December 27, 1998. What are your memories of that night?

I remember being exceptionally proud to be playing that show because I saw a couple shows there as a kid and I knew the history of the room. It was a marker of legitimacy.

Also, my parents were there. I remember my dad watching the crowd “undulating,” as he called it. I also remember him shaking my shoulders and saying “This is a phenomenon!” (laughs). I don’t think he’d seen it at that scale.

Ken Hays put on the show and he was a friend and supporter and still is, so there was an intimacy there. There was set design, it was an event.