Pale Green Stars will play at 10 p.m. Dec. 7 at the Bullfrog Brewery, 229 W. Fourth St. The Syracuse, N.Y.-based band traces its roots to the late 1990s. This tour promotes their 1999 album "Let's Trade Prescriptions," even as the recently reconstituted group works out new material on stage and hones its rootsy, hard-swinging sound.
Jeff Tripoli joined Pale Green Stars this summer, and the drummer and vocalist also promotes and makes bookings for the group.
JOSH BROKAW: Your band has a long history. Who is in the incarnation of Pale Green Stars that's touring right now?
Article Photos
PHOTO PROVIDED
Pale Green Stars will play at 10 p.m. Dec. 7 at the Bullfrog Brewery, 229 W. Fourth St. For more information about the band, visit www.facebook.com/palegreenstar or www.reverbnation.com/palegreen stars.
JEFF TRIPOLI: There's Jeff (Jones) Beck on guitar and vocals, Shawn Sullivan on guitar, Brian Coyne on bass and Dave Solazzo on keys, and then myself. I've only been with them two and a half months, but everyone's out of Syracuse.
JB: How did you get involved with Pale Green Stars?
JT: The band's gone through many changes - they recently had other drummers and other bass players. Sometimes it's tough to find the right group of guys that allow you to get the job done. Jeff Jones is the leader, so he hired me. I'd known Jeff for quite a while, but I've never played with him. I had just moved back to Syracuse from Ithaca - I had been living there for about five years, and when I moved back, I needed a band to play with. Luckily Jeff found me.
JB: What work are you promoting on this tour?
JT: A few days ago, we just recorded about 20 songs. I'm not sure if it'll be out by Dec. 7th, but we want to put it out as soon as possible. Some music will be off the album that we're promoting from 1999, it's called "Let's Trade Prescriptions," so some songs are from that album and some are from the recently started album.
JB: Is there a name for the new album?
JT: We don't have a name, actually. If you have any suggestions, I guess put them on our Facebook or email them. We did all the work on the album at a studio called Moletrax, producing the tracks with Jeff Moleki, who's basically an all-around awesome sound engineer who has worked with artists like Billy Corgan, Courtney Love and Motorhead. I just wanted to give him a shout out: he's our right-hand man when it comes to recording.
JB: How does the new material reflect where the band's sound is at now?
JT: It's hard to describe what we do, but it's a sort of American rock 'n' roll blues swing. Jeff (Jones) wanted something more representative of what we're doing now, because we're kicking (it). I'm coming from a band in Ithaca that played zydeco music - so, I'm very much interested in the Americana music scene and I was very fortunate to find this band, or have them find me.
JB: What other sort of experience do you bring to the band, Jeff?
JT: When you're a drummer - when you make music your professional business - you have got to go out and play with as many bands as you can just to cover the expense of living. It's interesting to see how many different projects and how many different styles that I can play. I've played a lot of funk and soul and R&B and blues, even a little bit of jazz. I've played with groups like Big Leg Emma, Blue Sky Mission Club, Big Booty Institute [and] with Jamie Notarthomas.
JB: How far does Pale Green Stars tour from Syracuse?
JT: Jeff (Jones) and I do a lot of booking together and we're focusing a lot on the club scene on the big cities on the East Coast. Because we're so new, I'm still trying to find other bands we can possibly tour with. The day after we're in Williamsport, we'll be at the Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem. We want to keep ourselves busy and playing all the time.
JB: Anything you want to say about Williamsport?
JT: I've always liked to play there. One of my favorite drummers personally is Steve Mitchell - he plays the Sunday brunches at the Bullfrog, and he's great, it's always good to see him play.
