Is LaMP jazz? Funk? Rock? This fusion of drums, Hammond organ, and electric guitar may be difficult to define, but the jammy supergroup left no uncertainty in anyone’s mind at their appearances in Petaluma and Berkeley on Thursday and Friday evenings, respectively. Asses were kicked, names were taken, fun was had.
LaMP describes itself as (among other things) “a cooperative trio.” Drummer Russ Lawton and organist Ray Paczkowski are both members of Trey Anastasio Band, the ostensible side project of the Phish frontman. Scott Metzger is perhaps best known as one of the two guitarists in Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, but his credits also include collaborations with Phil Lesh, John Scofield, John Mayer, Warren Haynes and many others. Put these three together, and the “cooperative” result is a lively, loud, and lovely sonic experience.
The Mystic Theatre was at best half full, but a larger crowd turned out for the show in Berkeley. The dance floors both nights were all a’groove with ardent Bay Area Phish and JRAD fans during two hour-long sets of high-energy instrumental illness.
LaMP traces its origins to a performance in Burlington VT in 2018. The trio’s website cites the “alchemical synthesis” that emerged that night as the inspiration for the numerous recording sessions and tours that followed. In keeping with the “cooperative” spirit, they use the letters of their last names to create their unified moniker. (The band logo appears to combine rough visual approximations of a bass drum, a guitar bridge and pickup, and a trio of organ keys represented in the letters of the band members’ names.)
Like any power trio worth its salt, each member of LaMP wields an equally powerful demon-slaying secret weapon. Metzger’s guitar blisters and bleeds with elements of blues, classic rock, and hints of jazzy prog. His melodies and leads are inspired and intense, often taking unexpected, intriguing, and frequently shred’tastical turns. The liveliness of the music animates him more physically than what we typically see at a JRAD show – he often bends and shakes with instrumental emotion.
Paczkowski’s Hammond literally (in my unenhanced mind at least) also shakes – and it rattles and rolls too – with the vibrancy of Leslie amp tremolo. The back of his organ is wide open, wires and tubes and monstrous chords reminiscent of something in Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory. It’s easy to imagine there’s smoke rising from the beast. His other keyboards, a Hohner Clavinet and a Wurlitzer electric piano, are well-worn relics Paczkowski attacks and caresses fiercely. Paczkowski does double duty in LaMP, laying down the bass lines with his left hand while funking it up with the right.
Lawton, whose drum kit sits right up front on stage right, takes the lead just as often as his alchemical cooperators. The cat is always doing something worth paying attention to, even if the melodic instrumentalists are in the forefront of the exploratory meanderings. When the jams descend into cellars of fermented madness (as they frequently do), Lawton is all over the floor with polyrhythmic mops.
And by the way — this shit is loud! The musicians in LaMP don’t hold back on performance nor volume. They also seem to be having a really good time. A high-octane, fuel-injected, diesel-powered good time. You can practically smell the burning rubber as they careen around the soundtrack.
To be honest, I couldn’t name a single song, even though I’ve played their 2020 eponymous record and 2025’s One of Us several times. I did catch snatches of Metzger playing Jimi Hendrix’s “Third Stone from The Sun” and Led Zeppelin’s “Heartbreaker” at times, and there was at least one verse toward the end of the second set on Thursday that invoked “This Land Is Your Land.” But for the most part, the two sets each evening were comprised of original compositions that were well-crafted and laced with tangles of tantalizing musicianship.
Whatever you call this stuff, it’s gritty and yummy and leaves a good taste in your mouth. Try a bite, you won’t regret it.
