About a month ago I had a chance to talk to Keller Williams via phone about his new album, this summer’s tour, his new bandmates, Bob Weir, the future, and everything in between. I believe he was walking around in the woods at the time as you’ll see in his first response. Throughout I’ve thrown in some pictures from his recent Urbana show at The Canopy Club on 04/25/2007. Check it out:

Kane Jamison: You’ve always been solo, other than some Keller Williams Incident shows, Keller and the Keels, the new album, Dream, and now the WMD’S tour. I was wondering what sparked the transition towards working with the full band more often.

Keller Williams: Well first and foremost it is definitely not a tour, we are just doing…. Whoa! There’s a snake… hello!… Uhhh… oh my god that’s a big snake right there, hang on just a second….

Ok… I’m just going to walk over here… Let’s see, we are just doing four festivals, four weekends in a row, that’s what we have right now. There is a possibility that one day there will be a tour, but as of right now we are just kind of playing it slow and playing it easy. I’m definitely excited about these festivals though. It’s kind of… I’ve always wanted to do the band projects, and a long long time ago there wasn’t really anything in the budget for it, you know? I just wasn’t able to afford it, the money wasn’t there, and it just wasn’t feasible to do it, and then all of a sudden, it just started to work as a solo act. And now I can afford it, and I’m really excited about it. It’s not going to be anything different, it’s not going to be a new sound, I’m not venturing out to look for something completely new, it’s going to be a lot of the similar songs, and it’s just going to be new life breathed into those familiar songs. It’s still going to be me, people are still going to see a Keller Williams show, it’s just going to have that new life breathed into it.

Kane: Alright, you said you were excited about the upcoming festivals. I personally am a Summer Camp fan being from Central Illinois. You’ve been a staple there in recent years, why that particular festival?

Keller: Simply because I get invited. There’s so many festivals that want to change it up so much and have acts every now and then, but I think it’s really great to be able to play a festival and go back there every year and see how it progresses and see the same folks. You know, it’s them that invite me, and I’m really grateful that they do.

(more…)

More downloads below, full download listing here.

New Archive.org downloads as of 4pm 06/02:

moe. - 05/27 A

New bt.etree.org torrents as of 4pm 06/02: 

Toubab Krewe - 05/26
MMW - 05/27
Pnuma Trio - 05/26

After setting up camp and a little sprinkle on Thursday night, and then checking out some music at the Sunshine Stage, I closed the night out with Future Rock on the camping stage. If you’re the type to listen to Disco Biscuits, Sound Tribe Sector 9, !!!, or whoever else, this will whet your appetite for certain.  I recommend starting with an amazing opener, “Da Funk.”  “Airplane Traintracks” has a very solid jam after a cool Pink Floyd sampled intro.  “Die Junge Ein” has some great drumming at the start and jams through into “Gears,” which has a happier and majestic techno vibe to it.  “FM 1″ was a funky track off of their upcoming album.  “Torture” is an all around good song that was featured here a couple weeks ago in the Summer Camp Artist Series.  “Zipper Front” sadly ended early due to a power outage, but the band managed to pull it back into a drum solo to close the night.  Definitely a great set by the band, they’ve got me hooked.

Future Rock
May 24th, 2007
Summer Camp 2007
Camping Stage 9:30pm
Files via Archive.org
Taper: Matt Nicgorski

1) Crowd Noise
2) Da Funk
3) Pulsewidth
4) Airplane Traintracks %
5) Die Junge Ein
6) Gears
7) FM1
8) Torture
9) Broken Glass
10) Zipper Front*
11) Drum Solo / Crowd (After Power Failure)

% Pink Floyd sample for intro
* Power Failure

Two quick updates which quite a lot of people want their hands on:

From Archive.org:

moe. - Friday 05/25 A
Umphrey’s McGee - Friday 05/25 A

That UM set had every one of their fans falling over the next two days and babbling about it. If you like, Umphrey’s, this should get you going. I on the other hand really enjoyed the moe. set, which featured a “Rebubula” sandwich with a “Spine Of A Dog” encore. For those that don’t know, a “boob sandwich” starts off the set or show with Rebubula and end with it, too.

Full Summer Camp 2007 download list available here.

More downloads below, full download listing here.

New Archive.org downloads as of 11:30pm 05/30:

Assembly of Dust - Sunshine Stage 05/25 A
Brothers Past - 05/27 A
Future Rock - 05/24 A

New bt.etree.org torrents as of 11:30pm 05/30: 

ALO - 05/25 A
Galactic - 05/27 A
MMW - Day Show 05/27 B
MMW - Day Show 05/27 C
Tag Team - Late Night 05/25 A