Spooner

No sooner did Spooner come together than everyone clicked. Credit part of that to musical alchemy. This may be a new band, but everyone's experienced.

Take Jaremy Crouse, longtime leader of Frog Tree Gorge Band, who found himself writing songs with a different musical flavor that demanded another forum. Add in Ralph Reitinger, a super-talented young bassist who's studied with Mary Alice Brown, jammed in his own home with Bernard Allison, played with blues-rockers the Decibels, and still grooves with Latin-rock group Mambo.

Enter Rick Sadlier, who played guitar with the Shindig and has eclectic, adventurous musical tastes. Complete with Steve Barone, Crouse's longtime drummer with Frog Tree Gorge Band, and you've got Spooner.

"I had a lot of songs left over from Frog Tree that I really believed in and wanted to get out," Crouse said. "I think of this band as a musical anagram of something better than anything I could have imagined it being. We pretty much put the other band on hold, and this is my main project. I really believe in it. I think we have some phenomenal songs."

Those songs aren't regorged Frog Tree Gorge. They've got a stronger progressive element, freely mixing rock, funk, and groove.

"I don't know where the ideas come from, but they seem natural and they flow. The songs just come together easily," Crouse said.

"I haven't had any trouble finding my parts for the songs," added Sadlier..

"It's a good vibe," said Reitinger.

Sadlier describes their approach as post-modern.

"It's very fragmented in that musical styles will change very quickly. In one song, we might go into five or six difference places within the same groove," he said.

For now, the group mixes originals with an array of covers by such artists as Spin Doctors, Faith No More, Yes, and Dire Straits.


HOMETOWN
Erie.

BAND MEMBERS
Jaremy Crouse (vocals, guitar); Rick Sadlier (keyboards, back-up vocals); Ralph Reitinger (bass); Steve Barone (drums).

THE INSPIRATION
After deciding to start a new band, Crouse didn't look far for fellow musicians. "I was a couple years ahead of Ralph in high school and knew him from there," he said. "I had a friend who was friends with Rick, and I saw him in Shindig a few times, so that's how I met Rick. And the drummer was already the drummer for Frog Tree."

THE SOUND
"This band focuses more on the grooves," Crouse said. "We try to take the prog-rock feel of the 1970s — bands like Rush and Yes — and put our own modern twist on it. It's more focused on the songwriting, but we really try to get people moving."

WORST REJECTED BAND NAME
Playpen Pusher. "That wasn't going to work out well," Crouse understated. Spooner comes from 11 Spooner St., the address of the animated "Family Guy," one of Crouse's favorite shows.

WHAT'S IN YOUR CD PLAYER NOW?
Return to Forever, Poogie Bell (Reitinger). Faith No More's "Greatest Hits," Rolling Stones' "Sticky Fingers" (Crouse). NAS' "Street's Disciple" and Smashing Pumpkins' "Siamese Dream" (Sadlier).

BAND YOU'D MOST LIKE TO OPEN FOR
"I'd definitely like to see Yes get together. I think that music would go good with ours," Crouse said. Sadlier would opt for a Breakfast-Spooner bill, while Reitinger would love to play with the king of funk, George Clinton.

WEB SITE
Still to come.

CDS
Spooner will record Saturday's show at Forward Hall and release it later.