Goodfoot will start your day off right, and if you are tired of playing "Isn't She Lovely" by Stevie Wonder to commemorate your daughter's birth, try Beautiful Baby. Absolutely beautiful and rocking song. I don't give 5 stars lightly. I can always find something to criticize. You know how you sit around listening to the classic rock of the 60’s and 70’s for the 30,000th time and you still enjoy it thoroughly and you end up asking yourself “Why don’t they make music like that anymore?” I always wondered why the quality of music back then seemed to have eternal staying power, not just this flash in the pan stuff that gets released so much these days. Well if you are looking for that band, the one that is new but you can still see yourself listening to it in 40 years and asking yourself “Why don’t they make music like this anymore?” then look no further. Waterband is that band. Imagine the influences and styles of everyone great, from Pink Floyd to Led Zeppelin, to the Grateful Dead, to Frank Zappa, to The Rolling Stones, to The Who, to whoever… Now imagine that talent, that musical staying power, that total feeling of I AM ABOUT TO JAM OUT!!! and picture it all rolled up into one new band that just seems to GET IT. That is Waterband. The only thing I do not like about them is that I cannot get all of their music on cd yet! Some of the songs they play in concert are fantastic but not available yet. Get back in the studio guys. I need more! This is the kind of band that makes me wish I was a millionaire so I could start a record company and sign them. They need to be heard by the world.
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#3 Of 2003 Waterband "Good"
I love Waterband. They just seem to shine with positive energy in every way. The music they make always seems to effect me in very personal ways. Their music has gotten me through some tough times. Their music can be very soothing and calming at times. Other times it's amusing and other times it just rocks your face off. The members of this band are very real and genuine people. I think everyone needs to experience the music of Waterband. It's good for your soul.
Do yourself a favor and check out Waterband.
Peace & Love, Bill-
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Hey, we all have a little hippie left in us, or at least we should: peace, love, personal integrity, respecting the earth, rejoicing in the simple pleasures make up an ethos that has come to be the object of knowing smirks in many quarters, but one, when actually lived rather than just invoked, is worthy of admiration and respect.

Such is the case with Dave McDougald, from Waterband, an amazing and disciplined bass player and trained musician, who also happens to be my son's bass teacher. He's got some mighty impressive dreadlocks as well - very hemp.

None of this necessarily has much to do with the quality of the Waterband, which I was somewhat leery to check out because I HATE it when people I like put out something that I can't endorse with an open heart.

I am deeply relieved and appreciative to say that the Waterband is excellent, inventive pop-leaning jam band music that is rhythmically vibrant, melodically memorable and good for the soul. I love their new 18-track CD, Good, with Dave on bass and vocals, Rick Phillips on a very tasty guitar and vocals, and John Smith on deeply groovy percussion and vocals.

The songs on Good range through what they call a tour through "folkedelicfunkpop - acoustic Americana, vibey world music rhythms, neo-soul, funky rock, reggae, jazzy improvs, all done with sharp musicianship, a sincere and sunny psychedelic ethos, and an firm grasp on something many jam bands miss: songs.

By way of true perspective on this - because I love all kinds of music - my son, who at this point in his teenage life tends toward assaultive music like aggro, nu-metal, post-grunge, and punk, listens to the Waterband all the time, and especially appreciates the rhythmic groove and the funky-fresh basslines Dave lays down. He and his friend, a girl his age who is into goth and punk, went to the release party for Good at the Matchhouse in Twinsburg and I couldn't tear them away from the wild sweating monkey dance show when I came to pick them up (I was babysitting the little one that night, alas).

Check out Waterband on the "We Salute You CD". The band's song "Live The Words" has been chosen for the compilation, produced by Jam Suites and Cleveland Musicians to benefit the U.S. Troops and Northeast Ohio's U.S.O.

And, they're patriotic too.

Check them out - as Dave says: peace, and have a groovy day!
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Grab the ole tye-dye and don't look back! Take a trip down the river of "folkedelicfunkpop" with Waterband's debut CD release Good. Their 18 tracks of groovy multi-genre is music for your soul. Your "Dead dance" gyrations will evolve into the "Waterband dance". Just go with the flow honey and smile. Waterband is comprised of accomplished musicians who obviously had fun producing Good. It's no wonder they are received so well at their shows! Their lyrics are laid back, thought provoking, humorous, but always positive and the use of synthesizer, voicings, harmonica, sax, and flute enhance their guitar, bass and drum arrangements suggesting these guys are just getting started. Definitely be on the lookout for future recordings! A breath of fresh air for your collection, Good is a debut worth a listen.
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