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Aqueous at Disc Jam (06/06/19)

June 17, 2019

June 6th the 9th annual Disc Jam kicked off in the bucolic surroundings of Stephentown, NY. Thursday had a decidedly Buffalo vibe seeing how, among 30+ bands and DJs,  Cypher’s electro rock stylings graced the tent stage and 716 jam stallions Aqueous headlined the night with two lengthy sets. Both sets featured a surprise cover with the Beatles “Strawberry Fields Forever” played for the first time in 142 shows and “The Hand That Feeds” by NIN being a debut, with plenty of jam staples in between, the second set opening “Random Company” being particularly hot, fans old and new happily made their way over to the late night stage. Grateful Dead inspired groove masters Circles Around the Sun had begun their set while the woods stage featured a silent disco into the wee hours of the morning. Aqueous   Cypher Day 1 – Disc Jam 2019

Aqueous

August 17, 2015

Aqueous is a successful Buffalo-born band and it’s hard to argue otherwise. Success, however, is such an imprecise concept these days. It can be boiled down to every individual musician having their own definition. Even then, it’s difficult to surmise that there’s ever one defining moment of success for anyone. That being said, if there is anything that Mike Gantzer, Dave Loss, Evan McPhaden, Ryan Nogle, and now Tom Vayo have been successful at as active musicians in one of Buffalo’s most beloved groove rock bands, it is this: viewing success as a ceaseless process and sowing carefully plotted seeds of progress along the way. If Buffalo is a toasty incubator for musical talent, the guys from Aqueous are the eggs everyone is rooting for to hatch next. The band has four full length studio releases and multiple tours under their belts, and can draw a steadfast crowd at every[...]

Umphrey’s McGee w/Aqueous at Canalside (8/6/15)

August 7, 2015

Back on April 29th, local groove lords Aqueous announced that they would be opening for one of their favorite bands, Umphrey’s McGee, at Canalside, igniting an interesting twitter exchange. Dan Murawski of Orchard Park, an apparent Aqueous backer, wasted no time in proclaiming the group would “blow Umphrey’s out of the water, so get there early.” The following day, Umphrey’s keyboard player and founding member Joel Cummins responded with the joking reply “Umphrey’s suuuuuuuuucks so bad.” Although Murawski’s comment may have been a bit inflated, there was some truth to what he said. For one, this was absolutely a show to arrive early to and second, there is an argument to be made that when considering the time allotted to each band, Aqueous did more with their hour than Umphrey’s did with their two and a half. Working with a shorter than usual slot time, the Buffalo band still managed[...]

Aqueous at Buffalo Iron Works (4/18/15)

April 19, 2015

Aqueous returned to Buffalo, the city they call home, for an energetic sold out crowd at Buffalo Iron Works last night. Last November, I made the mistake of telling guitarist Mike Gantzer that as far as “jam” bands go, I could really see Aqueous climbing to the top.  He said “Thanks man, but we’re not a “jam” band.  We’re a ‘Compositional Groove/Rock’ band and that’s the style we’re going for.”  After a few Heady Toppers at Burlington’s infamous Nectar’s, hearing this really threw me for a spin.  After a little time to  process what Mike said, it made perfect sense.  Regardless of how you might classify Aqueous, they fucking jammed hard last night, and the crowd reacted. The band heralded the night as “Aqueous does Cake” or as fans immediately coined “Cakequeous.”  With an opening set of exclusively originals, the band kicked off with “Underlyer” and “Complex Pt. 1.” The two juxtaposed[...]

A Time of Music, The Music of Time

June 17, 2014

As far as bands go, there are many comparisons you could hail in speaking between the two. They each frolic on the edge of rock, offering a heavy improvisational approach to their music that transcends the boundary of genre and gives a dynamic sense of adventure to their respective sounds. And just as moe. cut their teeth around the gritty Buffalo bar scene before breaking into regions far and wide, so too did Aqueous, albeit over a decade later. But around here the footprints still feel fresh, and time has a funny way of morphing conceptions, of turning prodigies into legends and making legends seem they always were. Though maybe that’s just my tendency towards romantic analogy when it comes to music. After all, I’m still young, and I can’t say that I was entirely present for either group’s ascension to their current music posts. To start, moe. came up[...]