Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 31, 1992 TAG: 9201300039
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JOE TENNIS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
PLAYING ROCK 1ST CHOICE FOR DOCTOR OF BIOCHEMISTRY
Steve Greene has a nugget not usually found on the resume of a rhythm guitarist and vocalist for a rock band: a doctorate in nutrition and biochemistry.But Greene, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University, has little interest in using his degree, outside of some occasional consulting work.
He would rather jam with his rock band, Solar Circus.
"I make a lot more money doing [consulting] than playing for the most part, but it's not as exciting as playing music," he said.
As a consultant, Greene, 31, works with research-oriented groups. As a musician, he works his wife, vocalist Susan Cohen Greene; guitarist Mark Diomede; bassist Ken Kruise; drummer Brad Hall; and keyboardist Bruce Wigdor.
Solar Circus will play at 10:30 p.m. Thursday at the South Main Cafe in Blacksburg. Cover is $3 (over 21) and $4 (under 21).
The 6-year-old band regularly packs bars from Massachusetts to South Carolina with what fans call its "cosmic dance music." Folks up north know the New Brunswick, N.J.-based band as a regular Tuesday night act at The Chatterbox in Seaside, N.J.
"People have this preconception that we're a bunch of hippies running around playing Grateful Dead music," Greene said.
But, then again, maybe they are. Critics have said the band is taking the Grateful Dead's sound a few steps further. And club owners often bill the band as a Grateful Dead-style group for promotional purposes, Greene said.
"We're so-called Bay rock. It's basically dance music, but it's not the same as Glenn Miller. Our music is psychedelic, improvisational - a lot like the Grateful Dead."
Mainly the band focuses on reggae, blues and jazz-influenced original material; usually 15 tunes out of any given 20-song set are theirs. Some of their most popular songs include "Fortune Teller," "Path To Your Heart" and "Festival."
"It's not so much what we're playing, it's the energy and the rhythm that's easy for people to relate," Greene said. "Most people see us as instrumentally jamming kind of music."
Still, expect to hear some Grateful Dead music at a Solar Circus show.
"You're gonna get people who show up and all they want to hear is `Truckin.' But there are people who show up to hear original songs, so there are both ends of it," Greene said.
"We're basically entertainers, so we're there for people in the bar or wedding to enjoy themselves. The common medium is the music. Fundamentally that's all we have to show to people."
Like the Dead, Solar Circus gets a small share of tag-along fans tracing its trail. "You get people who have seen you 150 times," Greene said.
"It's the same song every night. . . . A lot of fans are curious just to see the band at other venues. . . . But I don't see it as extreme as people who will take three weeks off their job" to follow the band around the country, he said.
The Relix Recording artists always strive to keep their notes finely tuned when performing covers. "Music is kind of like football. You can't get by with gimmicks. People know the songs you're playing," Greene said.
This March the band plans to release a new live LP, "Twilight Dance."
"You're getting it like it is" on this record, Greene assures.
No overdubs were used. "It's the real McCoy. . . . And I think that's what people have definitely asked for."