What do the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers, Blues Traveler, and String Cheese Incident have to do with the University at Buffalo? At the moment, not too much, but these distinguished jam bands influenced a student group, and the style of music they produce is likely to be seen more and more around campus in the coming months.

Jam Club, which recently gained permanent status in the undergraduate Student Association (SA), is UB’s very own resource for jam fans. Dave Soscia, a sophomore biophysics major and co-founder of the club, saw the need for the group when he came to college and realized he had no place to play his drums. In response, Soscia designed a group where college students could come to meet people, jam with other musicians, and hopefully even create bands.

He didn’t expect it to grow so big, but with today’s 45 members, Soscia says the club “gives us a place to play freely and form bands.”

Ben Terry, a junior guitar player and treasurer of Jam Club, says he felt the same way when he decided to join. “There was a lack of clubs orientated toward music at UB,” says Terry, and Jam Club seemed to solve the problem for many student musicians. Like Soscia, Terry says it’s much easier to play in a designated space among people with the same interests, than it is to play in places like the dorms.

So what exactly is a jam band anyway? According to www.jambands.com, a traditional jam band is a group that shares a passion for improvisation and creating their own music, which tends to “cross genre boundaries, drawing from a range of traditions including blues, bluegrass, funk, jazz, rock, psychedelia and techno.”

This idea is precisely what UB’s Jam Club tries to follow. The club, which focuses strongly on improvisation, meets every Sunday for an open jam session. With keyboardists, bassists, drummers, guitarists, and even some hand drummers, the club welcomes a variety of talent. And there’s never a lack of variety in the type of music that is played. According to Soscia, the bands that have formed are in no way replicas of one another. Soscia describes his own band, Depot, as a mix of “rock, jamming, and a little funk,” but says that Jam Club includes heavy metal, jazz, and classic rock bands too.

The club was formed with the mere intention of finding a good place to jam, but it has led to many opportunities for its members. Opportunities they admit they probably never would have had otherwise.

One of the most exciting plans in the works for Jam Club is the chance for them to get their music out to their UB peers. Their current dream is an all day music festival, complete with a famous headliner, local bands, and even a beer tent. The festival would take an enormous amount of work and even more money, but it is a big way for Jam Club to get their music out to the public, and make more UB students aware of the club.

“We want it to be an all day festival, not just one concert like Fall Fest,” says Soscia. The festival, planned to take place sometime next fall, would feature a mix of local and Jam Club bands, and be partially sponsored by SA. There are also hopes, according to Soscia, to book Moe for the event.

Of course, to do this would be no easy feat. Moe is expected to cost between $15,000 and $20,000 to perform, and Jam Club has only raised $1,200 this year. The club is hoping to make the rest of the money for the event through more fundraising and sponsors. Although the task seems immense, Soscia’s willing to put in the hours.

“I will work my ass off to do it,” he says.

Another advantage of the club is that its members have been able to form bands unique to their style of music. According to Terry, about three or four bands have formed solely because of Jam Club. Many more students who are in the club but haven’t joined a band, are in it for fun and for the opportunity to jam when they want to. Plus, members receive discounts at Guitar Center—an obvious advantage for broke college students.

Gigs, which are often hard to come by for local and college-age bands, are more readily available to people who are involved in Jam Club. For example, some bands have been able to play at the Holiday Gala, and one band was asked to play at a retirement party for someone on the UB staff.

Most importantly, though, Soscia says Jam Club has given its members “the chance in general to organize events on campus. We would never be able to do that if we weren’t a club.” Along with the anticipated festival this coming fall, Jam Club is planning other events on campus, like an upcoming gig on March 25.

Jam Club will sponsor the March show with help from Just Plain Folks. The latter group, a nationwide music coalition, will provide lighting and equipment for the event. The free show will be held in the Ellicott Complex, and will be split between Perks and the Atrium.

With all the upcoming festivities, it is obvious that Jam Club is devoted to having a good time, and making sure that other UB students can enjoy their music with them. Although Soscia admits that plans are still in the making for future events, he guarantees that “it’s going to be incredible, that’s for sure.”

All students are welcome to get involved with Jam Club. Meetings are held in the Student Union Theater every Sunday at 1:30 p.m., or contact can be made by e-mailing the club at UBJamClub@hotmail.com.