Agents of Good Roots: their eclectic knowledge of music, their dedication to multi-dimensional sounds, and their inventive and entertaining live performances have captured the minds of fans across the nation. The Richmond, Virginia quartet has been blending jazz, pop, and funk to create a unique and distinct sound since 1995. But their story actually begins in January 1987, with an injury to front man Andrew Winn (vocals, guitar, keyboards).
At fourteen, while cruising down a ski slope, Andrew crashed into a lift stanchion in mid-air, crushing his larynx with his own fist on impact. "They pulled a Humpty Dumpty on me," he laughs, "and put me back together again." For three months after the accident, Andrew could not speak; however, he found a new voice in his guitar. His interest in guitar carried through to college where he studied music and classical guitar at James Madison University and Virginia Commonwealth University. It was during his 1991-1992 academic year at VCU that Winn's brother Gordon introduced Andrew to one of his fraternity brothers, University of Richmond History major, Brian Jones (vocals, percussion). Awed by each other's innate talent and musical taste, Brian and Andrew hit it off immediately. "Like everyone else the first thing I noticed was the voice. I asked his brother if he smoked unfiltered Camels," tells Brian. "Also apparent was his talent on guitar and knack for penning tunes that I thought were great."
The trio decided to play music together with Gordon singing lead vocals. Along with Andrew's childhood friend Stewart Myers (vocals, bass, moog) they played their first gig at an open-mic night at Kokapelli Café under the name River Jacks. The band went through a number of stages and names over the next year. First, they played for a brief time as Corn on My Cob, with Gordon and two friends Greg Woodford, and John Hubbard. Included in this stint was a show at Peasant's Café in Greenville NC where, Andrew says, "They hated us. I'm glad they really like us now, 'cause they hated us after that show." Gordon graduated in 1993, leaving the others to continue on their own. During this time, Andrew, Brian, and Stewart played a number of concerts around Richmond, including their first show as a trio. This gig at Moodance in Richmond's Shockoe Bottom District had just three songs in its setlist: Crossroads, Born Under a Bad Sign, and I Have A Window. They then played for a few shows a s Taxicat, and finally settled on the name Agents of Good Roots. They soon met up with Karl von Klein (sax) and began to assemble a more serious touring schedule.
After just a few months, Karl left the band to join another Virginia band, Fighting Gravity. He was replaced by a young saxophonist named Rick Reiger, whom Andrew knew from VCU. Reiger stayed with the band for almost a year and appeared on their eponymous demo tape before parting with the Agents in September 1995. At that point the line-up was filled as it now stands, with J.C. Kuhl taking Reiger's spot on sax. J.C. explains, "The sound they were producing was different from anything I had ever heard." He immediately dropped what he was doing in Baltimore and joined the Agents. "You see certain things and you can't pass them up it was such a great opportunity." J.C.'s belief that the band can "offer a fresh, new sound to the music industry and help progress popular music" reinvented the way the band approached its performances. The Agents gained confidence; and with it, a higher degree of professionalism. Says Brian, "J.C. took us to a new level."
Initially, the band focused on playing clubs and college campuses from New York to Atlanta. Performing over 200 shows a year, they have been able to successfully blend their diverse bodies of musical knowledge to form a focused, distinct and coherent sound unlike anything else on the today's music scene. Their unique mix of avant-garde jazz, fast rhythm changes, hard rock, and soft love ballads is only enhanced by their vocal blend. From Jones' uncontrolled screams, to Winn's raspy singing, to Myers' smooth, soulful harmonies, Agents of Good Roots offer one of the most complimentary mixes of vocalizations in contemporary rock music.
Since 1995, the band has released several albums and played to audiences nationwide. In the spring of 1996, Agents of Good Roots released their debut CD "Where'd You Get That Vibe?" which Winn identifies as "light, jazzy, and fun." Described by critics as "original and relentless," Where'd You Get That Vibe? is a concise representation of the band's excellent and eclectic musicianship. Andrew sums up the album as "a tight package of our sound focusing on the songs, with a suggestion of what goes on at our live shows." When they weren't in the studio, the band was constantly playing their music and on the road. "I have fond memories of this period," explains Jones, "mainly because we were in constant motion, musically and physically. We would go anywhere to play a gig and we were discussing our music all the time. We were hungry and raw."
Their follow-up CD, "Straightaround" (1997) displays the strength, maturation and diversity of Agents of Good Roots. In J.C.'s words, Strightaround is "the complete opposite of Vibe?. Raw as hell, moody, and dark it took a lot of chances. It's really where the band was at that point in time." Straightaround is a live recording from a series of weekly shows that the band played at Trax in Charlottesville VA and The Flood Zone in Richmond VA during September 1996.
In 1997, Agents hit the road nationally for the first time, then headed directly to the studio to record their 1998 RCA Records release, One By One. They took just 11 days off after the record was done, then hit the road again to promote it. Two of their singles received considerable attention as Come On reached #38 on Billboard Music's Modern Rock charts and Smiling Up the Frown went to #2 in its release format.
Since then, the band has continued to tour the country and, in October 1999, they released a live EP called Seed. Seed is an enhanced CD featuring four live tracks, a previously unreleased version of Smiling Up the Frown, and CD-ROM multimedia video clips of the Come On music video, as well as footage of the band recording their latest album. Jeff Peskin (Agents' Manager) describes the live tracks from Seed as, "having all the parts that make the band definitively different from any other band with the different vocalists, the classical guitar, and the through-composed solo in Sultans. If it were extrapolated out to a full length album, it would be the quintessential Agents album."
The Agents' latest studio album Needle and Thread, recorded throughout 1999 will soon be available in stores and online. Needle and Thread may offer the best recorded example to date of the Agents' unique sound, as it displays every bit of the live energy the band is known for, without falling prey to the overproduction and clichés of most pop albums. Says Stewart, "Needle and Thread sounds the most like us of anything we've recorded. It's like we finally figured out what we're trying to do and accomplished it."
After only five years, Agents of Good Roots is a young band with a long history. Where there was once a band uncertain of its future, anxious about its possibilities, there is now a determined, supremely talented quartet with some serious chops. As Brian describes, "Right now we are in a period that is indicative of our past experiences." Constantly evolving, Agents are returning to a heavier tour schedule They plan to play more festivals, and bring their music to as many people and places as possible. "At this point we have a lot of material and we have played together so much that we can really go with the flow on a gig," says Brian. "Hopefully there will be a period of rehearsal and then some extensive touring before 2000 is out."
