Bisco

What is the best thing that the University of Pennsylvania gave us? The answer is The Disco Biscuits. This particular jam band has dubbed their style "trance-fusion". This means that they infuse electronic elements into their rock and roll style, but not enough to call themselves electronic music. Disco Biscuit set-lists consist of mostly original songs which can be played inverted, unfinished, or "dyslexic". The Disco Biscuits (Bisco for short) break their songs up and bounce back and forth between each composition throughout the set, and sometimes even play sections of their songs backwards. These are called "inverted" or "dyslexic" versions. Lately, the band has even been experimenting with the hip-hop sound. They have been working with high profile Philadelphia producers like Don Cheegro and Dirty Harry, who recently wrote beats for Ludacris, Chris Brown, Beanie Sigel, and Fantasia. The Biscuits even started their own music festival in 1999, located in upstate New York. The festival was named Camp Bisco, and has since grown to be one of the largest yearly jam band festival in this country. The first installment of Camp Bisco featured artists like Snoop Dogg, Sound Tribe Sector Nine, Umphrey's McGee, and Thievery Corporation. Now, the festival features all these artists plus dozens of other bands, DJ's, and live entertainment. The band has also been involved in multiple large music festivals. Some examples include Rothbury, Jam on the River, Bonnaroo, All Good, Lollapalooza, Jam Cruise, 10,000 Lakes Festival, and Wakarusa to name a few. They also took part in the epic tour with Umphrey's McGee called the D.U.M.B. tour. This stands for Disco-Umphrey's-McGee-Biscuits, and I was fortunate enough to see firsthand the force of these two jam super groups together. The show was phenomenal. It was a combination of the driving "melt your face off" shredding of Umphrey's McGee, and the robotic, melodic style of the Disco Biscuits. Seeing the Disco Biscuits live is truly an experience. Their style is the perfect blend of rock and roll and electronic. Not too much rock, not too much electronic. The audience is always friendly and excited too. That is one of the best parts about going to see a jam band concert; the audience is always just as excited for the show as you are, and not one person in that audience has any reservation about expressing this joy with a stranger. All in all, the Disco Biscuits are another prime example of the jam band prowess. Great tunes, great people, great times!