Quickly expanding on their skyrocketing success, LaMP’s latest release One of Us exemplifies the synchronicity sparked by the musical collision of Russ Lawton, Ray Paczkowski, and Scott Metzger. The second studio album from the instrumental trio further colors the multi genre canvas they’ve been painting on since forming after a one off gig at Nectar’s in 2018.
Lawton’s mesmerizing drum grooves opens tons of space for Metzger’s guitar and Paczkowski’s Hammond b3 Organ/keys to crank out fiery jazz, rock, funk, and psychedelic leads from note one to the end of the ten song adventure. The band keeps the unique style and pace from their self titled 2020 debut LaMP and 2024’s Live at Nectar’s. This time around, they cover new territory with the Aerosmith sounding Nice Girl (Walks Loud) or a trippy Circles Around the Sun flavored River Jordan. Album closer Clipse-O springboards LaMP’s sound down sun drenched tropical roads.
The sparks created when Metzger’s virtuous guitar playing crashed head on with Lawton and Paczkowski’s instrumental duo Soule Monde that December 2018 night at Nectar’s were too bright to be ignored. When the electricity subsided, a Frankenstein melded beast had been created. The full sound Russ and Ray were creating in Soule Monde exploded with Metzger’s multi style, chasm creating input.
The positive fan response to LaMP’s early sound and output was instant. The trio quickly put together seven songs and hit the studio for 2020’s debut release. After waiting out Covid, they hit the road leaving growing audiences captivated to the point they released the double album Live at Nectar’s. Perfectly capturing the nightly chasm filling madness the band was creating.
One of Us is certain to deepen the cannonball splash LaMP has quickly made into the indie/jam band scene. The glowing feedback and unsolicited word of mouth from the band’s ‘24 Midwest run reverberated coast to coast. Friends telling friends and strangers telling strangers the trio was not to be missed.
Slide&Banjo sat down with Paczkowski to cover everything from the rise of the band to the recording of One of Us. He begins by sharing the band’s gratitude and excitement over expanding their musical and fan bases. “It’s been amazing. All three of us have been in creative bands our whole lives trying to get over somehow with our music. It’s been a long time coming. It’s heartening and I’m really grateful. When something clicks, you just know it immediately.” Paczkowski notes. “Whatever someone does on stage musically is what someone else was already thinking about. I don’t know how to explain it. Scott fit in perfectly with what Russ and I had been doing or else Russ and I fit in perfectly with what he was doing. It’s the chicken and egg kind of thing.”
With Lawton and Paczkowski based in Vermont and Metzger in Brooklyn, the always busy trio used technology to bring the tracks on One of Us to life. “The first album we all came in with some ideas. This album was way more sharing.” Paczkowski recalls. “We started passing files around of ideas, rhythms and melodies. All the songs started with a beat from Russ. Then Scott would take a swat at it. Then I would. Just throwing stuff out there. We got together a month before we did the studio recording and just played for two days. I still have that recording and love it. The songs changed instantly and became something else. When we got to the studio, they were still blank slates. Even though we had been playing a couple of them live.”
While the March rehearsals began to solidify several of the tracks on the album, the band hit the recording studio open to change. “There was no this is what we’re going to do moment. We knew where the music could go after playing it for the past year. We’d work on stuff during soundchecks. Try certain things. The three of us now have a language. We just tried to put that in the recording. There are some overdubs we did. Some of the songs are more intricate and we’d try some studio tricks kind of things. The core is what we do live. Get a feel and vibe that is exciting and moves us individually and as a whole.”
Album opener Cosmo is the perfect choice as the band graciously gives the listener a thirty second laid back intro before cranking into full throttle LaMP the rest of the way. For Paczkowski, it’s a clear example of the band’s innate ability to construct and reconstruct a song until it reaches its final form. “This is a songwriter’s band. Anyone with a good idea, the others are please let’s do that. When we got the masters back Cosmo was kind of long compared to some of the other pieces. It showcased the whole idea of what we we’re doing. It started out as a tune Russ and I were working on. Then I showed it to Scott who said, ‘I love it’ and came up with these ideas until it ultimately became what it is. I just love the tune. The groove is right in Russ’s wheelhouse.”
Nice Girl (Walks Loud) showcases LaMP’s ability to build new levels of sound with a Lawton drum beat and Metzger guitar tone that instantly elicits visions of Aerosmith. As the trio tees off from different angles, it’s obvious they’re scratching the surface on the multiple avenues their tunes can travel. “That song started out like a Morphine inspired song. There was nothing to it except that little progression. There’s no melody or anything. It just got stuck in my head and Russ’s too. When we were in the studio, there was some head scratching. We weren’t sure what it was going to be. Eventually, it became what you hear. We played it live recently and it’s already changing. It will become whatever it is as a live song.”
With no bass player, the duties to paint the low end fall on Paczkowski. His left hand is more like a roller brush filling each song to the max. Something he’s built a career on. “The core sound is the bass and drums and how those go together. Russ and I have been doing that for so long it’s natural. It’s almost like there can be no other bassline.” He continues, “The bass is the Hammond organ. I’m just playing it with my left hand. I worked with Tony Markellis for a long time. He taught me more about bass just by listening to him. How long you hold the note. What is staccato and what’s not. The whole rhythm is in there and he’s the master of those round sounds I just love.”
While Paczkowski fully covers the low end, it’s the simplistically complex beats and grooves from Lawton that have left fresh eyes and ears in amazement. The ability to create so much with so little is something that still leaves Paczkowski in awe. “He loves the space. Loves the space. He’s not a technical drummer in the sense of playing a lot of notes and filling it up. He’s all feel. He’s a slave to, it has to feel good. It has to swing. That’s incredibly difficult to do. Having played with a lot of drummers. Everyone has a different feel. That thing Russ is going after, he’s perfected it. I can’t explain it either. When I hear it it’s like oh yeah, wow. It makes you get up and move. It does all kind of things.”
Paczkowski holds the same reverence for Metzger and his contributions that have provided the fuel to keep LaMP shining. “He was the perfect guitarist/ person to play what Russ and I were doing. We’d been doing it so long we had our own sort of language as far as improvising. His sound and ideas are so well thought out. There’s so much intent in what he plays. Playing in a duo with Russ, you have to have a lot of intent. You’ve gotta know what you’re trying to get across. Scott just fit in. It’s one of those things that is bigger than the sum of its parts.”
Like each of their songs, the future is wide open for LaMP. Their schedule is filled with tour dates certain to instantly attract scores of new fans to the magic they’ve been building since that night in Nectar’s. Paczkowski wraps things up. “It’s unexpected. The music is great. People hearing it and responding to it is what it’s all about. We want to do this as much as possible. We all have prior engagements and stuff. This is a priority for all three. As much as we can do this, we want to do it. I just got a text from Russ. He was like here’s a drum groove. At soundcheck, I want to try that song we were working on last week. There’s already another album starting. There are no specific goals. I’d like to keep growing this and create more and more music. Get it into the ears of as many people as we can. Personally, music moves me. It’s how I express anything I’m feeling. Art is creating something when another person experiences what you created leads them to feel a similar emotion you felt creating it. If you can get across the emotion of what you’re feeling, other people will respond.”
LaMP One of Us
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