The Music of Various Lazy Inspired by a decade of following the Grateful Dead, String Cheese Incident, Phish and others in the jam-band realm, Various Lazy’s debut album Lame Sick or Lazy features unconventional song arrangements, lyrical oddities, and an idiosyncratic sound that takes pieces of Jazz, Bluegrass, Rock, and Blues and combines them to make something altogether new that is nothing short of a musical adventure. Imagine psycho bluegrass, spastic jazz, punch-you-in-the-face, lay-down-and-weep folk-jam and you begin to get a picture of the twists and turns on the album’s musical voyage. Lead singer/songwriter Geoff’s unique sound on songs such as Lame Sick or Lazy, Burnin’ Alive, and Pocket Full of Swayze (the latter inspired by the game of ultimate frisbee) is created with song structures that often go without a chorus and standard lyrical conventions. Each song tells a story that is often a series of mishaps, escapades and haphazard exploits– and you find yourself feeling as though you were right there with the band on the chaotic journey. Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride! The Various Lazy Story What do you get when you combine the mind of a chemical engineer, whose day job consisted of building microchips on swing shift for a large semiconductor company with the heart of a busker happy to play his guitar and sing his songs wherever there’s an audience? Read on! Like many bands, Various Lazy came from the humble beginnings of cover songs, dive bars and college students. But unlike most bands, the story of Various Lazy took a rather unconventional path to musical maturity that that resulted in a lengthy stint in the Idaho State Correctional System that is still going to this day. Various Lazy was formed as a cover band in 1996 in Moscow, Idaho, featuring lead singer and guitarist, Geoff Maestas. As often happens with college bands, the Various Lazy members graduated and went their separate ways and Geoff moved to Boise, ID where he began writing his own songs and arrangements as a band of one in his free time. Inspired by a decade of following the Grateful Dead, String Cheese Incident, Phish and others in the jam band scene, Geoff gravitated towards unconventional song arrangements, fantastical storytelling, and the blending of Jazz, Bluegrass, Rock, and Blues. It was Geoff’s engineering left brain that inspired him to approach his music much like he approached his day job as a chemical engineer – deconstructing music down to its bare elements and putting those elements back together in new ways. As his songwriting gained momentum, he recruited Brian Fickle and Josh Skoro to the band in 2005 and as a 3-piece they began playing clubs and bars around Boise, Idaho. Just when the band had developed a following though, Geoff was arrested for selling marijuana and suddenly the future of the band was bleak indeed. As Geoff rapidly watched his free life and budding musical career cut short by the terrifying prospect of years in prison he decided to do the only thing he could to keep any sanity – record an album. In the 8 months that followed his arrest, Geoff brought together several talented session musicians and was able to make the album with the help of a large contingent of loyal and generous friends who offered both their moral and financial support in the form of recording time, web site development and hosting, sound system development, and much more. On August 20th, 2007, just hours after recording the last track on the album, Geoff was sentenced to 10 years in prison with the possibility of parole after 3 years. Since then Geoff has moved through a couple of Idaho prisons and he currently resides at a work center facility in Boise. We hope that his lack of any prior criminal record, long history of gainful employment as a chemical engineer, and stellar behavior will allow him to be paroled sometime in late 2010. Cross your fingers. In the meantime, check out the music of Various Lazy!