Artist description Formed 24 years ago, The Zen Tricksters are a New York based nationally-touring jam band who enjoy playing a heavily mixed bag of tunes including rock, psychedelia, blues, bluegrass, jazz, and folk, but somehow meld it all together into a sound that is distinctly their own.

Music Style melodic, well written songs with a heavy dose of jam

Musical Influences Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Richard Thompson

Artist History Zen Tricksters' mission is to blend jamming originals with tasty Dead nuggets to create sets you only dreamed about hearing. Phil Lesh was so impressed with the band's ability to jam in the studio that he tapped two members to be part of his Phil & Friends collective. In an interview with Kenny T of radio station KGLT in June of 2000, Phil said, "The Tricksters are more than just a cover band. They have their own stuff and they are brilliant, their stuff is brilliant. They are great players!" The Zen Tricksters are the quintessential jamband. Based in New York, they play nearly 200 dates a year while touring throughout the United States and Canada. They recently toured in Nagoya, Yokohama, and Tokyo with Relix Japan and it is generally safe to say that the Tricksters are "currently on tour" somewhere in the United States or elsewhere. The band has three studio CDs, The Holy Fool, recorded in 1996, A Love Surreal, 1999, and the brand new Shaking Off the Weirdness, 2003, and plays many local New York area gigs, but inevitably winds up back on the road again. This is their life and it is what they love. Jeff is very proud of the fact that he has never made his living in any other way but music. “Road life,” he says “very much embodies the yin-yang of life. You trade the long hours of traveling and tedium day after day for the supreme pleasure and sheer love of making your own kind of live music night after night.” That is quite obvious at any Zen Trickster show--you can hear their love of their art in every performance they give. The Zen Tricksters are into their third decade as a performing band. Their performances have ranged from the Big Apple Bluegrass Festival to the Seattle Hemp Festival. Over the years they have made quite a name for themselves playing such noted events as the Oregon Country Fair and the Pig Nic, New York’s Gathering of the Vibes (this year makes all eight years of its existence), California’s High Sierra Festival, the Seattle and Eugene Hemp Festivals, and the Poconos’ Gathering on the Mountain. They were a staple act at New York’s venerable Wetlands Preserve which closed late in 2001, and, Relix Magazine gave them kudos for having played there more than any other band. They have shared the stage many times with the David Nelson Band, most recently at several festivals during the summer of 2002, and pedal steel guitar player, Barry Sless, who also played on A Love Surreal, is a virtual Trickster. They have played with Peter Rowan, Vassar Clements, Derek Trucks, Mike Gordon, Tom Constanten, String Cheese Incident, and Kenny Kosek on several occasions, and have also shared the stage with the JGB, Suzanne Vega, the Jefferson Starship, the David Grisman Quintet, and more. Their music has been used on MTV, WABC’s Alias, and WB’s Felicity. The Zen Tricksters also perform as an acoustic trio.

Group Members Jeff Mattson-lead guitar, vocals Klyph Black-bass, dobro, vocals Tom Circosta-rhythm guitar, vocals

Instruments electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, dobro, lap steel, drums, keys

Albums Shaking Off the Weirdness (Zebra Tango, 2003), A Love Surreal (Zebra Tango, 1999), The Holy Fool (Zebra Tango, 1996)

Press Reviews RELIX Magazine April-May, 2003 Volume 30 #2 Mick Skidmore The Tricksters remain one of the most enduring and dependable jambands on the scene. Over two decades they've put their own improvisational twist on the music of the Dead and '60s psychedelia as well as simultaneously developing a cache of original material. This latest album shows why they've lasted. An exciting acoustic exploration with some dazzling instrumental work, the intricate instrumental "Light of Life" has guest Jason Crosby on fiddle while "Talk of the Town" is a gutsy country rocker with a classic groove. Like many of the songs, it shows the band's ability at fusing the old and the new. The track also features sweet steel from New Riders' steel ace Buddy Cage. There's confidence and maturity to this album; it's one they should be proud of and a delight to hear. All Music Guide, May 20, 2003 Jesse Jarnow Much of the Zen Tricksters' vocabulary - both musical and literal - is drawn from the musical universe of the Grateful Dead. Considering the fact that the Tricksters have spent the better part of the last 20 years as one of the country's premier Dead cover bands, that's not a surprise. What is surprising, however, is how effective their original material it is. Sure, much of the band's sound is firmly in the mode of their main influence, but it is delightfully free of rhythmic lumber of the Dead. Indeed, the Tricksters seem to have taken the lessons of the Dead's best periods of the late '60s and early '70s and stripped them down. "The One" sounds like a jazzier version of a Jerry Garcia ballad from American Beauty, while "Talk of the Town" hones in on jazzier elements. The band's jamming is affable and comfortable, sticking mostly to acoustic sounds. Refreshingly, the Tricksters pull it off without sounding like a tribute act. Sing Out! Vol. 47 #2 Summer 2003 RL Jam bands like the Zen Tricksters seem to go against the musical grain. Whereas most bands keep their songs in the three-to-four minute range, the Tricksters don’t mind expanding the structure to seven, eight, or even nine minutes. And most bands reserve a spot for a brief guitar solo, but the Tricksters save lots of time for everybody in the band to solo. Lyrically, the Tricksters, like the Grateful Dead, shun the realistic in search of something a bit less tangible, a bit more esoteric. The Tricksters, it seems, break the majority of American rock ‘n’ roll rules, and for reasons best explained by a trained sociologist, their fans love them all the more for it. While Jeff Mattson, Klyph Black, and Tom Circosta began as a Dead copy band a long, long time ago, Shaking Off the Weirdness never makes you want to call them “copy cats.” Their acoustic arrangements are much more cohesive, and the jams on pieces like “Sleepwalking” never meander off into space. A number of guests also bolster the band’s jam-quotient, as when fiddler Jason Crosby joins on the ethereal “Light of Life.” Like a number of other practitioners of the art known as “jam band,” all of the Tricksters write, which is a great way of guaranteeing variety. Fans will be grateful for Shaking Off the Weirdness, and thankful that even though the Zen Tricksters promote a number of un-American values – doing your own thing, working when you feel like it, and living on the road – they have so far escaped the Justice Department’s net.

Additional Info Contacts: Klyph Black for booking kozmique3@yahoo.com; Randi Kent for photos, press kits, publicity blueice3@optonline.net. Address: Box 2601, Huntington Station, NY 11746

Location Huntington Station, NY - USA

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