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Analog 25


Band:

Analog 25

Members: Scott Platts plays guitar and vocals with musicians including: Marty Glotfelty, bass; Jeff Hewitt, guitar and vocals; Tom Dawes, drums; Jeff Hostetter, dobro; Steve Witmer, percussion, Dan Paul Russell, harmonica; Andrew Naylor, bass; Chris Davis, keyboard; Tom Wood, mandolin and guitar

Who we talked to: Platts

How did you guys meet/how long have you been performing together? There's a diverse group of people (who) play with me. It's not always the same people. It . . .varies from different people who play guitar, dobro, harmonica, bass, hand percussion, drum kits (and) mandolin. But generally most of the people (who) I play with, I've met at open mike nights or at . . . private music parties. (I met) Jeff Hostetter who owns . . . Stringed Instrument Repair and has The Wagon Shed Concert (Series) down in New Freedom . . . at a friend's party. So we wound up . . . starting to play some gigs together.

The group sounds pretty fluid? I book gigs . . . and sometimes the venue determines whether I do it as an electric band or an acoustic band. Some places just want a smaller thing. (For acoustic gigs) I have a regular bass player, Marty. He plays almost all of my gigs with me. If it's a venue where we can have a drum kit and set up our equipment, I'll play with a full electric band.

I guess your varied lineup means that no two sets are going to sound the same. There's another guy (Dan Paul Russell) . . . who is a harmonica player. (Keyboardist) Chris Davis occasionally does gigs with us. It's a lot of fun. It makes it interesting.

Describe your sound and style. My influences are pretty much Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits. It sounds like '60s/'70s whether it's the acoustic or the electric (band). We do some (Rolling) Stones . . . Buffalo Springfield, J.J. Cale (and) Eric Clapton. It's kind of like blues rock, psychedelic rock, folk rock . . . and a little bit of country.

Do you guys play mostly covers? We just do covers. Some of the other guys have other bands that they're in that they do write (songs with). But I'm horribly non-prolific as far as writing goes. I tend to be hypercritical about everything I write and maybe too analytical. (It) slows down the (writing) process to the point of a halt.

Do crowds like hearing the stuff they might have listened to back in the day? We put our own spin on everything. I've been in bands where the band, you know, goes to copy something exactly the way somebody else played it. We're very improvisational. We're probably not going to play the same song the same way any two times. Our bass player, Marty, is very fluent and one of the best bass players around. I'll play songs that he hasn't played with me once and doesn't know I'm going to play. He gives me the look, but he rolls with it and it sounds great.

Are you looking to solidify the lineup at all? Generally, the lineup for electric is myself, Marty on bass, Jeff Hewitt on electric guitar and Tom Dawes on drums. That will probably be the core of what I do electrically, barring any times when one of the guys for some reason can't make it (and) I'll get a substitute.

It sounds like you're forming a musical network. Do you think that's important in this area? I think it's important and needed for me. I don't know about other people. Open mike nights sometimes are not so great. Sometimes, they're fantastic. Thursday night (at) Victor's (Italian Restaurant) . . . is an example, I think, of a fantastic open mike night. You have an opportunity . . . to get out and play with other people and to hear other people. For me . . . the networking is something that I love. It's been a huge blessing for me to have those kinds of resources . . . and to meet a lot of great players and have a lot of them . . . do gigs with me.

- ERIN McCRACKEN, FLIPSIDE STAFF

If you go

Analog 25 performs at 9 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Glen Rock Mill Inn, 50 Water St., Glen Rock. They play at 2 p.m. Nov. 15 at Moon Dancer Vineyards & Winery, 1282 Klines Run Road, Hellam Township.

On the Web

For details, visit www.myspace.com/analog25.

Listen to the entire interview at www.flipsidepa.com.

Read more meet-the-artist interviews at www.flipsidepa.com/musicdirectory.