The Last Bus

All Aboard the Boogie Bus

By Glenn Burnsilver


Don’t try to figure out what The Last Bus stands for. The band’s name—and style of music they call “Mountain Boogie”—could easily lead one to draw comparisons to the Further bus, famously driven by the acid-dispensing Owsley Stanley and frequented by Ken Kesey, the Merry Pranksters and a host of psychedelic musicians like the Grateful Dead.

“The bus came by and I got on,” Dead guitarist Bob Weir sings in “The Other One,” “that’s when it all began…”

But for The Last Bus, it all began with no such invitation, let alone a specific bus ride. Rather the band that currently calls Fort Collins home is pieced together through old friendships and chance encounters. In doing so, The Last Bus has developed a comfortable chemistry that has already yielded three self-produced albums in just their first year together.

“Before this we were drifting in and out with different members,” Rob Jones, who triples up on guitar, mandolin and lap steel, explains during a conference call with three-fourths of the Bus. “And then we realized that (with this group) we had the right chemistry to do something out of the ordinary—we hope.”

That chemistry allows each member to push the music in new directions and, if all goes well, being able to spread that mountain boogie “without becoming mindless or monotonous.”

“I would have to give that credit to our drummer Mike (Beck),” Jones says. “He’ll never let it kind of drift away to that noodle capacity. … When we get dynamic and spacey he likes to bring us back around and out of something comfortable and into something that would maybe something uncomfortable.”

“I will always snap it right off,” Beck adds. “I just make sure it keeps going.”

That might be something that puts The Last Bus on a different road then many other jam bands. With a wide variety of influences ranging from jazz fusion to soul, hard rock and heavy metal to classic and Southern rock, The Last Bus drives with a full tank and plenty of potential directions.

“I think some of the greatest jazz improvisationalists would tell you that they are at their best when they are out on that limb. It could break any time, but at the same time some of the greatest music that is created only one time happens that way,” Jones says, explaining that The Last Bus prefer to emulate such musical ideals. “Anyone can learn riffs, play them over and over and get it down to perfection. But in my opinion, when you are out on that limb and pushing it, then everyone is in the proverbial zone and it can be some of the best music anyone can make.”

Listening to Don’t Bust The Crust, recorded live in Moab, Utah, the band certainly adheres to this principal. The music flows from Dead-like space rock to progressive fusion, in and out of rocking jams that include amped-up mandolin or unusual lap steel excursions like some country artist tripping through the Haight. It’s certainly a different mix of styles, and that seems to be what works these days.

Oh, and what of the band’s name, back when this article all began? The band offers no concrete answer.

“You know, it’s pretty metaphoric. We’ve heard a couple dozen interpretations of the name and we like it like that,” Jones says without really answering the question.

Bassist Joshua Fabian pipes up, though his answer is also of little practical value.

“It’s like a known constantly evolving organism,” he says matter-of-factly, “Yeah, I kind of like that.”

Whatever—best hop on The Last Bus to decide for yourself.
- Fort Collins Weekly

The Last Bus
Another band on the fast track after rising up from humble roots is The Last Bus, a motley ensemble of slick picking fools assembled in Montrose. The Bus has since moved to Ft. Collins, and they play Big Daddy’s Saturday night.
Picking up passengers from across the country, The Bus played almost 100 live shows in 2005, and they are on pace to play over 100 shows in 2006. Made up of four extremely talented musicians, the band creates a unique blend of fresh, colorful grooves, and pulsating, original, funky-butt, jazz jams backed by strong songwriting and vocals.
The band was founded in February of 2003 by Rob Jones (guitar, vocals, lap steel, and mandolin) and funky bottom-end bass player, Josh Fabian. Fabian, with his pulsating rhythms and sticky style, bounces The Bus down the winding road. Jones’s original guitar tones and fluid approach, which floods over to his lap steel and mandolin playing, takes listeners for a wild and intricate melodic ride. After a year and a half of jamming with other players, Jones and Fabian reunited with two former band mates from previous projects. On keyboards is Shawn Cooper, who has helped elevate the band’s sound to a new level. With his bluesy, soul-inspired style and solid songwriting and musicianship, his addition to the band’s wall of sound promises to propel the music to even greater heights. Mike Beck serves as the musical backbone of the group with his hard driving drum beats. The guys keep getting tighter, groovier and more out there from their grassy roots - Telluride Watch/ April 06

By Nate Green
Boomerang Staff Writer

As New Orleans was to jazz and San Francisco was to psychedelic rock, so has Colorado’s Front Range become a fertile bed of creativity for the jam band phenomenon.

Following in the success of The String Cheese Incident and Leftover Salmon, young jam bands have proliferated in Colorado like mushrooms after a wildfire. The result is a vibrant music scene based on artistic cooperation and discovery.

“The Colorado music scene has exploded in the last 10 years. It’s become a hub for the jam band scene. … The feeling is the same as in the early 60’s when rock music was starting to bloom.” said Josh Fabian, bassist for The Last Bus.

The Fort Collins-based quartet, which promotes itself as “Colorado Mountain Boogie,” rolls into Laramie tonight for a show at the Buckhorn Bar.

As they embark on a tour of the West and Midwest — with plans to play as many as 150 shows this year — The Last Bus is riding on a road that has become well-traveled.

The Colorado jam scene has found an audience far outside the state’s borders. Fans are drawn to the danceable, improvised tunes — a mix of bluegrass and acid rock spiked with butt-shaking funk — that define the Front Range sound.

“When we go out of state for shows, people want to hear the Colorado vibe. It has a unique, positive feel. Living in these mountains can really affect your outlook on life – that’s especially true for musicians,” Fabian said.

While The Last Bus has spent three years developing its musical chops within the Front Range musical community, they are aware that continued success will depend on rising above the crowd.

They hope to become more than “just another Colorado jam band” wandering through a haze of extended jams. That will require a fresh sound and tight musicianship.

“Sometimes bands get too spacey. They can take their jams too far into la-la land,” Fabian said.

Fabian credits drummer Mike Beck with keeping the band grounded, ensuring that improvised jams are focused. The addition of a lap steel guitar played by Rob Jones and blues-drenched keys played by Shawn Cooper add another dimension that separates The Last Bus from the crowd.

“We can’t be nailed into a particular genre. We’ll be heading down a jazz path, then we can go into an old country feel and then turn it around into heavy psychedelic rock,” Fabian said.

For The Last Bus, success won’t be measured by huge record deals or spots on MTV. Though every musician might secretly dream of fame, Fabian said that earning a modest living making the music they love is the goal.

That means traveling a lot and building a base of fans one show at a time.

“We’ve heard nothing but good things about the people and the music in Laramie, and we’re excited to go up there and have a good time,” he said
- Laramie Boomerang