The Fog — 31 August 2022 on Rocket Shop Radio Hour

The Fog joined host Abbey BK on ‘Rocket Shop,’ Big Heavy World’s weekly local Vermont music radio hour on 105.9 FM The Radiator. Catch up with them at facebook.com/thefogvt

On Wednesday, August 31st, The Fog joined guest host Abbey B.K. on Rocket Shop, ready to deliver summery, laid-back, funky joy in a distinctly homegrown Vermont fashion. 
The group is spearheaded by guitarist and vocalist Gary Beckwith, whose vivid, original songs he describes as “straightforward… lessons and stories from my life.” These songs are supported by a merry cast of friends, self described as “a bunch of guys who like to have fun and play music” (Paul Butler, Bob Greenlese, Jason Antkowiak, and Nolan Hanna). Together they bring the songs to life with focused, tight grooves, artful harmonies, and a soulful, breathy sax lead.
The band plays live shows in Burlington and all across Vermont, powered by a solar-panel-equipped bus that has been an educational project of Gary’s for nearly twenty years. The bus has visited schools and public events, even hosting the likes of Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy on an accompanying solar-powered stage.
This stage provides a fitting backdrop to the band’s peaceful, conscious music. They play solar-powered shows that showcase original songs, as well as “Fog-ified” covers of songs from the Grateful Dead, Bob Marley, Neil Young, and others. The band loves to bring songs in new, experimental directions, often adding extended jams and instrumental solos to classic songs to make them their own, and above all to “make it fun.”
While COVID-19 created challenges for jamming and in-person musical activity of all kinds, the group took the opportunity to try out new technology in their songwriting process. For example, they began using the platform BandLab to remotely collaborate on new songs, overlaying their own individual instrumental recordings on original demos shared by Gary.
The creative process leading up to this collaborative stage, according to Gary, is very spontaneous. Often, while he’s walking, driving, and generally going about his day, a line of words will come to him, or a catchy melody, and one by one these snippets pile up, until “every once in a while, a song pops out!”
The band expressed interest in recording an album of original music in the near future, and has already released a music video for their original song, ‘Passenger,’ which features shots of the band playing on board the aforementioned solar powered bus!
To see them live, stop by City Hall Park on September 11th, where they will be doing a fundraising concert to repair their solar-powered bus. You can also keep up with them online, on their Facebook page and Youtube profile.

Text by Gideon Parker
Monochrome photo by James Lockridge