Guitarist “Airy” Larry Graff estimates the Banana Slug String Band has played to more than a million pairs of ears across the United States and the Caribbean. The ears hover at three feet and have an 8pm bedtime, but for nigh on 25 years the unbridled enthusiasm of children has been radiating out of the cafeterias and auditoriums that serve as Banana Slug String Band venues like a heat wave.
The group formed in 1985 when outdoor education instructors “Solar” Steve Van Zandt, “Airy” Larry Graff, Doug “Dirt” Greenfield and “Marine” Mark Nolan decided to take their act on the road, wrapping their fare of environmental awareness in catchy lyrics and unique arrangements. The result is a band that can make storm drains interesting. Themes of heartbreak and sorrow pale in comparison to Solar Steve’s lyrics (it doesn’t get much more eternal than the water cycle). And while their lyrics may be for kids, the music is definitely written by rockers-turned-parents tired of looping “Itsy Bitsy Spider” in the minivan; the title track on the band’s 2010 release Only One Ocean sounds like it belongs on a Guns n’ Roses album.
“Kids—if you give them something authentic, like you’re not dumbing them down, you’re offering them some real music with real participation about a real topic that they really care about—will know it,” says Greenfield, who could be the cleanshaven twin of Jeff “The Dude” Bridges in The Big Lebowski. “In, like, a second they know it, and they’re with you. And kids with you? That’s why we can do this for 25 years—their energy is so rejuvenative.”
Opening guitar riffs aside, the minivan still lurks in the background. Touring with a children’s band is an ordeal bereft of the standard rock band mayhem.
“We call it the milk and cookies circuit,” says Greenfield.
“Our shows are like 9am,” adds Graff, revealing that more than musical tastes change with kids on the scene. Laughs Greenfield, “Our showtimes … are for the early nappers or the late nappers. You can choose your kid’s nap.”
The latest in a string of 11 albums, Only One Ocean was created with funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and two marine education nonprofits, a fact reflected in the lyrics. “Standing On My Head” sings the praises of barnacles (“My cirri bring my food to mouth / like little feathered hands”) and “Ocean Flow” regales with verses like “The mid-Atlantic ridge is the longest mountain range / it’s all volcanic so it’s constantly in change.” Better than a textbook and twice as memorable.
Keeping Graff and Greenfield musically limber is recent membership in Slugs N’ Roses, the Grateful Dead cover band appropriating their nights for an audience with an attention span longer than five minutes.
“What I’ve noticed is that Deadheads are like big children,” Greenfield says, leaning back with a smile. “Both want to be inspired by the music to go to places that are enjoyable, to dance, to participate and to revel in a loving space.”
The new album is filled with reggae, aloha jams, rock and some mad slack-key guitar riffs. They’re passing the classics of Harry Belafonte and Soul Train down the line, and the wave of fervor refreshes itself with every cohort of new toddlers coming of age.
“We love what we’re doing in a deep, passionate way,” Graff says. “We love singing about the earth and the magic of it, inspiring people to take care of it, we love children and inspiring them, we love parents and educators, and we love each other. It’s a lovefest.”
THE BANANA SLUG STRING BAND 25th ANNIVERSARY
Saturday, Nov. 13, 11am & 1pm
Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320 Cedar St, Santa Cruz
Adults $13 adv/$15 door; kids $8 adv/$10 door (under 2 free)
www.bananaslugstringband.com
