Llama will return to Columbia on Tuesday night when it headlines at The Elbow Room. Having opened for bands such as The Zen Tricksters, Llama will have its own show for the first time in Columbia. "We've played at The Elbow Room twice before, but we opened for other bands. This time, we'll try to get our own crowd out," said Neil Mason, Llama's drummer.
Formerly known as Dalai Llamas, the band signed with MCA records in September 1999. Its first album, Close to the Silence, was released May 2001, and it plans to start recording its next album in January.
Llama has been touring since February, but its members don't seem to mind. "Being on the road is great. It puts you back in perspective, and you're constantly meeting new people," Mason said.
He said the band's members enjoy performing because it gives them a chance to improvise. "In a live setting, my favorite is when we combine two or more styles. We're able to take it somewhere else and combine the best of both worlds."
Mason shies away from admitting his band is famous, saying: "We've got a few fanatic fans. It's pretty funny," but he gets excited when he talks about working with other famous musicians, such as legendary banjo player Bela Fleck. "He's such a great musician," Mason said about playing with Fleck. "It was really cool. ... We basically just called him up and invited him to play. ... He's a friend now. It's awesome."
The band's shortened name is only one of the changes this fairly new band has gone through. Llama's foundation goes back to the childhood friendship of Mason and lead singer, Ben Morton. In 1996, in their home of Nashville, they started experimenting with instruments, but, both 13 years old at the time, they had an alternative sound in mind. "We didn't really know how to play anything. We would just mess around. Ben was listening to Nirvana," Mason said. "Dave Matthews came out, and our ears started changing. As that happened, the music we were writing started to change, too."
Llama's music transformed again when Ben Brown joined the band in 1997, and more recently, when Adam Binder (bass, vocals) and Ian Fitchuk (keyboard, vocals) joined. This evolution has led to a distinct but wide-ranging sound. Mason said: "We have a lot of different kinds of sounds. It depends on the night. The album is more pop-rock sounding. Live, it's more instrumental, jam songs and what not. There's funk in there, and there's jazzier stuff. We play for a lot of different types and ages of people."
Mason expects Llama's sound will continue to change and grow; each member is experimenting with different instruments and, for inspiration, listening to new bands and musicians, including Radiohead, Paul Simon and Soul Live.
"We all really like trying to play other instruments. Ian is a really good drummer, and he can play guitar. I like to try to play the keyboard, and all of the guys want to play the drums," Mason said. "I'm afraid they're gonna get better than me. Just kidding."
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