The Red and Black

For such an incredulous moniker, The Incredible Sandwich has a casual take on music.

“I never wanted to be a rock star … I just wanted to write music,” lead vocalist Matt McKinney said.

While most bands spend many years trying to get signed, or at least get taken seriously in a music scene, The Incredible Sandwich has accomplished both in just a few. The band has found a way to connect with its fans through playing music for the experience, not the appearance, McKinney said.

“We’re not trying to impress you by wearing fancy clothes because we like to think that our music is good enough to keep you interested,” he said.

The Incredible Sandwich’s modest attitude has proven fruitful, resulting in a contract with Mule Train Records and a fall tour. After touring, Athens has become harder to play in as the band really wants to make a name for themselves at home, among a plethora of other bands doing the same.

“It’s definitely added pressure to really show up and put on a good show when we’re at home because [in Athens] there are so many eclectic bands, and just to distinguish yourself from them is painful enough.” McKinney said.

Around Athens, some people have come to know The Incredible Sandwich as a jam band – a category that most musicians see as a disguised insult, translated to mean lacking in structure.

“When somebody says ‘Oh, you’re a jam band,’ they’re pretty much just saying ‘Oh, you sound like Phish,’ or ‘Oh, you sound like Grateful Dead.’ And that is completely unfounded,” McKinney said. “We sound like the Incredible Sandwich – that’s what we sound like.”

Most likely, The Incredible Sandwich is stereotyped as a jam band because its music frequently features improvisation.

“If we play one song in our show where everybody improvises, all of the sudden we’re a hippie-jam-band, and we’re assumed to smoke pot and only play random stuff,” McKinney said. “It’s a sad stereotype because improvising with your instrument is one of the reasons you should play music as a band.”

The Incredible Sandwich has been on tour since mid-August and will be returning to Athens tonight. Rather than giving audiences a standard rock show, McKinney thinks that the live act is more an exhibition of his passion.

“I’ve always thought that people really weren’t ever coming to watch a show, but that they were coming to watch us express ourselves,” he said. “[Because] I’m selfish – I enjoy people being there, but I’m there for myself, using it as therapy.”

- Matt Evans

The Red and Black
Issue date: 9/18/09

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