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By Andrew Lee

DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF

alee@media.ucla.edu

  Interscope Records

Brian Fox, Kevin Carlberg, Ross Grant and Tim McGregor of L.A.’s popular jam band Pseudopod hope to shed their college band identity as they await their label debut Aug. 3.

Go see a Pseudopod show, and you might just be able to meet the guys for a beer later on that night.

The friendly, sociable guys might ask you about your experiences at UCLA, or maybe about favorite music artists and genres. Soon, though, you may have to look a little harder for them. The band’s tour itinerary, which was once limited to intimate clubs and bars around Los Angeles, now includes stops at anywhere from Shoreline to Colorado’s Red Rocks.

“After the shows some bands just pack up and head backstage and hide from everybody. We love to just make friends in each city we go to,” singer and guitarist Kevin Carlberg said.

During their four years together as a band, Carlberg, bassist Brian Fox, guitarist Ross Grant and drummer Tim McGregor have developed a following through relentless touring, solid songwriting and amiable attitudes. But their steady climb to success can also be attributed to their past identity as a college band, a label they are slowly shedding as their ambitious goals start to become reality. The band, known for its jazzy grooves, rock ’n’ roll energy and improvisational style, have a major label debut awaiting release Aug. 3.

“(Our crowds) just kept growing and growing, and we just kind of knew that something was going on,” Carlberg said. “We would go up to San Francisco and our following up there would be bigger and bigger each time we played, and then we’d come back down to L.A., and people from UCLA would come, bringing their younger brothers and sisters.”

While it’s easy for a band in a small-town college campus to build a loyal fan base, Pseudopod was able to do so within the music-saturated behemoth of Los Angeles. It’s ability to carve out a distinct role and following is a testament to the young band.

The band members have been college graduates for about two years now. Grant and McGregor, who had been playing together since the eighth grade, met Fox and formed a funk cover band. At Westwood Brew Co., they met Carlberg, who was performing solo-singer-songwriter gigs at the popular hangout.

Soon after, the band was packing venues. As students, they filled Westwood Brew Co. enough to prompt a visit by the fire department, performed with various members in the UCLA jazz studies program and even played the halftime show at a UCLA football game with marching band and a specially choreographed cheerleader show.

From an outsider’s perspective, one of their biggest leaps came during their college years when they won a Battle of the Bands competition sponsored by Rollingstone.com. They competed with musical acts from schools all over the nation at the Fillmore in San Francisco in front of a panel of judges. Pseudopod took home first place and enough money to fund “Rest Assured,” the demo that would land them a deal with Interscope Records.

“At that time that was the greatest thing that had happened to us. But in retrospect we look back on that as yet another step. Everything that’s happened to us now … are greater successes than achieving that ‘Best College Band’ name, main reason being that we don’t see ourselves as college kids anymore,” McGregor said.

Still the band members agree that their musical style remains particularly compatible to the college crowd. Songs can stretch to more than 10 minutes, and change from show to show. This style led to a fervent following, best exemplified by a group of music-lovers in Virginia who coordinate a bootlegging network of the band’s spontaneous live shows.

Their upcoming self-titled album, is a spirited release that captures an energy that the band developed after years on the road. Songs like “Lackadaisical” clock in at more than nine minutes. But at the same time, a number of tracks sound primed and ready for radio play.

“Of a lot of the jazz and really improvisational bands that I love, the thing that I get sick of is that it’s always endless improvisation and jamming.” Grant said. “It’s awesome, it’s mind-boggling, but when I’m watching a band like that I wish sometimes they could play a 3-minute pop song that’s catchy and that you can dance to.”

In addition to promoting their new album, the band is taking advantage of its growing popularity to bolster support for modest political reforms. On their current Jeep World Outside tour, which is taking them on the road with artists like Sheryl Crow and Ziggy Marley, the band is endorsing Prop. 52, which would allow citizens to register to vote on Election Day provided they supply proper identification.

“We’re not the most political guys in the world, and this isn’t something that’s huge, like what Bono’s going after,” Carlberg said. “If there’s ever something where we’re at a big enough status where we can be heard, I’d love to hop on board.”

It’s a transitional time for the band members, who are alternating between club dates and supporting dates with marquee names, and it’s becoming harder to ignore the band’s potential to get even larger. After all, they’re not college kids anymore — they have bigger stories to tell.

“We’ve worked hard for it, and it’s gratifying,” McGregor said. “We had this show with Blues Traveler at Red Rocks, where John Popper came and sat in with us during our set. After we were done, we all looked at each other and went, ‘What the hell just happened?’ I mean, this is the guy you grew up listening to and went to concerts to go see, and were lucky if you got the second or third row. The next thing you know, he’s jamming with you.”

Pseudopod plays at the Viper Room Aug. 3. 8852 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles. 21 and over.

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