The phrase "tribute band" is enough to make many music fan cringe. Few tribute bands are worth seeing, even fewer are worth reviewing. Most are mediocre musicians, and their careers are short-lived at best. Therefore, we've come to expect very little from tribute bands; if they can drunkenly play a few of our favorite songs with skills far inferior to that of the original band, we are satisfied. Saturday The Schwag, a Grateful Dead tribute band, played at Kathouse Lounge and proved they are far more than a typical tribute band.

The Schwag started in 1991 as a local band in St. Louis, Mo.

Jimmy Tebeau, bass player and vocalist, explained that at the time "We we're just doing it for fun. We never thought it would grow to what it is."

The band experienced some local success in its early years. However, Tebeau explained when Jerry Garcia, lead singer for the Grateful Dead, died in 1995, the band experienced increased success.

"We figured it was going to fizzle out ... but when Jerry died the demand ironically went up and more people wanted to hear it," Tebeau said.

Following Jerry's death, The Schwag began touring regionally. Since that time, the band has toured continually, usually playing around 150 shows a year.

Most notable about The Schwag's performance at The Kathouse, as well as all of their shows, is the skill the group has at improvisation. A number of the band's members were formally trained at improvisational jazz and the effect showed in their music. Tebeau explained one of the most important factors to The Schwag's style.

"We don't really recreate it, we perpetuate it, we have fun with the music and the structure of the tunes, we're not really trying to mimic a certain recording."

This willingness to adapt Grateful Dead's music is one of the central reasons The Schwag's performances are so enjoyable. During their set at Kathouse Lounge, they played a version of "Shakedown Steet," one of Grateful Dead's most popular songs. The Schwag's version sounded different from any version I have heard by the original band. Ultimately, it is this willingness to adapt the Dead's music that makes The Schwag's sets feel like an actual Grateful Dead.

What separates The Schwag from other tribute bands, even more than their musical ability or their longevity, is Schwagstock, a series of music festivals the band began producing in 1997.

Tebeau explained that the first Shwagstock took place at a campground near Columbia, Mo.

"600 people showed up. There wasn't really even a stage, it was a slab of concrete with a tarp over it," he said.

Over the next six years, the band regularly rented out campgrounds in central Missouri, sometimes drawing as many as 7,000 people to their festivals. In 2004, the band decided to buy their own campground and purchased Camp Zoe, a 330 acre campground that was once a youth camp in Salem, MO. Since purchasing Camp Zoe, The Schwag has hosted numerous festivals there. On September 18th and 19th, the 42nd Schwagstock took place, an event which Jimmy said over 4,500 people attended.

The Schwag succeeded where so many tribute bands fall short for numerous reasons: their skills and willingness to adapt Greatful Dead's music, the bands remarkable longevity and, most importantly, the impact they have had on regional counterculture through their numerous Shwagstocks. Ultimately, The Schwag is a Grateful Dead tribute band not simply because they play Grateful Dead songs, but because everything about the band and their lives embodies messages and goals that were Jerry Garcia's life work.

-Eli Neal is a  Junior in English. Please send comments to edge@spub.ksu.edu