Local funk band comprised of Pittsburg State University students uses a theme of extraterrestrials and cryptids in their online presence and stage personas to bring a blend of funk, jazz, blues, and rock that is as out of this world as the band name, “The Little Green Men” suggests.
The members – Jude Wolfe, a junior music major on keyboards; Mitch Crocker, a sophomore majoring in “wood” on bass guitar; Joe Lancaster, a senior music education major on trumpet; Jocelyn Goodwin, a junior music performance major on saxophone and clarinet; Evan Harries, a senior art major on guitar; and Jack Stefanoni a sophomore music performance major on two snare drums and a tom – make up a band that uses their love of each other to blend and meld to get the right vibe for funk improvisation.
Crocker set the tone about the band’s vibe with, “I study wood and I’m in a funk band with my friends. Technically, it is about aliens, but furthermore it is about getting seriously groovy I would say.” He added, “We got a good crew going on. The whole reason we are passionate about it is because it’s very much a thing where there’s no expectations for musicianship and we are constantly blown away. I’m usually sitting in the basement playing bass with my friends and I’d say six times out of ten, I hear the craziest guitar solo I’ve ever heard in my life. It’s great man, and those are my friends. And it’s like that for everyone.” Lancaster followed up with, “The basement practices go so hard; we really hit our stride down there.”
Harries explained that the group met here at Pitt State in jazz band, playing together academically before deciding to play together for fun.
Harries said, “We all met through jazz band which is where we play in school, but Mitch and Jude live with me, so we play at home a lot so have that shared musical space as well.” Crocker added, “It’s a recipe for some solid laughs and japeries and whatnot.”
The band’s website (TheLittleGreenMen.com) plays into the aesthetics of space and cryptozoology, going as far as to list the members of the band with mockups of government files on the band members’ personas. Wolfe went into the thought behind this.
“Parliament-Funkadelic had that whole space aesthetic going on, and since this is a funk band, with respect to the history of funk with their space aesthetic, I thought it was cool to go in that direction.” Said Wolfe. “It’s not super deep, it’s a name that is unique but familiar, I didn’t come up with that, the FBI used that allegedly to refer to aliens. It’s more fun to watch people jam when they are pretending to be aliens who are eating deviled eggs.”
With a smile, Lancaster spoke about how his fellow band mates are his biggest inspiration while playing.
“I mean, when we’re down there (in the basement) practicing, I love listening to everybody contribute their bit.” Lancaster said. “I’m like, ‘ooh, this would sound pretty cool,’ and then I do it. Then Jocelyn picks up on it and it just evolves into this song. It’s some of my favorite stuff to do, because everyone has their own little idea. So, I think my band mates are my inspiration.” Wolfe reacted with, “Ooh, that’s so flattering, that’s so sweet man. Joe Lancaster is my number one inspiration.”
Wolfe took a more genre-oriented direction to explaining the influences of the band.
“Everyone brings their own thing to the table, everyone’s got such a wide variety of influence, it’s not just funk.” Wolfe further explained, “Like Mitch brings a lot of Mid-West emo and heavy metal into it, and Evan brings the jam band and classic rock, and Jack is all about that weird free jazz – I don’t even know what it is. Everyone pitches in a completely different unrelated style but it all kind of congeals.”
The band members talked about how much fun they have with the space themes and how it also influences their creativity outside of the music.
“The ARG’s (Alternate Reality Games) and the extended universes that people make online get people sucked in, and they get me sucked in, so it’s cool to have ‘Meet the Men’ [the band member biography section on the website] talk about Mitch like he’s some kind of eldritch horror residing in the woods devouring deviled eggs, it’s just funny.” Crocker jumped in to add, “It’s such a wild and outlandish bit that I think we just spontaneously immediately committed to but it’s somehow my favorite thing, and I think the intergalactic alien thing translates well.”
Harries mentioned how the “gimmick” inspires his art before showing concepts for band merchandise and plugging his art on Instagram (@evans_art_stuff).
“I’ve been in a bunch of bands and in the past, I’ve never had a gimmick, and it’s fun to have the alien stuff because it lets me make all kinds of alien related art or shirts and makes it a lot more fun to get in on.”
There is a lot of love in the band, both for the music and for each other.
Wolfe said, “I think I remember the waitress at Root [Coffee House] saying, ‘It’s clear just from the way you guys play that you all just love each other,’ and I think that is really cool.” Crocker added, “We wrote a song about how much we love Jack…” Wolfe finished that thought with, “Yeah, we did, and it’s probably one of our best songs. What I find really neat is that everyone in the band is just like my friends. I think they are the best people, so we hang out a lot, I grill up some burgers, we play cards, and I got some strange records and we put those on.”
Unfortunately, due to prior engagements, Stefanoni and Goodwin were unavailable for the interview. To catch the band live, check out their website for upcoming shows and bring deviled eggs.