Pherkad

Pherkad is Albuquerque, New Mexico's premier up and coming, genre bending, groove crushing jam band.

Although Pherkad will occasionally touch a semi-obscure or loved cover tune, they spend a substantial amount more time crunching out groovy and thoughtful original tunes.

In fact, the band spends a substantial amount of that time traveling through deep improvisational and instrumental spaces. Extended ten minute songs are common at live Pherkad shows and epic half hour jams mashing songs into one another aren't uncommon at all either.

Simply put- these dudes get down.

“Pherkad arrives from out of the dusky, dreamy realm of the jam band, combining nuanced traces of a multitude of other genres—including jazz, rock and folk—to make a rocanrol stew that is intriguing, tasteful and totally, incomparably experimental.

[… T]heir output is authentically psychedelic, not “psych,” a good thing when listening to the galaxy for proof of intelligent life.”
-August March, The Alibi Weekly Newsletter,
V. 27 No. 12

Pherkad is named after a star in the Little Dipper constellation. Once, astronomers believed Pherkad and its neighboring star Kochab to be the Guardians of the Center of the Universe, as they rotate around night sky's central point- Polaris, the North Star.

Originally the brainchild of guitarist Jason Bowers and drumming lead-vocalist “Cheese”, Pherkad has grown from a duo into a four-piece jam band paving a path through the comfortable and familiar and well beyond into the sonic unknown.

Next to join the outfit, chronologically, was the talented keyboardist Zac Ramsey, who gets ultra-funky ticklin' the ivories every night until they just can't take anymore.

Holding down the low end is bassist
Chris “Chrispy” Patchett, who has been dropping bass bombs as well as showcasing his songwriting talent, taking lead vocals occasionally.

Get ready to blast off-- Pherkad is going to take you on a jamtastic voyage with their well composed, tasteful and downright funky blend of music.
"It's like fractals for the soul".

The future is bright, better bring your sunglasses.