EOTO @ Hideaway Saloon, Sunday, April 20

By Mat Herron

Jason Hann and Michael Travis are the all-improvisational electronic project EOTO, or End of Time Observatory. In a past life, the duo spent time in the String Cheese Incident, which cut a swath through the jamband circuit until Hann and Travis decided to take the milieu one step further, incorporating a series of looped instrumentation into its concerts.
“It’s got a pretty different approach and a different sensibility,” Travis said. “We’re basically just looping away, making up parts. We don’t talk about it at all. It is all improv in a very real way.”
EOTO’s setup consists of a bass, three keyboards, an electric guitar, live drumkit, one congo and one bongo drum. The writing process, Travis says, is nonexistent in the sense that they don’t really compose choruses, bridges and verses. “I’ll just start with (an idea), and then go to keyboard part that interlocks well with a bass part.”
This summer, EOTO plays the festival circuit: Wakarusa, High Sierra, Sonic Bloom in Colorado and Rothbury — a formidable start for a band that’s less than two years old.
“This is the first summer that we’re really excited to push it,” Travis said. “The experience is more enveloping now.”
Catch EOTO Sunday, April 20, at Hideaway Saloon (1607 Bardstown Road). And don’t forget to wish Travis a happy 43rd birthday. Showtime is 9 p.m.

Contact the writer at mherron@leoweekly.com