When you hear the term “local music veteran,” you probably conjure one of several different images. Perhaps you picture over-the-hill rock and rollers with receding hairlines, or maybe the aging new-age songsters still reliably teasing tunes out of their instruments at the same haunts they’ve been playing for decades. The one visage that probably does not immediately come to mind is 29 year-old dreadlocked Bill Hamilton, who has been contributing to the local live music scene for a decade and a half. In a music community shaped by the constant fluidity of a university, that’s a long time.

Bill doesn’t quite believe it, either. “I     think I saw my name on a veterans list, which is cool, but still …”

Bill’s contribution started in the mid-90s with his Nirvana-inspired high school band, PrivateDick. After enrolling at UWEC, though, he started exploring the craft of creating music more seriously, and he met Dan Sebern, who joined him in several jam-rock ventures, including Day Old Bread, Space Rangers, and, most recently, The Excellent Adventure (formerly Bill and Dan’s Excellent Adventure, before the group decided on the more inclusive moniker). Billy Angell, another Day Old Bread alum, John Nietz, and Beau Brantner round out the group.

The Excellent Adventure will be releasing a CD on April 24, titled When Whales Could Fly, and this disc, at least to Bill, is something a little more personal than most album releases.

“Part of the reason we put this together,” he explains, “is because of the Space Rangers, which was one of the most fun times in my life. It was a bummer we never were able to put any of those songs down. Now, we’ve got a great bunch of songs, and we wanted to put them together for posterity.”

As a special bonus to everyone willing to pay for the old-fashioned compact disc technology, the album includes a fold-out, original poster by local artist Steve Bateman, who also inadvertently helped name the band. Bateman put the group’s original “Bill and Dan’s Excellent Adventure” as a placeholder on a flyer for one of their first shows, and the name stuck.

 The CD itself wavers between both ends of its jam-rock genre. The first song, Higher, is solidly good time rock and roll, as bluesy and rockabilly as it comes. Of the remaining eight songs, some, like Latin and Thinginie, are solid jams, while others, like Microphone Bones, swing back to rock.

What’s most striking about the album is that it shines especially brightly went compared to many of our most recent local releases. The Chippewa Valley has built itself a solid little pedestal out of introspective, artistic indie-rock lately, and by comparison, When Whales Could Fly is a sunny, wild, free afternoon in a park with a tasty beer. Bill puts it best: “I love that stuff [indie-rock], and we have so much talent in this town, but give me a screaming guitar solo every once in awhile.”

And, of course, no matter how much you enjoy the CD, this is jam rock we’re talking about. Both the fans and Hamilton know that the live jam experience is what attracts and keeps fans, and it’s what keeps Bill and the guys making music. “Some people play volleyball after work, some people play softball. We do our jams. This is our recreation.” And that’s exactly how one becomes a veteran.

    The Excellent Adventure CD Release • April 24 • The Mousetrap, 311 S. Barstow St., Eau Claire • 10pm • FREE • ages 21+