Editing Blues Traveler (section)

===Formation===
The genesis of Blues Traveler was as a [[High school (North America)|high school]] [[Garage rock|garage band]] formed in Princeton, New Jersey in the mid-1980s. Harmonicist, singer and guitarist John Popper and drummer Brendan Hill formed a group they called The Establishment (later renamed Blues Band) with Hill's brother on bass and a rotating roster of guitarists. The band produced a few [[Compact Cassette|cassette tape]] [[demo (music)|demos]]. In addition to some original songs, their repertoire included upbeat [[cover version|covers]] of "[[Gloria (Them song)|Gloria]]" and "[[The Battle Hymn of the Republic]]".

The group added guitarist and [[American football|football]] player Chan Kinchla. Although he was a promising athlete, Kinchla decided to commit to playing music instead after a knee injury. Popper met bassist Bobby Sheehan and the two became good friends, with Sheehan becoming the new bass player for Blues Band in 1987.<ref name="DenverPost">{{cite news|url=http://www.bluestraveler.net/info/media/media_display.php?pub_id=4|title=Coloradans come running when Traveler takes stage|last=Brown|first=G.|date=September 8, 1991|work=[[The Denver Post]]|access-date=April 12, 2011}}</ref>

The quartet held a basement [[jam session]] (later christened The Black Cat Jam) which spawned the core [[groove (music)|grooves]] for several songs on their first album. A [[black cat]] happened to be nearby, and the group took this as a [[omen|sign]] and adopted the Black Cat as their [[mascot]] figure.

The group changed their name to Blues Traveler, taking the latter part from the name of the primary [[demon]] in the film ''[[Ghostbusters]]'', Gozer the Traveler.<ref name="DenverPost"/>