Local Music News

Spewtilator’s new tape entitled Get Conjured is seriously one of the coolest releases. It’s composed of the following tunes:

• Super Ghouls N Ghosts
• Spacebag
• Zombear
• Grave Digger

All the songs rule and are filled with gnarly riffs and super shredding solos. The first song, Super Ghouls N Ghosts gives a metal rendition of the ‘91 SNES video game. The next song on the tape brings the mysterious arrival of a party package from space. Zombear is one of Spewtilator’s older songs and depicts the story of “nature’s most brutal design”. The tape ends with Grave Digger and leaves you wanting for more. The songs fly by fast and leaves you with a hardcore thrill.

Go to Spewtilator’s website here to check out more from them and make sure to keep an eye out for their next show!

Grape Soda are an Athens Pop-Soul band comprised of brothers Mat and Ryan Lewis. In preparation for the release of their first LP, Grape Soda played the WUOG Live In The Lobby.

Being a two-piece drums and organ band, setting up in the lobby didn’t take very long. The operations staff quickly had all the wires run and the two brothers set up their instruments to face each other as they played. Although at first they didn’t realize they were on-air when the Big Red Light blinked off, they quickly shaped up their bantering and began the set.

Keyboardist Mat Lewis’ vocals were captivating. I spent most of the performance pondering the different qualities audible in his throated sounds. It wasn’t his range or technical skill which captivated me, though, it was his tone and soul that impressed me. His notes moved in subtle, but natural streams that ascended high briefly before dropping to the middle register at the end of phrases. I could describe his vocals as “lazy” sounding, because they sounded so relaxed, but that’s not a fair word to use. “Warm” and “vintagey” are much more appropriate. The was a certain raspiness and distortion that was introduced into his voice when singing high notes. It was atone akin to the soulful pop-singers Bono, John Lennon, and even Sting.

The two brothers connection while they played was a major highlight. They rarely made eye contact, but their sincerity in performing the songs they had written together was sheerly heart-warming in the best sense. Sonically, their music was filled with bouncing bass lines and jittery high synth bits. The drum beats seemed to be polka inspired on many songs, but changed rhythms frequently. Their third song featured this typical polka-beat, but it eventually evolved into a bluesy hi-hat groove. Melodically, the songs were inspired by what sounded like ethnic or perhaps Spanish scales which made for a very interesting listening experience. In typical Indie-Rock fashion, the band did fall back on some psychadelia tinges during their last song, but it was not overtly obvious and nor did it affect the performance in a negative way.

Grape Soda are a playfully soulful band that are sincere in their delivery and worth seeing live. Check out more on Grape Soda here: http://www.myspace.com/grapesodaforlife.

Wednesday, Oct. 20

Caledonia Lounge: Black Delegates, Business’s Man, Dictator and Grown, Opposites Attract [9:30 pm]

Farm 255: Dial Indicators [FREE!]

Go Bar: Bubbly Mommy Gun, Daniel Francis Doyle, Pretty Bird, Skoene Oeke [10 pm]

Hendershot’s Coffee Bar: Jay Gonzalez [FREE!]

Last Call: Dr. Squid [9 pm]

Little Kings: The Humms, Rayon Beach, Shapes Have Fangs, Timmy Tumble [10 pm]

New Earth: Afroman, Elite tha Showstoppa, Wildkard [9 pm]

Terrapin Beer Co.: Bunny Carlos [5 pm]

The Melting Point: Fall Funk Fest [9 pm]

Thursday, Oct. 21

40 Watt Club: American Cheeseburger, Guzik, Hot Breath [10 pm]

WonderRoot (Atlanta): Ramming Speed, Doomed Youth, Living Decay, In Ruins [8 pm]

Barnette’s: Concert for Tom Walker [10 pm]

Caledonia Lounge: Ahleuchatistas, Incendiaries, Manray [10 pm]

DePalma’s Italian Cafe: Betsy Franck, Scott Low [FREE!]

Dog Ear Books: Kodac Harrison, Fester Hawood, Adam Payne [FREE!]

Farm 255: Delicate Cutters, Ruby Kendrick, Tiny Cup Prophette [FREE!]

Flicker Theatre & Bar: Dodd Ferrelle, Clint Maul, Timber [10 pm]

Hendershot’s Coffee Bar: Mary Sigalas [FREE!]

Jack’s Bar: Vincent the Dog, Woodfangs [FREE!]

Little King’s Shuffle Club: Lera Lynn, These United States, Thrift Store Cowboys [9 pm]

New Earth: Ample Mammal, Flight Risk, Polish Ambassador, Serkatree [9 pm]

No Where Bar: JazzChronic [10 pm]

Terrapin Beer Co.: Dave Howard [5 pm]

WUOG “Live in the Lobby”: Abandon the Earth Mission [FREE!]

Friday, Oct. 22

The Bad Manor: SOS [FREE!]

Bailey’s American Tavern: The John King Band, Liars & Lovers [FREE!]

Boar’s Head Lounge: Justin Brogdon [FREE!]

Buffalo’s Southwest Cafe: Buttermilk Revival, Jennifer Snipes [8 pm]

Caledonia Lounge: Pastor of Muppets, Powerload [10 pm]

Dog Ear Books: Betsy Franck, Charlie Garrett, Ken Will Morton [FREE!]

Farm 255: Burning Angels [FREE!]

Flicker Theatre & Bar: Hurray for the Riff Raff, Samuel Doores and the Tumbleweeds, Sea of Dogs [8:30 pm]

Gnat’s Landing: Nathan Sheppard [FREE!]

Go Bar: The Fact, Immuzikation, Reeks of Failure [10 pm]

Hendershot’s Coffee Bar: Efren [FREE!]

Little Kings: Nutritional Bass, Repent at Leisure, Ye Old Sub Shoppe [FREE!]

Rye Bar: Carla Le Fever and the Rays [FREE!]

Terrapin Beer Co.: David Barbe and the Quick Hooks, Kuroma [8:30 pm]

The Office Lounge: The Georgia Healers [9 pm]

Vinyl (ATL): Rock4Research w/ Modern Skirts

Saturday, Oct. 23

40 Watt Club: Brad Downs & the Poor Bastard Souls, Charlie Garrett Band, Jay Lang & the Devil’s Due [8 pm]

Boar’s Head Lounge: Brennan Johnson [FREE! 9 pm]

Caledonia Lounge: The Arcs, Future Virgins, Landlord, Paul Collins’ Beat [9 pm]

Dog Ear Books: Danny Hutchens, The Woodgrains [FREE!]

Farm 255: Dusty Lightswitch, Truce [FREE!]

New Earth: The Caste, Supercluster, Two Fresh [7 pm]

Sunday, Oct. 24

Square One Fish Co.: Sunday Jazz Brunch [FREE!]

The Globe: American Cheeseburger, Diet Cokeheads, Witches [9 pm]

Monday, Oct. 25

Caledonia: Hayride [6 pm]

Rye Bar: Max Eve [FREE!]

Drunken Unicorn (ATL): Otophobia, Hellshock, Age, Spewtilator [9 pm]

Tuesday, Oct. 26

Caledonia: David Dondero, Toby Foster, Theo Hilton, Madeline, The Stonebreakers [9:30 pm]

Go Bar: Eskimeaux, Sea of Dogs [10 pm]

Highwire Lounge: Kenosha Kid [8 pm]

Rye Bar: Sumilan [FREE!]

The Melting Pot: Exception to the Rule [7 pm]

WUOG “Live in the Lobby”: Witches [FREE!]

Local Atlanta/Athens death metal band, Living Decay released their first E.P. Entitled Doomed to Last over the summer. It follows their first demo Filled with Rot. Quickly, the band consists of:

• Dylan Martin-Guitar
• David Prae-Guitar/Back-Up Vocals
• Matt Scott-Bass
• Rob Russell-Drums/Vocals

The E.P. consists of fast solos, heavy riffs, and gets your head banging for more tunes from these guys. Doomed to Last depicts what true death metal is all about. The songs on the E.P. are disgusting (in a good way) and filled with gore. The songs are:

• Doomed To Last
• Acid Bath
• Vomit
• Snapped

The E.P. definitely shows the progress that the band has made throughout the last year and a half from their first release. Guitarist David Prae feels that “The material on Doomed to Last is much more of a whole band effort…every song on Doomed to Last has at least some flavor from everyone. In turn, I feel Doomed to Last represents Living Decay (more than Filled with Rot) in how we approach our music as a single disgusting mass. And hopefully we will continue to be able to refine ourselves to make even better and more repulsive offerings in the future.”

I certainly can’t wait to hear what the band brews up next.

To listen to Living Decay, visit their website HERE.

To check them out, head out to WonderRoot in Atlanta on Thursday, October 19th. They’ll be playing with Atlanta locals Doomed Youth, In Ruins, and Boston natives Ramming Speed. The show starts at 8 PM and costs 6 bucks!

Get your copy of Doomed to Last today my visiting their myspace.

Since 585 Wells St.’s hiatus, Atlanta metal and punk bands have been hitting up various venues around town. On Saturday, October 16th, Jack’s Pizza hosted a very thrashin’ show that featured Atlanta natives Spewtilator, Death of Kings, and Withered. The show started off with Spewtilator playing some of the fastest tunes mankind has ever heard. They tore the place up. There was barely any room to stand around and somehow the crowd managed to mosh and crowd surf. Death of Kings played only a quick three song set because the drummer got into some trouble prior to the show. Withered’s drummer stepped up to fill in, just after listening to the three songs on the way to Jack’s Pizza. The night ended with Withered’s set. They will be hitting the road on the Blackest of the Black tour featuring the almighty Danzig, death metal legends Possessed, Marduk, and Toxic Holocaust.

“This song goes out to anyone making a statement.”

Picture unrelated

Saturday night at The Dream Operator turned out not just to be a fun party, but also a great showcase of some the best punk and hard rock Athens has to offer.

Starting out the night was Brooklyn, NY seven-piece Ava Luna. They played a short set of spastic funk rhythms, synth flourishes, and girl group harmonies. They might be what the Dirty Projectors would sound like if the Dirty Projectors weren’t so terrible. They’re sound didn’t really fit in with the rest of the bands that night, but they still put on a great show.

The next band to play was relatively new local band Cold Ones. They were extremely loud and raucous with good stage banter, in other words, a lot of fun. They’re set was unfortunately really short, but you can get your Cold Ones fix by going to their page and downloading their free demo.

The third band to play (and my personal favorite of the night) was The Agenda! They played a great set of fun, danceable punk tunes with a few covers thrown in (I just about lost my mind when they started to play Rebel Girl), and their singer performed with the swagger and confidence of Mick Jagger, running through the crowd and gyrating on the floor. Really, really great stuff.

Next was Marriage. They played to a crowd packed into a tiny room with little space to breathe, but that didn’t stop them from tearing it up. They played fast punk tunes with metal breakdowns with some impressive guitar work for good measure. The crowd was especially rowdy making the floor feel like it was about to break through. Another awesome show.

The final set came from Athens legends Cinemechanica and what a set it was. They played in the largest room of the house and filled it up easily. The crowd was also the craziest of the night. A couple guys crowdsurfed and the guy next to me had to block guitarist’s pedals to keep them from being stepped on. This was all for good reason though, the band played a great set of their intricate mathcore songs. A great finale to an already great night.

Thursday night I found myself in the cool cave-like Rye Bar listening to Groove Tangent once again. A local band that’s only been around for about a year, Groove Tangent is best known for their extensive range of covers from Smash Mouth to the Police to John Mayer to Lady Gaga and beyond. However, last night’s performance most notably gave an excellent taste of original things to come. Included between the covers were a handful of songs representing an original repertoire that has been steadily growing for the band. For example , here’s “Waiting For The Bomb”, one of their original songs:

Waiting For The Bomb

The show itself was energetic and fun. The crowd was largely friends of band members but in the intimate Rye Bar anything more would have been claustrophobic. Clean Break made their Athens premier opening for Groove Tangent. After warming up the crowd (especially a certain dancing cowboy) Clean Break handed the stage over to Groove Tangent who played a long and diverse set. The execution of the covers is excellent–you can tell Groove Tangent is a band made up of  classically trained musicians. In fact, several of the members are currently music majors at UGA’s Hugh Hodgson School Of Music. All in all, the show was quite pleasurable as the crowd sang along to each and every song proving that the art of reproduction is indeed an art worthy of enjoyment.

Set List

1. What I Like About You (as performed by The Romantics)
2. All Star (as performed by Smash Mouth)
3. What Can I Do?*
4. Save Tonight (as performed by Eagle Eye Cherry)
5. What I Want*
6. Message In A Bottle (as performed by The Police)
7. Waiting On The World To Change (as performed by John Mayer)
8. Waiting For The Bomb*
9. Picture In My Pocket*
10. Bad Romance (as performed by Lady Gaga)
11. If I Had $1000000 (as performed by the Bare Naked Ladies)
12. Eight Days A Week (as performed by the Beatles)
13. The Middle (Jimmy Eat World)
14. Crazy For You*
15. The Happiest Days of Our Lives/Another Brick in the Wall, part 2 (as performed by Pink Floyd)
16. Power Of Love (as performed by Huey Lewis & The News)
17. Go Your Own Way (as performed by Fleetwood Mac)
18. Are You Gonna Be My Girl? (as performed by Jet)
19. On My Way (as performed by Doctor Squid)
20. Love Game (as performed by Lady Gaga)
21. Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight (as performed by Spinal Tap)

* original Groove Tangent songs

–WSP

Artist: Utah
Album: Here They Come
Year: 2010

Utah are an Athens two-piece drums and guitar band formed in 2009. Their first release, Here They Come, is a highly proficient husk of Doom ala EyeHateGod, Bongzilla, or Electric Wizard. However, their sound is not always slow and plodding. On the contrary, many of the songs on their first EP are mid tempo and have an occasional punk feel. Their sound is primarily characterized by a wall of fuzzy guitar-distortion. Larry C.’s ride cymbal sets the tempo as he plays fast drum fills and pounds heavy beats on the kick. Will and Larry share vocal duties. Many of the lyrics are sung in a yelled, or chanted fashion which creates a powerful sound and compliments well their primal sounding instruments. The riffs are ever-basked in chewy fuzz and seem as if they were written specifically to compliment the husky sound of the amplifiers. Here They Come is a great demonstration of up-tempo Doom Metal, but none of the songs really feel like completed pieces. The longest song is 2:55 and the whole EP only clocks in at 12:13. Additionally, the EP’s grungey mixing doesn’t truly do justice to the power of Larry’s kick drum which is somewhat lost in the muddy bottom end. However, the exceptionally throaty guitar tone should be a nirvana for hardcore Doom enthusiasts looking for a fuzzy fix.

Tracklist:
1. Bisontennial
2. Geo
3. Help
4. Uno
5. Jorge

This week the rumor mill whispers news of new music from a fearsome monster. Could this apocalyptic future be upon us? Hint: Look at the picture.

–WSP

Disclaimer: Rumors are, by their nature, not necessarily factual. I also heard a rumor that Cher and Elvis would be doing celebrity weddings in Vegas. Everyone knows Elvis doesn’t do weddings.