43 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(10/14/11 8:51pm)
Sunday, 3:12 p.m.
I’ve been sick all morning. Some sort of stomach flu combined with the exhaustion that comes from running across miles of sand all weekend. But today has been a pretty sparse day anyway. We interviewed Mutemath and the Constellations today, but that’s about all we’ve had time for. It’s a six hour drive home, and I don’t want to arrive at 6 a.m. the morning before a big test.
DeLuna Fest has been one of the most special experiences of my life. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about it one tenth as much as I’ve enjoyed covering it.
Sunday, Oct. 16, 2:15 a.m.
This has certainly been a night. Maybe not as memorable or life-changing as the end to Friday night, but jam packed with a ton of crazy moments nonetheless. I’m writing this from the free-wifi at a bar, where I’ve been watching a classic rock cover band. I can’t escape the music. I don’t want to.
We’ll start with the Shins. It’s been years since I heard of any new activity with the band (in fact, their spot at DeLuna Fest was one of only three shows they played this year), so it was an amazing surprise to find that not only are they incredible live, they have new songs in the works. From what I heard, I can’t wait for their new record. In addition to their own songs, The Shins also busted out covers of Pink Floyd’s “Breathe” and David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes.” More, please.
Jane’s Addiction was scheduled to go on after the Shins, but because of a delay on their part, I only got to see a few of their songs before heading off to see the remix DJ Diplo, who also serves as one half of the electronic dancehall act Major Lazer. That was probably a better choice, as I was much more captivated by the insane dance party that broke out during Diplo’s set of remixes. Ghostland Observatory played at the same time, and all reports point to them being excellent.
I also caught The Hood Internet’s mashup heavy set after Diplo. They were good, but sparsely attended. Unfortunately, the crowd just wasn’t giving off the best energy they could. Still, those guys are great DJs. I’d love to see them in a slightly more energetic setting. But after two full days of rocking out, some people can’t keep it going too long.
But really, the biggest problem with the fest so far has been the lack to rime to see every band I want. It’s been — Oh! The cover band is playing “Born to Run.” Catch you later.
Manchester Orchestra.
Andy Hull of Manchester Orchestra
Saturday, Oct. 15, 9:30 p.m.
I've been loving this festival, bu I'll say one thing: I can't stand all this walking across the beach. Loose sand is really difficult to walk on, and with about a half mile in between the two main stages, I'm about wiped out. But I soldier on. I do it because I don't want to collapse on the beach. And also because I like to party.
Manchester Orchestra rocked the main stage about two hours ago. I'm always consistently impressed by their shows. I saw them at a small venue with Anathallo back in 2005 when they were a local, Marietta, Georgia band. So every time I've seen them since then, they've grown bigger and bigger. It's really impressive to see them on the main stage of a major festival. And they've really grown into their status as legitimate rock stars. I've always preferred to see certain types of bands in smaller settings, and it would occasionally bother my when "my" smaller bands would graduate onto larger venues. But it never bothered me with Manchester Orchestra. They really deserve to become the huge stars that they're on their way to becoming.
And Manchester's live show has evolved into a much more serious, professional affair in the years since I've seen them. It's one thing to play for an intimate crowd and have everyone quiet down and listen. It's much harder to get a band to command a huge audience's every single thought. And Manchester Orchestra knows how to do it. They swing between hard rockers like "Shake It Out" and more intimate numbers with absolute ease, frontman Andy Hull alternatingly crooning and screaming his voice out. Five years after their debut record, Manchester Orchestra is showing no signs of slowing down. I can't wait to see where they end up next.
But in non-Manchester Orchestra related issues, the New Pornographers also gave a killer set at the Wind Creek set. I won't lie; the New Pornographers were a little before my time, but I never really bothered to look into their back catalog in the same way I did with bands like Pavement and Sebadoh (as is the same with tonight's headliners Jane's Addiction). But I legitimately regret not seriously looking into at least their most famous records before the show. They were such an enthralling that I help but stand in awe, despite having very little familiarity with the band as a whole.
Now excuse me, I have some New Pornographers records to listen to before the next band comes on.
Girl Talk brings out the best in people.
Saturday, Oct. 15, 5:30 p.m.
So, it's another day at DeLuna Fest. Rather than showing up early for the festival, the Cluster team decided to spend some time exploring the city of Pensacola before making our way to the beach. I have to say, I've really impressed with the city. It's full of super friendly people doing awesome things. We stumbled upon a farmer's market, Occupy Pensacola protesters, and a ton of other interesting people. One of whom rode a tall bike. We also at at McGuire's Pub, one of Pensacola's most famous restaurants. Let me tell you, I am all about their fish and chips.
But I know you're not reading this just to hear about a relaxing beach town. You want to know about the bands. I understand that, so I'll skip to the awesome stuff. Right now, Outkast's Big Boi is tearing the stage apart on the last song of his set. He's cycled through both new material and older Outkast hits, and he brings a level of serious artistry to all of it. Hip-hop is definitely under-represented at the fest, so I'm glad to see that such a strong performer was given time on the main stage, even if he went on a bit early for my tastes. I bet it would have been even crazier had he gone on closer to nine.
Anyway, the New Pornographers are playing at another stage now. I have to hustle over there. After that, Manchester Orchestra, The War On Drugs, The Shins, and tons of others will be playing. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, I have to fit in an interview with up and coming electronic indie rockers The Constellations. I'm up for the challenge.
Day 1. Weezer.
Saturday, Oct. 15, 10 a.m.
Wow. There's really nothing I can say about last night's headlining bands. Cake, Weezer, and Girl Talk all played back to back, and it was just an insane combination of bands. By the end of the day, I was almost bereft of energy, having spent hours walking back and forth across the beach, hustling from stage to stage and somehow finding time to write in between. But I soldiered on and continued to check out some awesome bands. I do it all for you, readers.
I'm not the biggest Cake fan in the world, so I was honestly unsure of what to expect from their set. I wasn't disappointed, but I wasn't blown away either. They cycled through some of their bigger hits, launched into a few extended jam sessions, and then just sort of ended right as I felt it was really getting started. Cake is comprised of some seriously talented musicians, but the band just seemed like they didn't think about the fact that their set was only an hour long. I'd love to see them in a headlining when they'd have more time to explore their back catalog and still trot out the hits, but I could take or leave their set last night.
Bow before Cake.
So, a little underwhelmed with Cake's set, I few a few minutes early to ensure I'd find a spot in Weeer's photo pit. Two years ago, I wrote a review of Weezer's Raditude and formally broke up with the band. I was so unimpressed with their new material that I'd decided to write them off altogether. But when I saw they'd be headlining DeLuna Fest, I figured it couldn't hurt if I went and saw them live. You know, for old time's sake. I feel guilty for ever leaving them. Weezer's two hour set was nothing short of incredible.
Sure, their last couple albums have been pretty lackluster. No one's going to deny that. But seeing all the passion and energy they put "El Scorcho" and "Surf Wax America" live, none of that matters. My disappointment had all been washed away. Hell, they even brought that same manic energy to their new material. It was hard to believe I'd ever held anything against them. Rivers Cuomo is an absolutely enthralling frontman. At one point during the beginning of the band's set, Rivers jumped off the stage, hopped a few security fences, and brought the show right into the crowd, standing atop a sand dune as the crowd sang in awe below him. While there was a host of photographers following him for this, I ended up falling headfirst down the dune and missed the shot. It was...disappointing. But hill-related mishaps aside, I've fallen in love with Weezer all over again. It almost makes me want to give Make Believe a second chance. Almost.
Then, as Weezer's set ended, I dragged my tired legs across the beach for the massive dance party that is Girl Talk. Sure, I was worn out, dehydrated, and extremely tired, but it wasn't like I didn't have the energy to dance myself to death. I'll tell you one thing, for a dude that spends the show manipulating tracks on a laptop, Greg Gillis understands how to put on a show. It's unfair to call the remix/mashup artist a DJ, but most of his live set was spent doing just that. But DJs are boring to look at. What's more exciting to look at? Clearly, the answer is 50 twentysomethings dancing on stage and an endless amount of confetti and toilet paper being launched into the crowd. It was an experience. An insane, sweaty experience. In a lot of ways, Girl Talk's set wasn't too different from last year's album All Day, but Gillis threw enough surprises into the mix that everything stayed fresh without being unfamiliar. So, just how mind-blowing was Girl Talk's set? After the crowd had dispersed, Jonathan, Liz, and I found each other and just sat there stunned for the longest time. There was nothing to say. My mind was gone, lost somewhere in the shuffle of a thousand bodies dancing to a remix of Iggy Pop and the Beastie Boys. It was certainly a good end to the night.
Matt and Kim
Friday, Oct. 14, 7:20 p.m.
Matt and Kim just took the stage, and I'm absolutely wiped out. If there's one thing the keyboard and drums duo knows how to do, it's command an audience. They rushed onto the stage, backed up by the Rocky theme, and immediately jumped into one of the strongest, most energetic sets I've ever seen.
Plenty of bands can run through a setlist full of greatest hits, but sometimes it's hard to really connect with an audience on a level deeper than, "Hey, I've heard these songs before." They'll run through your favorite songs in such a boring, lifeless manner that you forget why you even bothered to see them live. Matt and Kim is not that band. They held a legitimate dialog with the audience, with each feeding off the other's ever-increasing energy. Hits like "Good Old Fashioned Nightmare" and "Daylight" become more than just songs — they were communal experiences, shared by the band and audience alike. Plus, Kim did this thing where she stood on the audience's hands and danced. If you're not into legitimately meaningful experiences, there's always that.
Cold War Kids is on the main stage now. The just played "Hang Me Up To Dry," and while it was a great rendition, it lacked the authentic joy for performance that Matt and Kim brought to the table. I'm not too sad that I'm only hearing their set in bits and pieces. And if you'll excuse me, I'm off to secure a good spot for Cake, who plays in about half an hour.
Wandering the festival grounds.
Friday, Oct. 14, 5:34 p.m.
After our initial post, The Cluster team was understandably pretty excited to roam around the fest and check everything out. And I'll tell you, it's a pretty sweet setup. The two main stages are right on the beach, with a couple smaller stages in a larger area out in front of the hotels. It's a good setup, leaving a lot of room for festgoers to explore without feeling crowded, but it's small enough that you can't get particularly lost. And that fact that we're right on the beach certainly isn't hurting the mood.
So, what bands have we been seeing so far? My favorite at this point was the raucous, electronically tinged AWOLNATION. I'm not gonna lie, I spent most of their set subconsciously trying to place them in one specific genre or another. "Hmm, maybe 'aggressively electronic indie rock?' No, no. That won't work. What about 'synth rock?' That's terrible." It went on like that for a while until I just decided they didn't need a genre. And there's a reason for that. Their sound is incredibly varied, ranging from the chill indie-pop of "Not Your Fault" to "Burn It Down"'s hyped up, drugged out version of roots rock. It was like someone gave Elvis the really good stuff early in his career and stuck him a modern recording booth. And AWOLNATION has the energetic stage presence to pull it off. Watch out for them in the future. They won't be a mid-day act for too much longer.
A horn-heavy funk rock act named Trombone Shorty is on the main stage now. Matt and Kim goes on soon, followed by Cake, Weezer, and Girl Talk. It's a long stretch of great bands. I probably won't update until significantly later, but there'll be good stuff to report on then.
Day 1, 3:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 14, 3:35 p.m.
So, The Cluster has just arrived at DeLuna Fest in Pensacola Beach, Florida. For the next three days, we'll be hanging out on the beach and watching a ton of bands, from The Shins to Girl Talk, to Outkast's Big Boi. I know, I know. You're very jealous. But that's why we have this blog, so you can read about it in real time. It's almost like you're here.
Right now, I'm with editor-in-chief Liz Bibb and columnist Jonathan Popham in the media room. Ra Ra Riot is playing in the background. Their stage is right on the beach, and it's an amazing scene. We're all very excited to get out there are start experiencing this big, beautiful festival. Over the next few days, we'll have photos, interviews, and more ready to go live online. We hope you enjoy it all as much as we do.
(10/06/11 12:47am)
I’m not really sure if you’ve noticed, but we’re sort of into music here at The Cluster entertainment page. It’s kind of our big thing. That’s why, this fall break, we’re headed to Deluna Fest, a three day music festival on the beaches of Pensacola, Florida. And we’d like you to join us.
That’s right, you, dear reader. We want you to accompany us to Pensacola from October 14-16, hang out with us on the beach, and see some of the best bands currently in the industry.Headliners include Weezer, Girl Talk, Jane’s Addiction, Cut Copy, Cake and tons more. We actually cannot properly stress how much we love this lineup. We’ll be offering live-blog and print coverage of the fest, but really, that’s not enough for us. We need to see your beautiful faces singing and dancing along with us. Don’t disappoint us, readers.
So, here are the details.
The festival is held in Pensacola Beach, the Florida panhandle. I’ll do your work for you and let you know that it’s about a six hour drive. The fest lasts from Friday, October 14 to the following Sunday, October 16, and the music generally lasts from about noon until midnight, or whenever exactly Gregg Gillis decides to stop jumping around onstage.
You’ve got three hotels to choose from, all priced to fit different budgets. I suppose you could stay off festival grounds, but they offer some pretty good deals for festivalgoers.
The festival features five stages, the main stage and four others sponsored by Wind Creek, gopensacola.com, Gulf Winds Jazz & Heritage and Grooveshark. Personally, I plan to split most of my time betwen Wind Creek and the main stage, but there’s seriously not a wrong choice. The smaller stages all feature a wide variety of independent and up-and-coming acts.
So, Mercerians, what do you say? Are you going to join your favorite writers at an awesome music festival. or are you going to do something lame like go camping? Because seriously, this is better.
Visit www.delunafest.com for a full lineup of bands and schedule.
(10/06/11 12:33am)
I’ve always been on the fence about Nirvana. On one hand, I recognize that Nevermind is probably the single most important album in over 20 years. They exploded onto the scene and changed the music industry forever — like some drugged up, diseased version of The Beatles that crawled out of a hole in a Pacific Northwest forest — and were gone just three short years after their sophomore album made them superstars.
But Nirvana was never the most talented band to come out of the alternative rock scene in the late ‘80s (a fact Cobain would be the first to mention). While they’re primarily responsible for the alt-rock boom of the early ‘90s, I always thought it would have been far more fitting if someone like Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., or the Pixies were the ones to first break into the mainstream. But hey, that’s just wishful thinking, not really something that I can hold against Cobain and company.
Still, despite all of its critical acclaim and power, Nevermind is a difficult album to listen to in the 21st century. The songs haven’t lost any of their visceral impact. It’s nothing like that. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” kicks off the album like a brick to the back of your head. The spite and fury of “Breed” and “Drain You” are still chilling — or they would be if the songs weren’t able to mix that fury with legitimately catchy songwriting.
Hell, to this day, there are scores of grindcore bands that only wish they could record a song as beautifully harsh and alienating as “Territorial Pissings.” No, the record never lost any of its fire or spark over the years, but I worry that the world as a whole just isn’t in the state of mind to appreciate Nevermind anymore.
The problem is that, after 20 years, so many bands have co-opted and built on Nirvana’s sound that it just isn’t revolutionary anymore. We’ve heard it all before, and most of us have heard it done better. Nevermind is a classic album, to be sure, but it’s a classic not so much because it continues to resonate powerfully to our culture, but because it reflects where our culture used to be. In a sense, Nevermind is a time capsule.
Think about it this way: even 40 years later, The Beatles’ Abbey Road still sounds new and exciting. The melodies are so intricate, the music is so solidly written, and the lyrics are so perfect, that it’s timeless. Honestly, I don’t want to live in a world where people have stopped listening to that record.
But anger, venom, and an intense similarity to the Pixies were the most important things Nirvana brought to the table. And they’re not particularly difficult elements to recreate. And so over the years, bands like Radiohead, the White Stripes, and even the Foo Fighters built on the foundations that Nirvana laid down. Listening to it now is almost like hearing pre-Elvis rock and roll. It’s hard to see exactly what the big deal is.
On a certain level, it’s sad, because I’d love to experience the record as an angsty 17 year old that grew up with Def Leppard and Styx. It would be a revelation. But today, it just lacks some of the original flair.
So yes, Nevermind is a classic album. Yes, it’s a pretty good album. But I don’t know if it’s a truly great one. That doesn’t mean we should stop listening to it.
Classic or catastrophe: Classic (but not for the reasons you’d think)
Editor’s note: They re-mastered and re-released Nirvana’s Nevermind about two weeks ago to celebrate its 20th anniversary. For the record, I’m listening to the original mix of the album, not the new version.
(10/06/11 12:30am)
As I’m sure you’ve all heard, genre-bending singer and songwriter Janelle Monáe will be performing at the Grand Opera House this Friday, backed with indie pop act fun., as a part of Mercer’s Fall Concert. Her debut album, The ArchAndroid dropped last year and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary R&B album.
I recently spoke to the bombastic singer over the phone about recording, touring, and performing with her idols. Despite my phone constantly threatening to ruin the entire interview, I think I’ve managed to edit the whole thing into a pretty enjoyable article. Read on.
Eric Brown: So, to start, could you tell me a bit about yourself and tour music for Mercer students that may not be familiar with your work?
Janelle Monáe: Sure. Well, I started off as an up-and-coming artist, and I guess you could still call me that. I formed a partnership with my recording label, the Wondaland Arts Society and Atlantic records. That was made possibly by Sean Combs as well as Big Boi of Outkast. They’re huge supporters of the Wondaland Camp, which is based out of Atlanta, Georgia. They just felt that our ideas should be recognized, and so they helped us get a distribution deal with Atlantic. But we’re still pretty much the main producers behind all the music.
So I’ve worked my way up from an independent artist selling CDs out of my trunk to being at the Grammies this year and performing there. We’ve really just been doing things our way, and we’re not allowing big corporations to push us to do things that they think are popular just to sell records. We focus on teamwork, and we believe in the artists. And I love performing, which is why I’m coming to the school. I want to share the music with you guys. It’s not just a concert or just me showcasing songs as an artist. It’s an experience. I’m coming with the full orchestra, and we’re all just really excited to give you an experience that we truly believe you’ll never forget.
EB: Speaking of performances, you’re known for very big, over-the top concerts. What goes into putting on a show like that?
JM: Well, we’ve on tour for the past few months, which has been amazing. We’ve been with artists from Stevie Wonder to Prince, and we’ve had a lot of time to hone our sets and get the music from the album perfect and learn our covers properly. We love doing covers, because we’re genuinely fans of the bands we cover. We always wish we had written the music ourselves. And we’ve had a good bit of time to focus on those things. So through experience, I believe we’ve been able to cultivate our live show into something special and unique, and now we’re ready to watch it grow. I don’t know exactly how the show will go down at Mercer, because it’s a very organic process, but we plan to make it a special one.
EB: So, what sort
JB: Well, a lot of them are the artists I mentioned before, artists that my band and I cover live: Prince, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, the Jackson Five. All of those artists definitely helped open up doors for us, so we pay homage to them when we need to.
EB: On the ArchAndroid, you worked with Sean Combs and Outkast’s Big Boi. What has that experience like for you?
JM: Well, Big Boi sang on the track “Tightrope,” and Combs executive produced the record, just financially making sure that everything got out there. His big contribution was making sure that we had the funding to record and do our videos and everything like that. Everything, though, was ultimately created and written by myself, Nate “Rocket” Wonder, Chuck Lightning, and Roman GianArthur of Wondaland Productions. It was geat to have their ears working on the project, giving feedback. Ultimately, they were supporters on the project, and maybe not as involved as one would think.
EB: So, you’d say you’re really dedicated to doing as much of the production work as you can by yourself?
JM: Yes, I would.
EB: What goes into the writing process for you?
JM: It varies. A lot of the songs on The ArchAndroid came to me in my dreams. I spent a long time on my iPhone recorder just jotting those notes down, ust a few words or a melody that I find beautiful. I’m in Brazil right now, and I’m looking out at the Atlantic ocean, and I could easily be influenced to write lyrics for the songs I have melodies to. Who knows? There’s not just one real formula to it.
EB: A lot of your songs are very futuristic in their lyrics, dealing with androids and things like that. What inspires you in that regard?
JM: Well, I think there a lot of parallels between androids and the world right now. I think they’re the new “other.” You can parallel that to people treating gay society differently, the way any majority deals with a minority. It has parallels to the way people of African descent were enslaved because of the color of their skin. Or even trying to force people to fall in line with your idea of what is religiously correct. All those things can be paralleled with the android, and that’s why I speak about it. But I believe that once those “others” are integrated into society, we can all get along.
(09/22/11 12:16am)
Welcome to Kill Your Idols. This is my third year as The Cluster’s entertainment editor, and I’ve never bothered to indulge myself with a regular column before (if you don’t count failed Reviewing Movies I’ve Never Seen, which I co-authored from time to time), and I decided it was high time for one. So let’s just jump right into this. Kill Your Idols is all about classic albums, records that critics and fans hold up as perfect, or nearly perfect. I’ll be listening to these albums and examining them, seeing if they really deserve all the hype they’ve built up. At some point, I will probably slander your favorite record. Sorry.
I’ll be blunt here. Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over the Sea is probably the most over-hyped album of all time. Upon its rerelease in 2005, Pitchfork gave the record its coveted 10.0 rating, while Rolling Stone, composed of the stuffiest and least hip rock critics working in the 21st century, rated the indie darling four and a half stars. Amazon.com’s list of the 100 best indie rock albums places Aeroplane well above Pixies’ Surfer Rosa and Elliot Smith’s Either/Or, rankings that I personally consider to be crimes against humanity. Clearly, though, this is a well-loved album. But it isn’t a good one.
I’m sure someone out there will want to tell me that I just “don’t get” this record. But that’s not true. I “got it” just fine when I was 16. I loved this album back when I first heard it. I thought band leader Jeff Mangum was absolutely brilliant, and I carried In The Aeroplane in the Sea close to my heart for a good five or six years before I finally sat down and thought to myself, “Just what the hell is this Mangum guy going on about, anyway?”
Now, I’m not generally a guy that cares too much about lyrics. I can take or leave them, and unless they’re particularly amazing (or particularly terrible), I tend not to focus so much on what a band says as much as I do on how they play. But I can’t give Aeroplane’s lyrics a pass, if only because fans like to hold Mangum’s incoherent ramblings up as deeply philosophical.
The lyrics are weird and somewhat interesting, to be sure, but ultimately, they’re inscrutable. You can spend days trying to figure out what exactly lines like “Silver speakers that sparkle all day / Made for his lover who’s floating and choking with her hands across her face” are really referring to, but ultimately, Mangum’s lyrics aren’t poems with secret meanings to unlock; they’re strange and off-putting for no real reason. I just don’t think there’s anything there in the end.
Nothing, that is, except a weirdly fetishized portrayal of Anne Frank. Yes, that Anne Frank, the 14 year-old who hid from the Nazis. It’s never exactly made explicit, but the album is peppered with allusions to her life, and Mangum has on many occasions made reference to the emotional impact Frank’s diaries had on him. The Frank themes aren’t particularly odd, until you get to some of Mangum’s more blatantly sexual lines, such as “We would lay and learn what each other’s bodies were for” and “semen stains the mountaintops.” It’s…uncomfortable. Now, I am not saying that those lines are actually in reference to a long-dead 14 year old girl. In context, they seem to be describing Mangum’s life, exploring the awkward fumbling of adolescent sexuality. But having these two themes compete with each other is, at the least, extremely off-putting.
But like I said, as uncomfortable as some of those lyrical themes are, lyrics are never the entirety of an album. And musically, Aeroplane has some pretty great moments. “Holland, 1945,” for example, is absolutely brilliant. It’s fast-paced, emotionally gripping, and just an absolute joy to listen to. But I don’t think the rest of the album stands up to that one song. “Oh Comely” and “Ghost” are both good, but they pale in comparison. And plenty of the songs on the album are actually pretty bad.
Take “The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. II.” It begins as Mangum sings, “I love you, Jesus Cuh-rhist” in the most grating voice possible. Obviously, this is a intentional. Mangum wants to be grating, possibly in an attempt to quickly drive away people that wouldn’t like the rest of the record. But the fact remains that those two minutes are just terrible to listen to. Plenty of other songs are simply there, never really evolving in any direction.
Ultimately, I don’t think Aeroplane is the worst record. It’s pretty good in a lot of ways. But it’s been canonized as virtually flawless in certain circles, and I just don’t think it deserves that reputation. I certainly don’t think it’s better than many other well-regarded records of the ‘90s such as Radiohead’s OK Computer or The Flaming Lips’ Soft Bulletin. In the end, Aeroplane isn’t too bad of a record, but its status as a masterpiece is, well, questionable at best. Maybe I’m being too harsh on a decent record, but someone has to counterbalance those perfect scores this record received.
Classic or catastrophe? Catastrophe.
(09/22/11 12:09am)
The Front Bottoms are one of the most interesting new bands I’ve come across in a long time. The New Jersey duo, composed of singer/guitarist Brian Sella and Matt Uychich recently released their self-titled debut album, an absolutely mind-blowing blend of pop, rock, and old fashioned punk spirit. They’ve only got a drum set and an accoustic guitar, and yet they manage to craft songs that are catchy, fun, and surprisingly emotional. It’s no wonder that I love ‘em so much. And so, being such a huge fan, I sat down with them after their show at the 567 a few weeks back. Read on to hear a bit more about their songwriting, influences, and crazy tour stories.
Eric: So just tell me a little bit about about the band.
Matt Uychich: Sure, We’re the Front Bottoms, two friends, Brian and Matt, we play music that we like to play, like dancey, indie music.
Eric: How’d you guys get started?
Brian: I’d always kinda jammed with Matt and his brother, and were kinda like ‘Let’s do this a little more official’ so we thought of a name and then we started playing shows and just as soon as we would think of music we would record it, give it out, play more shows, and we’ve been doing that for about four years.
Eric: Nice! And you’re debut album just dropped this week right?
Brian: This week yeah, the sixth.
Eric: What was recording that like?
Matt: It was fun, it was a little different and it kinda dragged on. We recorded it in our friend’s warehouse space. It actually was like Christmas time and there was a big break taken between him, and there was flooding issues where the studio is.
Brian: A lot of shit got destroyed
Matt: So it took a while, but it all came out good
Eric: Some of the songs were on some EPs earlier right?
Brian: Yeah, there were six songs on an EP called Slow Dance to Soft Rock that we had released kind of unprofessionally. And so this is called The Frontbottoms, but it’s really Slow Dance to Soft Rock and Grip and Tie. Two separate things that came together to form the LP
Matt: Grip and Tie is what we recorded during that break spot, and then when it finished we were talking to Bar None, and then we signed with Bar None, and then we were like “let’s put these two together, and it will be something cool”
Eric: So what are some of your biggest influences just about sound or songwriters in general?
Brian: I think that our friends and the kids that we hang around with are kind of our biggest influences right now personally. Matt always says that. That’s about it. I mean musically we could say I like folk music, and I like dance music. I like hip hop a lot too, and I like Top 40 dance music. A little bit of everything, you know?
Matt: Without the people we were involved with, our songs wouldn’t be what they are.
Eric: So are there specific stories that go along with the people?
Matt: Well he writes all the words, but there’s instances where someone will tell us a cool story about their friend, or a distant friend, or even them, or something that happens to us, and that’s what the song is. And then when I make the drums, it’s like I express my mood in the songs.
Brian: Yeah, we’re driven by our emotions, for sure!
Eric: So what goes into writing the lyrics, because I know some of them seem sort of stream-of-consciousness, non-sequitur...
Brian: More like parts put together? Definitely, we feel the same way. I might have twenty parts for a song, and they might not be about the same thing but the style and the mood and the theme of the song are all the same thing, so that’s kind of how it goes. Piecing things together. There’s some songs that are a complete thought from start to finish. There’s not many, but there’s a few of them.
Eric: What would you say is an example of one of those songs?
Brian: I would say Father, Swimming Pool, and then a lot of old stuff. That’s the way I would write a lot of old stuff. Less verse chorus verse chorus, and more like a thought into a song.
Eric: So how’s this tour been treating you?
Brian: It’s been pretty good, rock ‘n roll. We’ve done a lot of DIY tours for the past couple years, and this one’s good.
Matt: We’ve played a lot of new places that we’ve never been to, so no familiar places when you roll into the area.
Brian: It’s like, where are you going to sleep tonight?
Matt: It’s also the first time we’ve had our friend Drew play with us live, to fill in our sound, and he’s been great.
Eric: What’s he play?
Matt: Keys and Bass, and he’s really helping out.
Brian: He really knows what he’s doing musically, so he definitely pulls it together.
Eric: Is this your biggest tour so far?
Brian: No, we did some DIY tours down in Florida, I think like twice, two times in the past.
Eric: What’s the big difference between this and a DIY tour?
Matt: To be honest, this is definitely a DIY tour.
Brian: Yeah, finding places to sleep is still an issue that happens every night.
Matt: The only difference was that it wasn’t just me booking it. We had three people helping me.
Eric: Do you find that gives you more time to be creative if you’re not having to deal with booking everything?
Matt: I think, definitely. I mean, I sometimes go back and forth because when I’m the most stressed and the most busy and trying to work 40 hours a week and do all this shit, I write the best material.
Eric: If you guys could go touring with any bands, who would you like to go out with?
Brian: I think I would like to go out on tour with someone I’ve never heard of. Or a band that is completely not our style because you have to really learn to perform.
Eric: Any interesting stories from the tour?
Matt: The cops busted some of the first shows. We were about to play, getting our shit together, and nine cops raided the house.
Brian: Just random debauchery, you know.
(09/07/11 11:31pm)
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="376" caption="Fun."][/caption]
After bringing in hit artists ranging from The Format to 3Oh!3 to Gym Class Heroes, Bearstock has become one of Quadworks’ most ambitious and well-recieved projects, leaving the organization wondering what they can possibly do to top last year’s event. Their answer? More concerts.
Quadworks spent several weeks teasing two ambigous artists for a fall concert, and now they’re ready to reveal who is going to rock Mercer on Friday, October 7. R&B singerJanelle Monae is performing with indie pop act Fun (stylized “fun.”) at the Grand Opera House downtown this fall.
Monae, who jumpstarted her career by appearing on Outkast’s 2007 album Idlewild, is known for her orchestral instrumentals and soulful vocals.
Fun, comprised of former members of The Format, Anathallo, and Steel Train, artfully blends genres into memorable, catchy anthems.
It all takes place October 7 at the Grand Opera House. Tickets are on sale at the Grand now. Don’t miss out or you’ll be sad.
(08/18/11 10:49pm)
Summer is usually the prime time for new music. As with blockbuster movies, bands and record labels like to wait until peak times to put out a sure-fire hit. But unfortunately for you, I haven’t been reviewing music for The Cluster this summer, and you’ve been missing out on my sage wisdom. But now you can catch up to speed with this handy list of the best records to come out this summer.
Death Cab for Cutie — Codes and Keys: As the ninth major release from these indie giants, Codes and Keys might cause some concern for longtime fans. After all, other bands have faded into mediocrity in half the time Death Cab has been around. But Codes and Keys is an absolute gem of an album, perfectly marrying the band’s atmospheric instruments and catchy melodies. Album closer “Stay Young, Go Dancing” is a particularly beautiful testament to new love. Buy this album.
Bomb the Music Industry! — Vacation: The latest release from the bizarro punk collective, Vacation stays true to the band’s frequently insane roots. 8-bit keyboard lines, random ska interludes, and electronic stops and starts all punctuate the record, which stands as one of the most memorable punk albums of the decade.
Wugazi — 13 Chambers: Let’s face it. We all love mashup projects, especially when they combine sources as disparate as Fugazi and the Wu-Tang Clan. A collaboration between DJs Cecil Otter and Swiss Andy, the project expertly drops the rhymes of RZA, Ghostface Killah, Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Raekwon over the music of post-punk legends Fugazi. It’s much more self contained than projects like Girl Talk, but it’s always magical hearing these two worlds collide.
Bon Iver — Bon Iver: This self-titled sophomore effort might go down as the best record of the year. Intimate, haunting, and emotionally moving, Bon Iver expands their signature folk-tinged sound, incorporating a veritable orchestra to flesh out these beautifully crafted confessionals.
F*cked Up — David Comes to Life: The Canadian art punks make their triumphant return after The Chemistry of Common Life. David... is ostensibly a concept album about working class London youth, but you don’t need to follow the liner notes to understand the album’s raw, uncut power. Standout tracks include the blazingly fast “Queen of Hearts,” and the surprisingly melodic “A Little Death.” Like a modern day rendition of Refused’s The Shape of Punk to Come, F*cked Up is reinventing punk rock, and it’s absolutely thrilling to hear.
Laura Stevenson and the Cans — Sit. Resist.: Though she is a longtime member of Bomb the Music Industry!, Stevenson’s solo outings are much more refined affairs. Stevenson’s latest album is a step up from her debut, A Record, with songs ranging from upbeat rockers to sad, soft folk numbers.
Des Ark — Don’t Rock the Boat, Sink the F*cker: Chapel Hill native Aimée Argote sure likes to take her time. The aggressive singer/songwriter, performing under the name Des Ark, put out her last record all the way back in 2006. But whatever her reasons for the creative hiatus, they must have been good, because Don’t Rock the Boat… was definitely worth the wait. Argote is alternatingly vicious, emotional, and reserved, but she’s never boring.
Foster the People — Torches: This is dance music at its finest. The electronic act’s debut record Torches is full of instantly memorable singles, including “Helena Beat.” and “Pumped up Kicks,” both of which will have you shaking your ass for days on end.
David Bazan — Strange Negotiations: Since his days in the dour emo duo Pedro the Lion, David Bazan has been known for his sharp, insightful lyrics. His latest solo record ruminates on politics, religion, and death with the cynical tone fans have come to expect, all while exploring new musical territory.
You, Me & Everyone We Know — Things are Really Weird Right Now: This record is short, but it wins on catchiness alone. Things... is a unique and original pop-punk masterpiece. Unfortunately, the band seems to have broken up right after its release. Bummer.
(04/27/11 11:47pm)
Even before they hosted this year’s annual Big Bird Bash, I already thought that The Hummingbird was one of the coolest places in downtown Macon. It has great drink specials, a relaxed atmosphere, and great music from both DJs and live bands. It’s a fantastic place in every way. Now, after their all-day showcase of some of Macon’s greatest musicians, I’m absolutely convinced.
This year marked The Hummingbird’s second Big Bird Bash, a celebration of the city’s local talent. The show began and noon and featured food, drinks and, of course, a wide and consistently awesome selection of local artists ranging from the down and dirty blues sound of Broken Bootstraps to the experimental rock artistry of Mag Tard. Of course, it wasn’t just a fun time. Proceeds from the night went to the Central Georgia CASA, an organization that benefits children suffering from abuse and neglect. It’s good to know that all of the fun is in support of a fantastic cause as well.
The day started out strong with Barry Darnell and the Mobile Slim Band playing their unique combination of blues and funk-inspired rock. After their sound provided a perfect opener for the festivities, singer-songwriter Louise Warren followed them up.
As the day went on, audiences were treated to sets by The Vineyard, Broken Bootstraps, Chelsea Hughes, and more before Gringo Grande ended the night. The variety of artists was tuly impressive, and the venue managed to pack the house with fans of country, blues, and rock.
I was most impressed with Mag Tard’s set. The four-piece rock band incorporates a saxaphone into their sound, making for a unique experience. The energetic band even dropped in a cover of The Ramones’ “Blitzkreig Bop.” The song has been covered so many times that it’s hard to make any take on it sound original, but Mag Tard’s melodic guitars and saxaphone managed to put a fresh spin on the beloved classic.
I’ve always been a big advocate of Mercer students becoming more involved in Macon affairs. Whenever I go to shows at the 567 or the Golden Bough, I hardly ever see Mercerians there. Unless, that is, they came with me. I just don’t get it. But hey, maybe Mercer kids aren’t the most fond of some of Macon’s more experimental acts. I can understand that, but The Big Bird Bash is the perfect opportunity for Mercer students to engage in the local community. Heck, the only places I ever see Mercer students downtown is at bars, anyway. You’d think more students would be all over an awesome all-day concert. If you’re reading this right now, and you never attend concerts in Macon, stop it. Head out and get connected with your community. I promise, you won’t regret it at all.
(04/27/11 11:45pm)
Boulder, Colorado-based band 3OH!3 is known for their intense electronic sound and catchy, fun lyrics. Before the duo of Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte took the stage at Bearstock this year, I sat down to ask them a few questions about Mercer, their music and their upcoming work. Read on below.
Eric Brown: So how has Mercer been treating you so far?
Sean Foreman: Good, man. We got in pretty early so we’re trying to catch up on a little sleep, ‘cause we’ve been playing shows every night in a row. But I walked down the street and got coffee at Jittery Joe’s. It’s a cool area, with the Barnes and Noble and everything. It’s just beautiful. We sat on the lawn and watched a couple of bands play. It’s a nice campus.
EB: Thanks. So, where have you guys been playing recently?
SF: Well, last night we played at Rutgers in New Jersey. The night before that we were...where was that?
Nathaniel Motte: I can’t believe it was only two days ago. We were in Erie, Pa., playing at Penn State. This is towards the end of it, but we’ve been doing college shows all spring. It’s been awesome.
EB: So, are you guys working on any new material right now?
SF: Yeah, we’re trying to juggle a couple things right now. He lives in Colorado and I live in LA, and we’re on the road a lot, but we make it work and we’re hoping to get an EP out by early to midsummer. We’ve been working on those songs and it’s been going really well. I’m stoked about those songs.
EB: How does that work, with you two being in different states?
SF: Honestly, it doesn’t make any difference at all. Any other situation might be a problem, but we see each other so much anyway. Probably 300 days out of the year.
NM: Yeah. Days off are pretty few and far between, so we get a lot of work done.
EB: What’s the new material sound like?
SF: It’s, uh, I don’t know. When we were working on the last album we had a few songs that we held off for this EP because they didn’t quite fit the mold for Streets of Gold, but they work now. It’s more production heavy, with some cool new songs. It’s more realized. Streets of Gold has a couple different sounds on it, but this is more coherent.
(04/27/11 11:45pm)
The night before Bearstock, Macon was threatened by a tornado warning that could have ruined the day. But we were lucky, and the storm passed over Macon with little commotion, leaving the day free for Mercer’s annual musical festival. This year featured a lineup similar to previous years, with rappers playing alongside established rock groups and local bands. It was a pretty great show all around.
I have to admit, I come from a bit of a different musical background than most of the bands that played at Bearstock. I spent my high school years in rundown venues, seeing mostly terrible local punk bands with the hope of catching the occasional gem buried underneath all the unoriginal acts I sat through. So I’ve grown to be a bit...discerning with my music. I tend to expect perfection or nothing at all, and I admit that while that attitude occasionally gives me a critical advantage, it doesn’t always make me fun at concerts.
Atlanta-based pop-rock act The Less delivered a set full of mostly cookie-cutter modern rock songs, including a cover of Coldplay’s hit “Yellow.” Just a thought, but if you’re going to rip off a band you probably shouldn’t cover their songs alongside your “originals.” It lets the audience know exactly how much better the first band is. I know I’m being harsh, but I was just hoping for more originality throughout their set. I guess you can’t always get what you want, especially when what you want is entertaining, downtempo rock. Still, what are you gonna do? The answer is: wait until the next band, Jubee and the Morning After, comes onstage and absolutely rule their set.
The crowd really gathered together around the time Jubee started their set. Before that I saw mostly high school kids and families looking for a relaxing time, but by the time Jubee started their set everybody seemed to show up. Jubee and the Morning After is one of the most overlooked bands in Macon, but they certainly weren’t overlooked at Bearstock. They delivered an exciting, genre-bending set that surprised anyone unfamiliar with their sound: a combination of rap, rock, funk and many more genres that, by all rights, should never work. And yet it does with this band. I suspect that they’ll have to be moved off the B stage next year, because the crowd was absolutely swarming them. I look forward to the band getting more publicity in the coming year. If you get a chance to see them soon, go. It’s an experience that no other band can bring, let alone any in Macon.
After Jubee’s set, Bearstock mainstay Ocean is Theory took the stage as they debuted songs from their upcoming full length on Razor & Tie records. I’ve followed the band since they were an up-and-coming local act in the Marietta area, and they get better every time I see them. After a few lineup changes, they seem to have found a stable roster that allows for an increased flexibility. I’m seriously excited for their upcoming record and you should be, too.
I have to be honest, I wasn’t sure what to think of the headliners Roscoe Dash and 3OH!3 when they were announced, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by their performances. And, if I can add, they’re all pretty awesome dudes, as evidenced by my interview immediately to the right of this article. They really surprised me with the amount of passion they brought to their sets. In years past, some Bearstock bands have phoned in their performances, lip-syncing and generally making no effort to really engage the crowd beyond the level needed to secure their paychecks. It was really different this year. Both Roscoe Dash and 3OH!3 brought a tangible stage presence to the show
Roscoe Dash delivered an amazingly energetic performance, cycling through songs off his new record Ready Set Go! as well as his well-known singles such as “All the way Turnt Up.”
3OH!3 isn’t exactly known for deep, introspective songs that explore the depths of the human condition. Instead they deliver some intentionally over-the-top party anthems that translate incredibly well to a live setting. When the beat to “House Party” is that loud, can you really concentrate on anything besides dancing your ass off? Their songs are infectiously catchy and, above all else, fun. All I can really say about my preconceptions is that I wasn’t expecting to be drawn into their set, and yet I was. I suppose the language of parties knows no boundaries, borders or genres, and in the end we all speak it fluently.
I always go to Bearstock expecting something different from what I get. Maybe I’m too used to seeing small punk shows where it’s possible to chill with the band afterwards. Maybe my adolencese full of death metal, hardcore and pretentious indie rock left me a bit jaded to other types of music, but no matter your musical background, there’s always something about a crowd chanting “One more song!” at the top of their lungs. In the end, isn’t that all that matters? That the fans had a blast? That the music was loud, energetic and, most importantly, fun? No matter what, the kids had a damn good time, and I’m not one to argue with that. If the music isn’t exactly your thing, don’t worry about it. People out there are having fun with it, and they’re most likely enjoying themselves more than any would-be critic standing in the corner with his arms crossed.
Sorry if this article turned out to be more of a confessional than you expected. At some point, objective journalism doesn’t quite cut it for entertainment stories. Everyone who hears a record, sees a concert or watches a film experiences it in his or her own way. This was mine.
(04/13/11 10:29pm)
So, we all know Bearstock is coming up this Saturday, and we all know that it’s going to be completely awesome, as it is every year. But some people don’t know that this year will be a little different than the past few festials, so your pals at The Cluster have prepared this guide to the festivities. We cover pretty much everything, form the lineup to where to buy food. You can thank us later. Preferably with cash.
The Location
Unlike the past couple of years, Bearstock 2011 won’t be held on campus at Porter Patch. Instead, in an effort to reach out to the larger Macon community, the concert will be held at Tattnall Square Park, from noon until 11 p.m. As in past years, the festival will feature two stages in order to decrease band set-up time. The two stages will both face the same direction, unlike last year’s set-up, which caused a small amount of confusion. Here's a map.
The Bands
As with last year’s lineup, which featured pop-punk groups We The Kings alongside rapper Jeremih, Quadworks has paired together headliners of various genres in order to increase interest for Mercer students and Macon residents who have divergent tastes in music.
Headlining the event are electro-hop group 3OH!3, Atlanta-based rapper Roscoe Dash, The Dirty Guv’nahs, and indie pop-rock act Parachute Musical, who will be appearing courtesy of Macon music promotion group The Blue Indian. Other acts include The Less, Stribling, Ocean is Theory, and more. Get to know a few of the bands in the feature below.
“We want Bearstock to be representative of the students at Mercer as well as the Macon community. We have a lot of different people who like different things, and we want a well rounded day of music so that everyone can enjoy it, not just a select group of people. We also want to highlight the talent that Macon has to offer,” said McGarity. “We literally took the artists with the most votes and went down the list until we had someone who was free for our date.”
The Schedule
Stage A
Noon — The Silver Comet
1:20 — Venice Is Sinking
2:40 — Broken Bootstraps
4:00 — The Less
5:20 — Ocean Is Theory
6:40 — Parachute Musical
8:35 — Roscoe Dash
9:45 — 3OH!3
Stage B
12:40 — A Ransom Plea
2:00 — Stribling
3:20 — Chelsea Hughes
4:40 — JuBee and the Morning After
6:00 — theKey
7:30 — The Dirty Guv’nahs
8:15 — DJ Pharmer (DSEL promo)
Other Activities
Of course, there’s always more to do at Bearstock than stand and listen to music. Quadworks will also be hosting a pop art booth, where students can have their picture taken and manipulated into resembling the work of 1960s counterulturalist Andy Warhol.
The Food
Gloria Holland, who catered the African Diaspora events in the past, will be providing food at Bearstock. The menu will include wings, hot dogs, hamburgers, fries and lemonade.
Mercer Village is just a block away as well, and students can pick up pizza or wings and Ingleside Village Pizza or Francar’s, respectively.
Additionally, Sixty Feet is sponsoring a nationwide cupcake sale called The Cupcake Kids, which benefits orphans in the troubled African nation of Uganda. All proceeds go to Sixty Feet, a charity and ministry dedicated to providing both clean water and hope to orphans in the country.
Meet the Bands
3OH!3
3OH!3 (pronounced three-oh-three) is a Boulder, Colorado-based group that blends rock, hip-hop, and electronica into high-energy anthems. The single “Don’t Trust Me,” off their second album, Want, was rated double platinum by the RIAA for selling over two million copies in the United States. The group released a third album, Streets of Gold, in July 2010, which peaked at number four on the Billboard charts. Look forward to their electrifying electronic set at Bearstock this Saturday.
Roscoe Dash
Roscoe Dash, best known for his 2010 single “All the Way Turnt Up” with Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em, is an up-and-coming rapper based out of Atlanta. The aforementioned single reached number 8 on the Billboard hot rap songs and established the young artist as a creative force to be reckoned with. His first album, Ready Set Go! is set to be released in March, and features tracks produced by Boi-1da, a highly sought out producer who has worked with Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Usher. He has released several mixtapes.
Parachute Musical
Parachute Musical, based out of Nashville, Tennessee, is an indie pop-rock four-piece with a penchant for captivating hooks and souring melodies. Their piano-based sound is at times reminiscent of a more melodic and slowed-down Ben Folds Five. The group recently released their debut full-length Everything is Working Out Fine in Some Town. Standout tracks include “Leave Me” and “Flashback ’83.” Parachute Musical’s set is being sponsored by local promoter The Blue Indian.
Ocean is Theory
Ocean is Theory plays a unique and exciting blend of indie rock that is at the same time melodic and energetic. The group has toured all across the United States over the past three years, and recently recorded a full-length record with Razor & Tie records, due out later this year. Their debut record, which is currently untitled, will be released this year. Look for it on store shelves soon. In the mean time, check out their other two releases, the EPs In My Blood Again and Into The Mouth of Lions.
The Less
Atlanta pop-rock act The Less has drawn comparisons to other hook-laden acts such as Between the Trees and Holiday Parade throughout their career. Their 2007 album Loud Machines is an intensely catchy experience, perfect for anyone that considered themselves a lover of pop rock. The group has recorded a new record, which is due to be released at Athens, GA’s 40 Watt Club on April 27. Until their new album is released, get your fill of their music at their performance on Saturday.
theKey
The Mercer-based modern rock group theKey recently won the Georgia Lottery All Access Music Search. The band describes thier sound as “modern-day ’90s.” Some of their main influences are bands like Matchbox 20, Fastball and the New Radicals, with hints of newer acts like Coldplay, Keane, and Switchfoot. The group is currently working on their first full-length record, to be released later this year. Look forward to their exciting pop hooks, bold instrumentals, and energetic performance on Saturday.
(04/13/11 9:50pm)
Julia Wertz is one of the most interesting cartoonists working in the industry today. Her latest book, Drinking at the Movies, is an alternatingly hillarious and poignant retelling of Wertz’s move from San Fransisco to Brookyln. Please, go read it.
Eric Brown: What projects have you been working on since Drinking at the Movies?
Julia Wertz: My main project is the follow-up to DATM, which is about the years I spent trying/failing to get sober before finally doing it. It’s not a typical drinking/rehab/sobriety book because that’s not how things unfolded for me, and hopefully that’s what will save it from being like every other alcoholism memoir out there. Most of those books tend to end right after or within a few months of the person getting out of rehab. Mine is going to go further and address relapsing and depression, which has been my struggle with this issue.
On the other end of the spectrum, I’m also very loosely working on a kids book about an orphaned newsboy in the late 1800s. And I’m doing some shorter, more lighthearted stories about my childhood. I’m probably working on kids stuff in order to balance out the headiness of the other story.
EB: What attracted you to comics as an art form?
JW: I’ve always been attracted to the visual, especially children’s book illustrations, which are a lot like comics, aesthetically. And I’ve been an avid reader since I could first read, so it was only natural to combine the two for me. I loved comics like the Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield and Tin Tin as a kid, but I had no idea how far the medium stretched until I was in my early 20s when I discovered Will Eisner and Julie Doucet at the library.
EB: What inspired you to write the early Fart Party comics? Maybe this is the same question as the last one.
JW: Or a continuation of that question. I started drawing silly comics about my daily life after I read those graphic novels and I never pursued anything but comics after that. I did a whole book about moving to San Francisco in a stranger, stiffer style over the summer before suddenly throwing it all aside and settling on (an early version) of my current style. I still have that whole other book and I might redraw it, but for now it’s just sitting there.
But anyways, I took the first Fart Party comics, which I drew maybe four or five months after I started making comics, and put them online just to show my friends. Much to my surprise, they took off quickly and people really liked them. Before I knew what was happening, I had a pretty hearty following and shortly after, Atomic Books approached me about publishing a collection. Everything happened very fast for me. I’m still haven’t quite processed it all seven years later.
EB: As someone who writes about her own life, how do you decide which moments are “print worthy”?
JW: That’s very, very tricky. I throw away A LOT of comics. I’ve probably tossed about two books worth of pages of comics simply because, upon looking back, they were totally pointless, self-indulgent nonsense that would only appeal to me. Granted there are many, many pages that I have published that I now consider of that same ilk, but I try not to waste time regretting those pages.
However, sometimes I’m completely wrong about what I think is unworthy of publishing. Sometimes I’ll put a comic online that I really think is too inside jokey and/or pointless, and people will really respond positively to it. I think what they’re responding to in those comics is that personal touch that I previously thought wouldn’t appeal to anyone but me. Such as the last three panels in the comic “memory lane” where my brother and I are just being goofy about nicknames. That’s a page I made without any editing of what happened in real life, and I thought it would be boring but people really liked it. I guess a lack of editing can sometimes be what’s most appealing.
EB: How do people normally react to your depictions of them once the books are printed?
JW: I’ve yet to see someone be disappointed by the way they come across, but I’m sure that’s happened and they just didn’t tell me. My ex-boyfriend in the first book would sometimes complain that I made him look like an asshole, but it was tongue-in-cheek and so were his complaints (I hope!). The only person who has outright objected was my dad, but that’s only because he doesn’t like my work and has been vocal about it, but that’s more his issue with me rather than how he’s depicted in the comic. My mom loves being in it because she’s hilarious and has no modesty in regards to pointing that out.
EB: Your comics sort of straddle the line between comedy and some pretty personal and emotional moments. How do you maintain that balance?
JW: That’s just how I am, in real life as well as the comics. I seek comfort in humor and the only way I get through tough issues is to find something in it to joke about. That doesn’t mean ALL I do is joke in an effort to deflect the seriousness of the issue; it’s very annoying and insincere when people use jokes as a shield. I don’t use humor as a barrier between me and the problem, but more as a means to alleviate the struggle just a little bit.
EB: Tell me about Pizza Island. How it got started, what you do together, etc.
JW: Pizza Island is basically just a studio of 6 cartoonists, working on separate projects. We all work on our individual projects and we don’t collaborate on these, but we do present as a group while doing readings, online projects for our collective blog and conventions. It started in early 2010 when four of us just needed to stop working alone in our respective apartments since it was making us all crazy. We found a really cheap but nice studio in the outskirts of Greenpoint and settled in. We added a few more friends in late 2010 when they moved to New York and we found it was really fun to bill ourselves as a group even though we work individually.
EB: Are you working in comics full time at this point?
JW: I’m in flux at the moment. I was working on comics full time for about three years but early this year, I was dropped by my publisher at the time (Random House) and so now I’m searching for a new publisher. Unfortunately, what happened was that big publishers thought comics were the new big thing, so they signed contracts with a bunch of cartoonists, so a lot of us were able to make a small but efficient living off comics for awhile. But as the books started coming out, big publishers realized that comics just don’t sell up to their standards, so they dropped a lot of us. Which is better, I think, since comics publishers are more adept at handling comics, not big, traditional book publishers. Which isn’t to say I’m opposed to working with them, but there’s a big learning curve.
EB: It’s sort of become a Hollywood trend to adapt comics into movies lately. How long until we see a $150 million Fart Party adaptation by Zach Snyder, complete with gratuitous slow-motion action scenes? I ask because I would pay to see that movie.
JW: Oh god, never I hope! If that’s the direction it would go. I’m very reluctant to even consider TV or movies right now, despite some initial interest in my first books. Because it’s my life story and it hasn’t nearly finished, I don’t have an interest in seeing it pigeonholed in 90 minutes just yet. My first and foremost interest, concern and drive is comics/writing. The project (for TV/movies) would have to be pretty specific and I would have to have a lot of control, which is something I just don’t have time for. However, I probably wouldn’t object if someone wanted to make a sh*tty 90-minute comedy from my first book and give me a sh*tload of money. I’m distanced enough from that material to not really care, but everything else is off the table at the moment.
(03/30/11 8:00pm)
4.5/5 Bear Claws
As far as I can tell, John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats has two talents: writing beautifully emotive records, and releasing them at an insane speed. The group’s last record, The Life of the World to Come, came out in October 2009—barely a year and a half ago. The prolific songwriter and his backing band are already back with more in the form of All Eternals Deck, a complex and immensely rewarding album that explores various genres and song structures.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget the first time I heard The Mountain Goats. It was the summer of 2007, and I’d just gotten off a long shift at my landscaping job. Driving home, I was listening to Georgia State’s radio station when the DJ put on “This Year.” I immediately understood the song. I mean I felt it deep in my bones.
Darnielle, in his immediately recognizable voice, recounted every reason for wanting to leave home the second he turned eighteen, just as soon as he could make it through this one godforsaken year.
I, too, had one more year before I could get away from home—from high school, from my job lifting rocks all day, from Kennesaw, Georgia, for that matter. Of course, Darnielle faced some real and profound demons at own his home, but that desire for freedom he expressed is so moving and universal that I doubt anyone can walk away from “This Year” unchanged.
I bought The Sunset Tree online the second I arrived home. I’ve been hooked ever since.
I know that’s a long story for a review of this size, and I know it’s not even about this album, but I’m telling it to explain how uniquely powerful this band can be. Their albums are almost all moving experiences for me, except for Life of the World to Come. It’s the only record that doesn’t move me in the same way. So I was a bit worried about this record, especially after Life came on the heels of 2008’s Heretic Pride, which is probably Darnielle’s strongest effort overall. Naturally, I was afraid that the band had lost whatever it is that makes them the best storytellers in popular music today.
Well, I was wrong, and I’m so glad that I was. All Eternals Deck is brilliant, captivating, and exactly the follow-up to Heretic Pride that I was looking for.
All Eternals Deck begins strong with “Damn These Vampires,” which, in typical Mountain Goats fashion, starts off as a minimalist skeleton of a song before building into a fully-realized confession.
From there, the record goes in a few different directions. We get slow ballads (complete with lap steel guitars) like “Never Quite Free” mixed together with up-tempo rockers such as “Estate Sale Sign,” bookended by the melancholy closer “Liza Forever Minnelli.” The end result is a fantastic record that never gets boring.
Darnielle’s lyrics on All Eternals are as complex and literary as always. Honestly, I don’t know any other songwriter that can pen such smart and densely-plotted songs. It’s as if David Foster Wallace picked up a guitar and backing band, but with less footnotes than you’d expect. At their best (which is often), Darnielle’s songs are stories with fully-realized, often morally-ambiguous characters (even when the songs are autobiographical). He’s a brilliant songwriter that keeps getting better.
There’s a lot more to say about All Eternals Deck, but I don’t know how important it is to discuss every detail of the record. I do know that it’s important to tell you how profoundly moving this record can be. If you’re capable of feeling any emotions at all, I recommend that you add All Eternals Deck to your record collection.
(03/30/11 7:55pm)
Over the years, the Cox Capitol Theatre has hosted a number of unique bands, artists, and movies, and now it plans to offer an even more intriguing performer to that list. Hypnotist and comedian Gary Conrad is inviting Macon residents to share the stage with him and partake in some entertaining, hypnotic hijinks.
Conrad offers three different performances, each one with a different rating. First, he will perform a PG-rated show at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 1, followed by a more bawdy R-rated performance later that night at 10:15 p.m. For audiences that wish to bring children along, Conrad will also perform a family-friendly matinee at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Conrad hopes to reach a larger audience by offering a wide amount of variety in his content.
“There’s an audience for every type of entertainment. We’re not telling people to be one way or the other. We’ve observed how people are, and we’re offering them three different takes on the show. You have the light kids show if you want to bring the kids along. Then there’s the PG show where we go about three quarters of the way crazy, as opposed to the R performance, where we go all the way,” Conrad said.
Conrad’s most popular performance is invariably his R-rated hypnotism act. In this “erotic hypnotic,” audience members that join Conrad on stage might be led in singing off-color songs or become convinced that they have switched genders. He often convinces men in the audience that they are Chippendales dancers. Conrad stresses, though, that while this is an adult-centered show, there will be no nudity.
Those who prefer a more restrained act should check out his earlier performance on Friday. While it’s still an edgy performance, it doesn’t quite push the boundaries as much as his R-rated act. In this act, Conrad likes to hypnotically convince his volunteers that they have become one of a variety of pop-culture figures.
“It’s something like a nightclub act. We get a little naughty in it, but basically you’d have people pretend to be different characters. They might think they’re Pee Wee Herman or Lady Gaga or Richard Simmons. We run the whole gamut of pop culture,” Conrad said.
Finally, his Saturday matinee is geared towards children and families. Parents can expect to see clean, family-friendly jokes instead of the cruder, adult-focused jokes of his other acts.
Conrad believes that hypnosis is not simply a fun stage trick, but that it can also improve a person’s life dramatically. At the end of every act, he invites audience members onstage and gives them hypnotic suggestions which push them to quit smoking or pick up diet and exercise. He even incorporates this into his kids shows, suggesting that kids spend more time studying and eating healthy.
“Most of us have an idea of an ideal us, of what we would be like if we had a magic wang. Well, I know that hypnosis is a powerful tool for realizing that. I remember going to San Antonio once after I hadn’t been there in a while, and a guy said to me ‘Conrad, you hypnotized me seven years ago, and I haven’t smoked a cigarette since,’” Conrad said.
So if you’re interested in seeing your more straight-laced friends break out of their comfort zones and act as if they’re a rock star, exotic dancer, or anything else Conrad can think of, check out one of his three acts at the Cox Capitol Theatre. You might even come away a healthier person, too.
“What most people want to know is ‘What’s in it for me?’ Well my answer is that it’s not only a whole lot of entertainment, where you, the volunteer, entertain yourself and your friends, but you walk away with a better you,” Conrad said.
(03/30/11 5:05pm)
Even at 55, frontman Keith Morris is a legend in the punk rock scene. At 25, he and guitarist Greg Ginn founded Black Flag, possibly the most important American punk band after The Ramones. He later went on to work with Circle Jerks, whose 1981 debut Group Sex rocked the hardcore punk scene.
Last year, he returned to the scene with the veritable supergroup OFF!. Their first album, a collection of early vinyl releases entitled The First Four EPs is an attack on the senses in every possible way. That’s a compliment, I swear. But the man is a force of nature. Onstage he goes wild, despite being older than my father and wrestling with diabetes. He gives history lessons in between songs. It’s captivating, really.
Last week, my good friend and photographer Jonathan Popham accompanied me to Atlanta venue The Drunken Unicorn, where OFF! absolutely slayed, and afterwards we had the opportunity to talk with Morris about the new record, touring and bands he’s currently digging. Read on.
Keith Morris: So where are you guys from?
Eric Brown: We’re from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. It’s about an hour away.
KM: Oh, that’s not bad. Pop in a few CDs and you’re there.
Jonathan Popham: Well, probably a few more if they’re punk CDs.
KM: Yeah, but that’s not all there is to listen to. Just because you’re going to see that type of band doesn’t mean you have to listen to that type of music. Personally, I don’t listen to too much of that music.
JP: What do you listen to?
KM: We’ll, we’re in Georgia. What’s one of the biggest bands to come out of Georgia?
EB: The Allman Brothers. From Macon.
KM:That’s right. There’s also another great band from Athens: R.E.M. I listen to both of those bands a lot. There’s the Marshall Tucker Band too, but I don’t listen to too much of them.
EB: So how has the tour been going so far?
KM: Well, this is actually the first date of the proper tour [with supporting act Trash Talk]. We played six shows at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, and it was pretty much bumper to bumper. It was a clusterf**k. And plus, we’re driving a van that’s also pulling a trailer. If you’re driving just a van with your equipment in the back, you can maneuver around quite easily and find places to park, but in Austin during SXSW, if you’re in a van with a trailer it’s like you’re in the ninth inning and you’ve been missing fast balls all night.
EB: One big thing I wanted to talk about was that you started your career with Black Flag in the late ’70s, when it was harder to get recording time, harder to promote your band. But now it’s easier to record and get your music out there anywhere online, legally or not.
KM: Everybody wants it for free. So how can we earn a living if this is the line of work we choose to do? If we’re that stupid, why do we do this? When we first started, if you were playing a show, you’d get on the phone and call ten of your friends, tell them about it and hope that each of them would tell ten of their friends too. You hoped it would spread out that way, but it didn’t always work that way. I remember there were certain nights… I remember a Clash concert at the Santa Monica Civic. As soon as The Clash stopped performing, we raced out to the parking lot and put flyers on all of the car windows. There were 4000 people in the building, and we were passing out flyers to people as they came out. And that’s how we had to do it. You know, our form of advertising was going out with the wheat past and spending three hours at four in the morning plastering sides of buildings, power boxes and telephone poles.
I remember one night, another one of my compadres in crime, he and I were flyering on Sunset Boulevard and we were stapling to palm trees. And each time we would put up a flyer, this guy in a pickup truck would come around and tear them down. We looked back and we though that the guy probably had a gun, and even if we tried, it’d be like fighting a guy who had been smoking angel dust, so why bother?
EB: Yeah, and now you can just post things right online to advertise. How has that affected what you do and the punk scene in general?
KM: Well, recently we were part of a campaign to just turn your Internet off. Turn it off, and go out and do something. Go to a record store rather than listen to it on your computer. The beauty of a record store is that you might go in and they’ll be playing something very interesting that you haven’t heard before, and you might want to find out more about that. You might want to buy it. Maybe the guy behind the counter will play something that you’ve never heard before and you’ll be like, “Wow, this is great! Who is this?”
At this point, the show’s promoter drops in, and we all discuss that night’s concert and a bunch of bands. I’ll spare you, but we ultimately ended up here:
KM: You know, we were offered a couple of dates on a Dinosaur Jr. tour. That’s the kind of thing we want to do, because I’m 55 years old, and after 30 years I’ve already played a lot of places like this. In all my years, I’ve only played in headlining bands. We do a 30-minute set, and that’s much more an opening band thing. Of course, not that opening bands get offered too much money… But we’ve been asked to play with Dinosaur Jr., Queens of the Stone Age. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are thinking about asking us. And we’re gonna play with them all, and the punk rock kids will f**king hate us, but I’m 55 years old. I’m gonna have some fun, and I’m gonna see my friends and I’m gonna listen to some decent music. It’s not gonna be the punk rock marathon every night. It’s boring. It’s like watching a kid finger paint. You have red and green and purple and yellow and blue, but you just end up with brown.
JP: In that sense, how do you think the scene has progressed since the ’70s?
KM: Well, it’s certainly been commercialized. It’s certainly more accessible because of the Internet. But we didn’t have any of that. We had to go out there and get our asses kicked and have bricks thrown at us by drunk bikers. You know, I’ve had my nose broken two nights in a row, and I’ve been kicked in the jaw and threatened with knives. It’s like, that’s living life. I can honestly say I’ve lived a f**cking great adventure.
(03/16/11 8:00pm)
Andrew W.K. isn’t your average rock star. Sure, he tours around the world playing high-energy music and singing about partying, just like many others. But the real twist to Andrew W.K. is that he’s just so damn positive about it all. None of his songs are brooding, overtly dark, or depressing. He doesn’t have time to posture or look angsty. Instead, his songs are all pure, uncut fun. Titles include “It’s Time to Party,” “Party Hard,” “Party ‘Til You Puke,” and “Party Party Party.” It’s as if the man is personally high-fiving every single one of his listeners every second of every song.
I recently talked to the artist behind the hit album I Get Wet and its subsequent follow-ups about his upcoming record, side-job as a motivational speaker, and how Mercer can party even harder. Read on.
Eric Brown: On your Twitter and everything you have this amazingly positive persona. Every day it’s just “Party hard. Do everything to the fullest.” How do you do that? How do you go 100% all the time?
Andrew W.K.: Well, I think it’s either how I want to feel or how I have felt at the best of times, or how I imagine I will feel in the future in the best of times and I just try to be there thinking about it promoting it, thinking about it, just being as close as possible to that feeling at all times. And I realize that that feeling allows for quite a wide range of emotions. But to sum it up, I guess, it’s just sort of taking life by the horns and embracing the intensity of the whole experience.
EB: Speaking of embracing the intensity of the experience, you’re sort of a renaissance man, in that you do about a million projects at once. You have the TV show [Destroy, Build, Destroy, currently airing on Cartoon Network], you have your music, you were a motivational speaker for a long time, you have the nightclub that you operate in New York City—
AWK: I don’t know about renaissance man. They’re all related to entertainment in some way.
EB: That’s fair enough.
AWK: I mean, I’d like to do other things as well, but at some point… I mean, I learn every day about how valuable time is and how valuable your own energy and attention and focus is, so I try to keep it at least to a point where everything relates, so that’s been a real blessing, versus where I’m getting into science on one hand or working in politics or something. I try to keep it very focused on this party attitude.
EB: So, what was it like being a motivational speaker for a while?
AWK: Actually, I have a lecture coming up this week.
EB: Really?
AWK: Yeah, in Montreal. Yeah, I love it! I can’t believe I get to do it and that people show up, but I’m so grateful for them showing up that I do my best to make it a worthwhile experience in as many ways as possible. It’s just a chance to be in a room together and try to amp each other up.
EB: So, to bring it back to music, you had, aside from the two experimental releases [Gundam Rock and Cadillac 55], your last big record was Close Calls With Brick Walls, which was released in Japan in 2006, but not in America until last year. What have you been working on in the meantime? And when will that see a release date?
AWK: Yeah, I’ve been working on a new album, and before that an EP, which will come out in Japan, but I also want to release some version of it worldwide. [The EP was recently announced as the Party All Goddamn Night EP, on sale in Japan March 30]. It’ll have new songs which will be part of the new album Raucous, and also some other special songs that are unreleased, things people haven’t heard before in Japan, and I think elsewhere for sure. But that is all leading up to the new album, which I hope to get out this year, but I’ll get it out when it’s done. That’s for sure.
EB: And how does the tone of this record compare to the stuff you’ve done before?
AWK: Well, I mean it’s the most exciting music I’m able to come up with. I’m trying to apply all of what I’ve learned, all that I’ve already learned from the albums I’ve made and that I’ve learned since, and take it song by song and just ask how we can get that feeling of excitement going. There are many ways to get there, but I’m really trying to dial it in and just use the most direct and powerful methods that I’m equipped to use to get people going crazy. I want to get that feeling of just real intense excitement.
Raw energey. I guess that’s what… Well, I guess that’s not what everybody wants from music. There’s music that’s soothing, music that’s scary, music that has all kinds of emotions, but real intense is always what I’ve tried to go for. When you get a proper Andrew W.K. rock album, you know I’m trying to go for that in one way or another, and I’m pretty excited about this new stuff. I think it’s gonna get a party going really, really, really well.
EB: Are you planning a big tour to support it?
AWK: Of course. I’ll tour as much as possible. We did a whole tour last summer with the Warped Tour. Then we toured all around the US in October, and we just did a three-week tour in Australia about two weeks ago. We’ll be going to Japan in April. After that, as soon as the album’s out, I’d just like to tour as much as I can everywhere.
EB: So, if you could create the perfect, fictional tour lineup, what bands would you take on the road with you?
AWK: Well, it’s interesting, because the bands that I’d want to see, and that I enjoy watching and like their music, wouldn’t necessarily be the best bands to tour with. So, I actually don’t ever feel too strongly. We’ve actually been blessed to tour with some amazing bands like High On Fire, Aerosmith, The Locust, The Casualties. And those are our own tours, not to mention festival tours we’ve done that have just been tons of bands.
I’ve always just enjoyed all the bands we’ve had, to be honest. There’s never been a band we’ve toured with that we didn’t like. Sometimes there’ll be a band that I hadn’t heard of before or didn’t know much about, but it’s always memorable. We always learn something. I think the more diverse bands, the more I don’t know about them, the more I learn. So, there’s some people that I haven’t gotten the chance to study or haven’t been exposed to, but I’m pretty open minded when it comes to who I play with.
EB: That’s a pretty diverse group of bands that you listed there.
AWK: Well, they’re mostly rock bands.
EB: Yeah, but I mean, The Locust does this crazy grindcore stuff, and then there’s Aerosmith.
AWK: That is true. That is true. You know, there’s many that I’m sure I’m forgetting, like Die Trying, lostprophets. Who else did we play with? There’s so many I’m forgetting. Oh, there’s Fireball Ministry, Hoobastank. You know, I know we’ve played a few shows or festivals with a bunch of others. It’s great because they teach you a lot, you know? What to do better, what not to do. What really works, what’s effective. All kinds of stuff.
EB: What would you say your favorite tour experience has been so far?
AWK: Uh, this most recent one. I’ve enjoyed every tour more and more and more. I love it more now than I did when we started. When we started, we would play a show, and I couldn’t believe, I mean I could not believe, we were gonna play one 24 hours later. I mean, it came out of nowhere. I’d played lots of shows, but had never toured until I was the frontman of a band. I’d never really had anything like that. It was just so intense and overwhelming.
But I did love everything about it. I love the idea that you did this really impressive thing, and the next thing you know, you’re leaving it behind you and heading towards a chance to do it again. That became the best part about it, and now I love the traveling and being with the band. I mean, we all became best friends, but when we started, I didn’t know the band. I’d never spent more than a few hours with some of them. That was a very interesting experience, but now I feel so lucky just to have so much more to give. I’m just so thankful that I’ve gotten to keep doing it after 10 years. It’s just crazy to me. There’s a lot of inspiration that just comes out of the gratitude of knowing that you’re still there.
EB: Well, to sort of wrap the whole thing up. Mercer, the school I write for is a smaller liberal arts school in the middle of Georgia. We’re not in a huge city, and there’s not always the most going on around us. What can we do to party harder?
AWK: Well, a bit part of it to me is a removal of fear, a removal of doubt. It’s a removal of a type of attitude that you can get wrapped up in like anxiety or stress. In my experience, there’s pressure, and then there’s stress. I think we can all thrive under pressure, which brings out our abilities that we didn’t realize we had, but when it gets too mixed up with stress, it starts to eat away at our abilities. It wears you out, it makes you tired, and it’s just a bunch of wasted energy.
So, the real attitude of partying is to realize how awesome everything is. Even the things that don’t seem awesome are actually awesome in some roundabout way. With that kind of focus, you can look for the awesomeness around you, and that is the reason to party. It’s not something that you need to reserve for the weekends or your birthday or a holiday or spring break or any particular event. We always have been taught that we celebrate something special. Well, being alive is special, and we can celebrate that every day.
That should take the load off. We don’t have to take everything so seriously once you realize that life can be a big event of fun and games. That being said, you can choose which games to play. You can choose the game of studying for classes. That’s a perfectly fine and good game, and there’s a lot of things to be won. There are also other games that require a different type of focus. So, don’t forget about them.
If we’re gonna participate in this version of society, let’s just really remember how absurd it also all is and celebrate that, because it’s so ridiculous to be alive at all. We have no idea what is really going on in the grandest scheme, but that should not be depressing; it should be liberating. It should allow us to say, “Hey, we’ve got a pretty decent organization set up here. Let’s take advantage of it, and let’s make the best of it, enjoy the fruits of it, and strive to improve it.”
EB: Alright. Well, it’s been fantastic talking to you. Thank you so much for your time.
AWK: Well thank you for your excellent questions and for your time and wanting to do this.
(02/24/11 1:02am)
Listen up, Mercer partiers: Macon’s downtown club scene is about to get a bit more wild and exciting as the city’s largest club first opens its doors at 9 PM on March 4th for Macon’s First Friday event.
Element Nightclub, located at 425 Cherry St., aims to be Macon’s newest nightlife hotspot, and with two DJs, a state of the art lighting, sound, and video system, and three separate rooms, each designed to offer a unique experience, it’s looking like the club will certainly live up to its aspirations.
“It’s a new element coming to Macon. We’re looking for a quality crowd, one that is looking for a quality place to go out,” said promoter Howie Handsel of 4 Godfathers Promotions, LLC.
The company, which was also behind Macon’s GRAB’n Go card, has been tasked with promoting the young club.
One of the biggest draws to Element Nightclub is its three-room setup. Each of its rooms is based on one of the four classical elements: water, fire, earth, and air. The front room represents water and features an inviting and relaxing lounge atmosphere, complete with a jukebox that patrons can select. For those that simply want to relax and chill with friends,
The club’s second room is themed around fire, and will feature a rotation of top 40’s hits as well as a state-of-the-art video system that promises to entrance patrons.
On the club’s opening night, VJ Rix, who some Mercer students may know from his work at the Powerstation, will be DJing the fire room.
As dancers move further into the building, they’ll discover the back room, themed around earth and featuring a high-energy dubstep.
Finally, the walkway between the individual rooms is themed around the fourth element, air.
Becasue both the fire and earth rooms are themed around different musical genres, Element Nightclub will staff two DJs every night, one for each room, in order to ensure that customers recieve a variety of quality entertainment no matter where their musical proclivities lie.
“There’s never been a club this size in Macon before. It’s hue, and it has an awesome level of entertainment,” said Handsel.
In addition to the three themed dance rooms, Element Nightclub includes a VIP section.
To promote the club, its owners have printed up one thousand passes granting free admission to the club for one night. I strongly recommend that anyone who manages to find one of these cards check out the club on its opening night.
In fact, everyone should check it out, regardless of whether or not they have a ticket.
Element Nightclub’s web presence can be found at Facebook.com/elementnightclub and twitter.com/elementofmacon. Expect both sites to offer the latest news and promotions for the new club.
Cover charge is $5 for patrons 21 and over, while entrance will cost $10 for those over 18. The club strictly excludes anyone under the age of 18.
(02/23/11 9:22pm)
UPDATE: Find more information on Bearstock here!
Fans of Bearstock need wait no more. On Wednesday, Quadworks held a press conference to announce the three headlining bands at this year’s music festival. Headlining the event are electro-hop group 3OH!3, Atlanta-based rapper Roscoe Dash, and indie pop-rock act Parachute Musical, who will be appearing courtesy of Macon music promotion group The Blue Indian.
More bands will be announced soon, and the application process is still open to any local bands wishing to play at Bearstock.
As with years before, this year’s Bearstock will be a completely free event, open to all Mercer students as well as Macon residents. The concert will be held at Tattnall Square Park on April 16.
3OH!3 (pronounced three-oh-three) is a Boulder, Colorado-based group that blends rock, hip-hop, and electronica into high-energy anthems. The single “Don’t Trust Me,” off their second album, Want, was rated double platinum by the RIAA for selling over two million copies in the United States. The group released a third album, Streets of Gold, in July 2010, which peaked at number four on the Billboard charts.
“I’ve been a big fan of 3OH!3 for a long time because their music is so much fun to listen to, and their live shows are the best because they basically turn it into one huge party. It’s just a lot of fun and I’m really excited to be able to see them live again,” said Brittany McGarity, who serves as the Live Chair for Quadworks and is responsible for organizing this year’s event.
Roscoe Dash, best known for his 2010 single “All the Way Turnt Up” with Solja Boy Tell ‘Em, is an up-and-coming rapper based out of Atlanta. The aforementioned single reached number 8 on the Billboard hot rap songs and established the young artist as a creative force to be reckoned with. His first album, Ready Set Go! is set to be released in March, and features tracks produced by Boi-1da, a highly sought out producers who has worked with Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Usher. In addition to the upcoming album, Roscoe Dash has released several mixtapes as well.
Parachute Musical, based out of Nashville, Tennessee, is an indie pop-rock four-piece with a penchant for captivating hooks and souring melodies. Their piano-based sound is at times reminiscent of a more melodic and slowed-down Ben Folds Five. The group recentlyreleased their debut full-length Everything is Working Our Fine in Some Town. Standout tracks include “Leave Me” and “Flashback ’83.”
As with last year’s lineup, which featured pop-punk groups We The Kings alongside rapper Jeremih, Quadworks has paired together headliners of various genres in order to increase interest for Mercer students and Macon residents who have divergent tastes in music.
“We want Bearstock to be representative of the students at Mercer as well as the Macon community. We have a lot of different people who like different things, and we want a well rounded day of music so that everyone can enjoy it, not just a select group of people. We also want to highlight the talent that Macon has to offer,” said McGarity. “We literally took the artists with the most votes and went down the list until we had someone who was free for our date.”
Unlike previous years in which the free, all-day festival was held on campus in Porter Patch, Bearstock 2011 will take place across the street from campus in Tattnall Square Park. Quadworks spokespersons say this move is so that Bearstock can engage more with Macon residents and the local music scene.
Be sure to join fellow students at Tattnall Square Park on April 16 for Mercer’s concert event of the year.
(02/23/11 9:20pm)
TICKETS
Always buy tickets from official websites. Skeezy looking ones can prove to be major rip-offs. Also be wary of buying from scalpers. Not only are they overpriced, they may misrepresent some crucial details.
PLANNING
At multi-stage festivals, there are always two or more bands playing at once, as well as other side events. If you want to get the most out of the experience, you need to keep a tight schedule to optimize your fest time.
FOOD
If the festival allows it, always bring your own food in. Festival grounds can charge some truly ridiculous prices for small amounts of food. No one should pay $13 for a small, tasteless pizza. No one except Nickleback.
WATER
Stay hydrated. Because bottled water is expensive, you always want to bring a refillable bottle such as a Nalgene and keep yourself hydrated. Passing out in the hot sun means you miss your favorite band.
SAFETY
Look, there are all sorts of people at large festivals (small ones, too). Be safe. This means not leaving valuables in sight, not following strangers to their campsites, etc. And I wouldn’t eat the mystery brownies, either.