Newspaper Page Text
April 8, 1992 • Flagpole Magazine " Page 7
Linernotes by Hillary Meister
Frankenbilly Monster Mash
The “undisputed Kings [and Queens] of Las Vegas' are
returning once again to Athens. They do live here, afterall,
and will be dominating the stage at the 40 Watt on Friday,
April 10 with those impeccable purveyors of pop, and now-
labelmates, the Woggles. After recording a "smegma opus’
and weeping “openly at Bert Parks grave," the Franks
should be filled with raw oower and omnipotence, ready to
stave off those unbelievers, harness the devotees, and
whip all others into deaf sub
mission. Those doing the in
ductions include Alice Berry on
vocais, Pat Patterson on drums,
Phyllis Bridges on upright bass,
Nicky Gianaris on guitars, and
Jeff Walis on guitars.
Be prepared for the Hillbilly
Frankenstein's debut record
ing on the local Zontar label.
The 13-song CD/cassette is in
the can and ready for release
next fall. According to “You
can just call me the human
tornado' Gianaris, 12 of the tracks are originals penned by
he and the bands' other picker of fretted noise, Walls. "The
cover [song] is the theme from She Devils on Wheels called
‘Maneater's on Motorbikes,” Gianaris said. The self-pro
duced album was recorded at Reflection Studios in Char
lotte, NC and at John Keane's in Athens.
"We've got a happenin' new t-shirt design that George
Davidson did for us.' Walls added later in yet another
phone conversation. “George is the guy that did the Howlin’
Wolf shirt, the Muddy Waters shirt... It's undisputed art. I’m
sure you can dispute anything else we do as art, but this is
undisputed art.*
With the album coming out sometime in the future, the
band is looking towards trying some of those video thangs. A
fellow in Charlotte will be working on a video for "Rattle My
Cage," one of the new tracks. Evidently he found a bunch of
old monkey bard sets in the shapes of what Walls says
resembles "Mercury Rocket capsules. He wants to use go-go
girls insed the rocket shaped cages with lots of pink smoke.'
Most recently, the band took the stage at the Fox Theatre
in Atlanta to give out an award for Best Rock Band award,
in which drivin'n'cryin' won. "We got to fuck with them a little
bit," joked Walls. “When they got up there, Kevn Kinney was
trying to make his speech and I was off to the side of him
scootin' the microphone away from his mouth anytime he
tried to say anything."
“The whole thing was a sham," said Gianaris. “We found
a place where they hide all their ushers uniforms. God,
wouldn’t it be sweet to have a Fox ushers uniform, you could
just cruise in there anytime you
wanted?"
“It was great because we
snuck a bunch of whiskey in,"
said Walls. “Whatdisappo-nted
me was I kinda figured a bunch
of rock bands and everybody
would be doing what we were
doing and lookin' for a way to
get in trouble. It was like every
body was just so squat and
coo! and doin' their little part to
make the whole thing succeed
and stuff, it was weird."
One must ask Walls about his luxurious, Vegas-style
suits... “There's only one but it’s a convertible model," said
Wails. “What I'm looking for now is a tear-away suit like Peter
O'toole had in My Favorite Year so when we're through
partying at the end of the night at whoever's place we're
crashing at I can just snap out of it."
So what to expect? Gianaris had this to say about Hillbilly
Frankenstein’s music, "We've been falsely labelled a
Rockabilly band. We're not really. We started out as a
Rockabilly cover band a few years ago but when we started
writing our own material it ran the span from rock'n’roll,
rhythm'n’blues, a little cajun, a little rockabilly. Just some
high energy rock, real raw stuff. We do a lot of different
styles of music, but it’s very dancey."
“We're just looking for a way to have stuff to sell to people
at shows and maybe a few hip record stores and not have
any allusions of what we're trying to do," said Walls. "I’m not
really into it for those sweepstakes or at least on any kind of
obvious level. I'm so tired of talking to people complaining
about the state of music. You can't get too bent out of shape
about it."
What Jeff Heard, What Jeff Saw...
"Somebody in London has an um
brella just like this with my name on it."
— Man to a woman as they're walk
ing down a sidewalk in the rain
...And speaking of “in passing,"
that's the only way I’ve written about
Wet so far. Well, the time has come to
remedy that situation, because when
Mandee and I went to see them play
with Hayride (whom I've also neglected
and given short shrift to) a couple
weeks ago, I finally sat down and lis
tened and watched carefully through
out the whole show as two of Athens’
best bands turned out solid, involving
sets for an audience made up largely
of some of their finest peers. I counted
among the clubgoers, for example,
part of The Woggles; a few Cryin’ Cow
girls; and half of Magister Ludi — in
cluding others.
That was appropriate, because Wet
is essentially made up of musicians’
musicians.
Consider, for instance, the fact that,
not only have Kelley (I have to like her,
since her last name is the same as the
name of my hometown, only spelled
differently) and Mamie played in any
number of other bands and jamming
crcles — often overlapping, and with
each other — but that Kelley has her
own highly-touted racording studio, and
Mamie in kind is the proprietor of her
own alternative grocery store. Both sing
very well, separately and in harmony;
and are also collectively proficient at
playing varied instruments as well as
being accomplished songwriters and
performers, in addition to having done
Nat G<xtey
stints in multiple capacities with groups
well-known outside of the region. So,
besides being self-motivated, enter
prising partners with plenty of all-around
talent in general, the pair which com
prises the heart of Wet is also in a good
position to merge their abilities and
channel their energies into one of the
most creative, engaging, and steadily-
progressing bands that could find it
self firmly established in Athens — as
they have.
Now, add to this chemistry the
complementary dynamics of the
rhythm section in Lisa and Alison, and
what you have is a group which has
become adept, relatively quickly, at
mining earthy, authentic songs out of
edgy yet melodic pop-rock territory
that, in lesser hands, has by now be
come somewhat comfortable and fa
miliar. Charm and intimacy of group
persona (as well as harmonic energy
and the tightness of the onstage mesh
resulting from the hard work these four
have put into the music) have allowed
Wet to transcend the trappings of the
genre. The personalities are strong
and the sound is infectious, but Wet
has managed to avoid falling prey tc
the 'all-girl-group' syndrome. They are
not riding on their looks or the novelty
of their gender. What they are doing
instead, in my opinion, is finding an
interesting, slightly folkish, country-
tinged, twist to the formula of their
collaborative mix. This br.ngs the dark
ness of shadows out of their bright, fun
shows — and proves once again that
music can be a kick and still be serious
at the same time, provided that talent,
originality, and confidence come to
gether under the right conditions.
Jeff Payne
ff
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