Newspaper Page Text
FEBRUARY 24. 1993
p
What's In The Water?
Tyrone s O.C. was one swinging club back in 1979 and the early 80's. It
was a harbinger of groovy things to follow, though it is now just a piece of
Athens history. Vic Varney as a hip member of the Old Guard Athens Music
Scene was kind enough to share with me some of the woven threads
which make up a bit of the ever growing tapestry which is Athens, Ga.
He had been talking about his sole attempt to leave Athens,
when he moved west to Austin, and had to listen to his fellow
housepainters go on about how great Austin used to be...
was more like Oh it's Wednesday and I need to get out of the
house* People went out to have a good time. Now that's the
kind of audience you want to play for if you're a musician. And
it was a good, it was healthy.
FPt ft’s changed a little (laughter)
Viet Well, it's become a lot more citified. But there are more
support systems in a way. For instance the Flagpoles a great
support system There wasn't anything like that. And a lot of
things have happened in the outside world where technology
is on your side Take this for example (after some scrounging
he finds his latest tape Cain). This little fucker was recorded
Vie Vavneyi I got so fucking tired of listening to how great
Austin was 10 years ago I've never been like that about
Athens. I think Tyrone's was the greatest club ever but I don't
go on about it because to my mind a lot of things have gotten
worse and a lot of things have gotten better It's a real mixed
bag. Mostly just different.
fie |p a fee Tyrone’s... I remember where it was It was kind
of before my time so what was Tyrone's?
Vlei Well, Tyrone's was like the 40 Watt. It was the first proper
club. The B52‘s had played at the Last Resort almost over the
dead bodies of the management who were really, really
hurting for business. They played one of the best shows I've
ever been to in my life and within three months they moved to
New York. So there was this vacuun in Athens: the Last Resort
had had one rock band once and they weren't about to get rid
of the potted plants and all that. So, Oliver was the manager
of the Chameleon which was a restaurant and bar where they
had a classical guitarist in a tuxedo sitting there playing
background music, (laughter) He calls me up one day —
Oliver was a pretty hip guy and had heard a lot about the B's
and he thought ‘Something s happening here under my nose
why am I not doing anything about it?” So I said well the B's
have left town but I’ve got a band that should play down there
and I'm in it(laughter) —it was the Tone Tones —so we went
down and played and that was the first rock gig there. Oliver
said ‘that's wonderful, we definitely want you to come back’.
I said, ‘well we cant come back cause we re breaking up
(laughter) but I'll get you another band and they'll bring in a
crowd’. That was Pylon and that was their first paying gig
FPi The Tone Tones?
Vic: Yeah, that was the only band I’ve been a part of that
could have made a lot of money We started out on Ground
hogs Day and opened up for the B’s at the Georgia Theatre
which was still going as a movie house. Our last gig was that
first week in June at Tyrone’s In the middle, between our first
gig and our last gig we opened for the Police three times,
opened for Joe Jackson, headlined the Agora in Atlanta I
mean this band went straight up not because it was so great
but because there was this incredible hunger for this to
happen
FPr Now Mien was this 7
Vic: That would've been the summer of 79. The following fall
the Method Actors played their first gig which opened up for
Pylon on Halloween. During that period of time everything just
coalesced Tyrone's at that point now was like a real club and
big people were playing Tyrone's. That particular club is
fundamental in the funny way that a building can become part
of culture. Like the way Gertrude Stein's (Paris) apartment
was in the 30‘s. People have these architectural places that
they latch on to and Tyrone's was definitely like that as was
the 40 Watt in its various forms. For one thing, it was cheap.
I remember when Tyrone's had been open for a couple years
and they rau>3d the cover charge from $1 to $1.50 and people
were like Tm never going there again — that's outrageous!'
(laughter) It was fundamentally important because it gave a
lot of bands the opportunity to play.
FPr Yeah, it's still pretty cheap tor a show here $5 or $6 for
a show still seems like a lot of money to me but for a lot of
people, especially coming from out of town, that's cheap
Vic: Yeah, for S5 the band used to be out-of town like from
Britain, (laughter) Like Gang of Four Another thing about
what was happening and maybe even more important was
you got people from the outside coming in. Athens could not
offer bands a whole lot of money because the door was so
low. But one thing Athens could offer bands was a whole lot
of fun. And so it became kind of known that if you’re going to
play Atlanta where you can make money, take the time to
spend one extra day and go over to Athens. You can stay
somewhere for free. You can hang out you can have fun. Not
only was that important for Athens, but in a larger way it was
important for the South because there was no new wave
scene, despite what people will tell you about North Carolina
which was a very bluegrass, James Taylor sort of thing
FPt Yeah that music was fun...
Vic: Tyrone's was important in another way because it was
truly a dance club. I think that was real good too because it
definitely changed the attitudes and the way that a band
would address the audience. If you came up with people who
demanded some kind of body response it makes the music
different than if you came up in a coffeehouse scene, or you
came up in a scene where people are anchored to seats and
there's no place to dance. It encouraged drummers to come
out and be a real central part of the band. So that gave
something of a signature sound even though we couldn't see
it at the time. Everybody out of town could see it because they
had more distance Now stepping back from it not in space
but in time, I can see what they could see. Which meant, and
this is real important from a logistical point of view, that club
owners (from out of town) were getting bands like the B’s and
they really liked them and they really packed people in and
everybody danced and then they were getting Pylon and they
liked them and they really packed people in and
everybody danced and then they got R.E.M and all of
a sudden they were like ‘What's in the water down
there?* Here's these bands and they're not alike at i
all except that everybody dances. They cant
figure it out because you got more
bands coming out of Athens then are
on Manhattan. What's going on?
FPt It was like magic (laughter)
Vic: Another thing about Tyrone’s, and
this would also apply to the 40 Watt,
reminds me of the way movies were in the
40's and 50's in America The reason
there was a peak is that movies had
become so consistently good in a
certain kind of way People went
out to see the pictures They
didn't go out to see a movie
They just went out to see the
pictures That was the way
Tyrone's was People didn't re
ally give a shit, hell, it was a buck
If the band was awful you could get
drunk and still have money left over
and you could dance or there was
a place you could go talk Which
means that people did not go out
with this incredibly heavy critical atti
tude like ‘Let's check the band out' It
with technology the Beatles never dreamed of! It's digital, its
got on-shell pnnting. it's got graphics, expensive 100% linen
paper, clear plastic shell all the way from Atlanta, (laughter)
FPt You can make a tape or a single pretty easily these days
Vie: Exactly. I guess that's kind of a mixed blessing. I think
maybe in terms of where I want musical culture to be, the more
important support systems aren't there. But we create the
kind of systems that we think we need to fulfill whatever it is we
think is important.
FPt Well, with what you’ve been saying, the emphasis has
changed quite a bit
Vlor I would agree with that without trying to sound too
nostalgic about it. One thing that's very different s the whole
place of where ego is in the band/audience relationship.
Going back to Tyrone's, the emphasis was that the ego in the
room was out on the floor, not up on the stage It wasn't like
'Look at him' it was 'He will watch us have a good time* and
that’ll make him happy and he's singing well and we’re
dancing more and than I make us happy. Certainly most
bands at that time, and I include R.E.M. in this as well, did not
go out imagining *We're going to be big stars'. I think probably
like everybody, including the 8-year-old kid who picks up a
baseball and a catchers mitt, if asked ‘Wouldn't you like to be
like Willie Mays?* would say *Yes!' secretly in their dreams
when they go to bed at night They dream they're into the last
game of the world series and they win it with a home run up
into the bleachers, but that's a private dream that not really
many people entertain as an agenda. So. that's different but
what I just said does not by any means express a phenom
enon limited to just Athens That's a much broader phenom
enon going on in music in general. One of the things that’s
happened over the last ten years is the big are definitely
getting a whole lot bigger and the lower class is
getting a lot bigger not just in music but in life in
general. The rich are getting richer. Media oils
that machine so that you've got people like Ma
donna who are basically famous for being fa
mous. They're not just famous because they can
write songs, or any musical values. It's more of a
media persona/perception and everything in
our culture is pushing that. So it reflects
bigger issues than just what's going on
here If Tyrone’s hadn't burnt down,
everything that’s happened to Ath
ens would have happened anyway.
Vic continues to make very fine
11 music (we share a common wall as
next-door neighbors so I can testfy to
this). Your Athens Music Collection
would not be complete without a copy
of Vic's Ca\n so go out and find yourself
a copy (try Wuxtry) He has been wnting
poetry rather obsessively tor over a year
now and his work has been published in
Ireland and in a British Anthology of mod
ern poetry. We will have more on Vic's
literary output in the future
Cat Holmes
GVR©
OORflP.
CUSTOM MADE PfTA BREAD
SANDWICHES SINCE 1974
WRAPS, PHILLIES,
value meals,
Cappuccino, & Espresso
Open 7 days a Week
Take Out Available
ACROSS FROM THE UGA ARCHES
East Broad St.
543-9071