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PHOTO BY BALLARD LE5EKANN
Maximum Rock & Pop
V/The Figgs have never fit in with any scene/"
I says bassist-songwriter Pete Donnelly.
*Wve never been attached to a scene. We've
always just been kids from a small town who love
music and wanted to make it to have fun."
Donnelly formed The Figgs with guitarist Mike
Gent and drummer Guy Lyons in 1987 in the
small, upstate New York town of Saratoga Springs.
The band played as a trio until 1989, when Lyons
stepped aside to join the Army. Pete Hayes
replaced Lyons on drums that year and the band
pressed on until 1992 when Lyons (fresh out of
tire service) rejoined the band as second guitarist.
"We pretty much grew up together and learned
how to give each other the space we need and
keep each other in check—which a lot of bands
have trouble doing," says Donnelly.
The Figgs specialize in a bright and sophisti
cated brand of classic pop that draws heavily from
the back pages of rock history. The band's roots
tie as much in Chuck Berry, The Stones and The
Kinks as in Elvis Costello, The Jam and Graham
Parker.
As a quartet, The figgs released a debut
album, io Fi At Society High (Imago) in 1994, The
album bristled with punkish cynicism and aggres
sion and linked him with the burgeoning "pop-
punk" explosion.
"Our label aimed us at that whole [pop-punk
movement] for a few months in '94," remembers
Donnelly. "We had a song, 'favorite Shirt,' that
was in the Top-40 alternative charts and being
played on '120 Minutes' and it was really working
that first year because the whole 'pop-
punk' thing was really new. Green Day
had just broke and the label was working
us into that whole thing."
It didn't really work, though; Green
Day had a gimmick and was more
strongly attached to a society of MTV
watchers and suburban "punks" more
interested in image, identity and trends
than in melody, lyricism and music his
tory.
The Figgs followed their debut with
their first major label effort, Bondo
Macho (Capitol), in 1996 and toured at a
break-neck pace through the year. The
label never offered much support and
eventually dropped the band. It marked a
major turning point in the band's career.
Lyons, citing his need to utilize his G.I.
Bill benefits at college before time ran
out, bowed out of the group in '97 and
the remaining fellows pressed on as a
trio. The figgs were back at square one,
so to speak.
"We've always felt that we're going to
make the best music that we can,"
asserts Donnelly. "You have to make a lot
of mistakes to learn and as you get older you get
more of a handle on things,"
The band hammered away at new material,
gigged heavily in the Northeast (sometimes with
guest guitarists) and developed an even more
complex, sinewy fusion of driving guitar rock,
highlighted by an indignant passion, biting sar
casm and bristling sense of anger. Mike Gent, in
particular, emerged during this time as something
of a grouchy-but-hip frontman, decked in Mod
gear (circa 1966). He and Donnelly recorded (with
a low budget) some of their strongest song ideas
during a session that resulted in the 1998 album,
77ie Figgs Couldn't Get High (Absolute A Go Go).
The album included one of band's most jivin',
straight-up, booze anthems, "The Bar," penned by
drummer Pete Hayes.
"A lot of our songs are pop songs; they're not
indie-rock songs and they're not supposed to be
hidden little messages," says Donnelly. "I'm into
the strong songs with the easily understandable
message. Everybody writes in this band. A lot of
bands are dedicated to one songwriter or singer
and that makes longevity difficult."
The Figgs last came through Athens on their
way to this year's South By Southwest festival in
Austin in support of what may be one of the
strongest underground pop-rock discs of the year,
a lo-fi, seven-song collection titled For EP Fans
Onty (HearBox), A new record is expected out later
this year with a more "party-style" Figgs sound
and a more pronounced Motown tinge.
Donnelley: "It's tricky. I describe our current
sound as rootful, rock and roll pop music. We have
plenty of throwbacks to old music—'60s, 70s and
earlier. We get the whole British comparison and I
feel like that's good, but it narrows what the Figgs
are. There's a lot of American music in us than
people realize. We're into all the original American
music that all the British band were into."
Ballard lesemann
WHO: The Figgs, Ceiling fan
WHERE: Caledonia Lounge
WHEN: Wednesday, Jane 7
:0t. HOW MUCH: SS
IVIUSIC/TECH
SATU RDAYJUNE
PRIDAYJUNE 16
►ACOUSTIC VAUDSVIUf w/
> ROBERT BRADLEY'S ,-n.
BLACKWATER SURPRlSr
> BRAND NEW IMMORTALS
. ► JOSEPH ARTHUR
• Colton Club
> SUBSONICS
> DEXTERVILLE
> WOGSLES
: ► ULTRABABYFAT
. ► TITANICS
klfikiksanQe
► KOOL KEITH
► DJ.KUT MASTER KURT
► MICRONOTS
► EL PUS
|EK1I5ANC£ tfiWBTED TO FIRST 100
► SAM PREKOP &
ARCHER PREWITT
► DJ CiC ' .ip:
Nomenclature
► DANIELLE HOWIE
► MIKE WINGER
Red UaH; Cafe
► THE R£WT SOYS
>smr
>HELMACH4
Stsr Bar
(WRISTBAND & BADGE ENTRY ONLY)
► MANOR
ASTRO-MAN?
► MACHA
► ELF POWER
► SILENT KIDS
LIGHTS
My Sister's Room
222 E. Howard St.,
Decatur 7'
404,370.1990
doors open @ 4
JUNE 7, 2000
