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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