Newspaper Page Text
DI3 M m LMffl:
the MOIFAthfRS
WHO: Little Red Rocket,
The Modfathers
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
WHEN: Thursday, August 17
HOW MUCH: Call
T he Modfathers may be aware that they're
not breaking much knew ground musi
cally, but they never worry unduly about
it. Seth Hall and Dee Porter—the heart and
soul of the two-year-old band—readily recog
nize their blend of sweet harmonies, light
guitar crunch, heartfelt lyrics and hooky
melodies has been done over and over by
everyone from The Beatles and The Byrds to
Big Star and Teenage Fanclub. Hell, they're
even hip to the fact that little ol' Athens is
plumb thick with pop rock bands. They know
the music they make, although very good and
true to their vision, is just the latest in a long
line of esteemed company But ya' know what’
That's okay by them.
"To me, if it sounds like something old,
that's great," Porter admits. "I'm not trying to
start any new trends here. Trends come and go,
but you always come back to stuff like this."
Hall adds, "If it's not broke, don't fix it. In
rock and roll, it all comes back to pop and
that's what I love to hear."
Such refreshing humility, but The
Modfathers have the guns to back it up. Like
their heroes. Hall and Porter play melodic,
hook-filled pop-rock ditties with nifty vocal
harmonies and, like their other idols the
Rolling Stones and The Who, plenty of rock
and roll guitar thrown in for good measure.
The band, recently going through a member
ship shake-up, is currently in the studio
recording its full-length debut with the help of
drummer Lucas Jensen (a member of local band
Isobel and the Team Clermont company) and
bassists Tommy Salmon and Steve Scarborough,
with Salmon handling the bass chores live.
The Modfathers story begins three years ago
in Raleigh when Hall came across a flier con
cerning a band that would mix Beatles and
Beach Boys influences. At the other end of the
flier was Porter, a fellow fan of melodic rock
and roll. The two hit it off, personally and
musically, and began to write songs together.
Sharing a love for British Invasion-style pop
rock, they christened themselves "The
Modfathers" and relocated to Athens in August
1998 to "get serious about music," instantly
falling in with the strong local pop-rock scene
of bands like Little Red Rocket, Great Lakes
and The Possibilities.
Matt Thompson
"It's been great here, everyone's so sup
portive of everyone else," Hall says. "The pre
sent company we're in is great. We all have dif
ferent personalities, read different books, are
different people, so it all comes out different.
It's all your personality and who you are as a
person that comes out
in your music."
Porter points out,
"We play a little more
towards the 70s style
of pop rock as opposed
to the '60s Beach Boys-
style stuff. We're all
influenced by the same
stuff, we just go about
it different ways."
Again, The
Modfathers' take on
music in general is
nothing new, but they
add their own spin to
the wide world of pop
rock. Sure, there's
sweet vocal harmonies
and tightly structured
songs, but the band
allows itself plenty of
room to stretch out
and toss in a few hot
guitar licks a la Cheap
Trick. Hall said there's
not a conscious effort
to keep their material, for lack of a better
phrase, "up-to-date" just as long as what the
pair writes comes from a real source.
"I don't even pay attention to [xt being up-
to-date]," he admits. "I write a song, I want it
to make me feel good when I h^ar it and play
it, I write the lyrics that come to me naturally,
and whatever happens just happens. If it gives
us what I call the 'chill factor,' if it make.> the
hair stand up on the back of our necks, we feel
it's good."
The band is currently recording its self-
titled debut at Chase Park Transduction Studio
with master knob-twiddler David Barbe. Hall
and Porter hope it'll be available by late fall.
The recent change in lineup has kept them
from being able to play as often as they did
last year, but Porter said he hopes the record
will be able to reach more people than they
have been able to otherwise. In any event. The
Modfathers will continue to play the simple yet
evocative music they love, both honoring the
bands that came before and carrying pop rock
into the future.
"It's our first time in a real studio, so it's
definitely been a learning experience and it's
going slower than I thought it would," Porter
points out. "We have our hopes with what the
record will do and it's always scary to say any
thing, because you never know. We want to get
our music out there for people to hear, and it'll
be cool to finally be able to listen to on tape
what we've been hearing in our head so long.
Then, we can move on to something new."
COIfRGEi®RK HURRY, Offer Ends August 16
COMMUNITIES
SS)
W 2-4 Bedroom Apartments
r with Great Furnishings
and Tons of Amenities!
Rents Starting at $250
Pool S Hot Tub
Individual Leases
506 Riverbend Parkway • Athens, Georgia 30605 • 353-0779
Five Points Bottle Shop
1655 S. Lumpkin St. • 543-6989
Si
Red
Energy Drink!
Now
Available At
Five Points
Eottle Shop!
Check
Card
VISA
http://www2.netcom.com/~mrbush/index.html
NO FAKE I.D. s • NO CRYBABIES
CITY
BAR
How’s the lobster today?
HAPPY HOUR FRIDAY 4-f
$1 Domestic Beers
Every Monday $2.00 Draft
Bass. Guinness, Newcastle,
Homsbv Cider & Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
HAPPY HOUR: MON-SAT *-8
$1.50 Well Drinks and Domestic Beer
220 Colley Avenue Downtown * 546-7612
& Pub
VISA
HOURS S& SI
Sun-Wed. 11am-2:30am
Thu.-Sat. 11am-3:30am
HOKEY POKEY
XL (16") 2 Topping Pizza
$8.99
or 2 for $ 14.99
FAST FREE DELIVERY
543-5000
496 Baxter Street
GUMBY’S UALUE MENU
$6.99
1. 14" 1-topping pizza
2. 12" 1 -topping pizza & soda
3. 10" 2-topping pizza & soda
4. 10 wings & soda
5. 10" pokey stix & 5 wings
6. 10" cheese pizza & 5 wings
7. 12" pokey stix & soda
8. 10" cheese pizza & 2 pepperoni rolls
9. 5 pepperoni rolls & soda
10. medium 1 -item calzone & soda
11. 14" pokey stix
12. 12" sub of your choice & soda
13. large garden salad & soda
14. large chef salad & soda
AUGUST 16, 2000