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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