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Entering The Studio, Athens Pop Band
Modern Skirts Work on Songcraft
P hillip Brantley (bass, guitar, vocals), John Swint (drums). Jay
Gulley (guitar, vocals) and JoJo Glidewell (piano, guitar,
vocals) are the Modem Skirts. The Athens group is plowing its
way into the hearts of many who hear the Skirts' music. Growing out
of the Americana-pop of F.F.S., the Modem Skirts retooled their
sound in the spring of 2004 and started playing mostly as an
acoustic act booking shows wherever they could.
They've since progressed into a well-crafted modem rock act for
lack of a better term, fusing spacious Britpop with intriguing
American rock. Their songs are melodic and strongly structured. The
Skirts write graceful pop songs and give them complicated and
heavy instrumentation. Their music is difficult to compartmentalize
bee iuse of their versatility as musicians—they can jump from a
brooding, prog rock intro and add summery, falsetto harmonies in a
way that somehow makes sense. They balance intricate structures
with their bright, circular voices. They do what they do very welL
In November of 2004, the band released the EP This is Winning
and Thinking, a collection of songs drawing influences from Pink
Floyd, the Yardbirds and Brian Wilson. Before they headed to Atlanta
for a six-week marathon recording session to craft their debut full-
length due out this fall, the Skirts sat down in their practice space
with Flagpole to get the logistics straight
Flagpole: When did you guys start playing music together?
John Swinfc Jay and JoJo have been playing for years, since
high school, and Phillip and I have done the same thing. We've
played together for many years. We all got together at a party. We
had no real goal. Jay and JoJo had some songs that they needed
drums and bass for. Phillip and I just obliged, and played their
music for awhile, and we started writing together.
FP: When did you record your EP?
Phillip Brantley: Over spring and summer [of 2004]. We did
most of it during the spring, and during the summer we recorded
*My Bull/ and added that That song just kind of happened. We
threw it down, it was almost a live take, really.
FP: You used to have more of an acoustic sound, and you've
changed.
Jay Gulley: Thankfully we
geared away from that
FP: Consciously?
PB: It was that
piano. [Jay and JoJo]
started writing these
songs that were so
much further...
head and
shoulders
above the
older stuff
John and
I'd been
playing
with
them.
JS: Jay and I were pretty pissed cause we had to pay for it
$75! God!
JG: That's a lot of money to us now, but then it was just so
expensive...
PB: And the effort it took to get it into /all's house.
JG: We had it in our house for a tong time before we brought it
to the practice space. It really changed where we were going, musi
cally.
FP: So you're working with Troy Aubrey, your manager. It seems
like the only people who have managers are Christian bands in high
school and huge bands like Radiohead.
JG: Well that's the sound we're going for. Christian. Our dream is
to be on The Fish.
PB: Welt the manager thing comes when you start getting
serious. It's easy to promote yourself around Athens, but it gets so
stale, to play the same places.
JoJo Glidewell: It was nice. Troy knew everybody, and it's easier
to book shows.
FP: Mow'd you meet him?
JJG: The tourism center had this thing that had travel writers
from across the country come. They had a couple of bands... we
were the "rock band.' It was at the Speakeasy, and they had a big
dinner for everybody. They presented a bunch of awards. We were
the band that played after everything was over, and Troy heard us.
And he was really drunk and he came and talked to us.
FP: How do you write songs?
PB: Most of the time, somebody has a pretty good idea, or a
foundation of a song, and we end up redoing it
JJG: And it's usually completely different than what we started
with.
FP: What are you doing now?
JJG: I guess the biggest thing is recording. We're working on a
full-length album.
FP: Where?
PB: We're recording with Geoff Melkonian in Atlanta.
Sunny McIntosh
go back in and find out what we like, and lay it down, and be done
with it We're all pretty fresh to this.
JJG: I think Geoff is a good producer. He's not going to take it
and make it something different than what it is.
FP: When did you each start playing music?
JJG: I started playing piano in like, sixth grade.
JG: I played in the high school band in ninth grade. Then I
picked up the guitar.
JJG: And we started writing together in 10th grade.
JG: The whole Nirvana thing definitely made me want to play
guitar.
FP: You write really complicated harmonies—do you write those
mathematically, or do you just sing and work it out?
JG: Some of it is mathematical
PB: But mostly we just try stuff. We sing together and say,
"That's good. Do something else here.'
JS: And then we end up getting in big fights.
JJG: Not fist fights.
PB: And then we buy beer.
JJG: Do you want to hear a new song?
FP: Yes.
PB: Jt has lots of harmonies.
JG: Oh, it's all downhill now.
At that point CiideweU grabbed an acoustic guitar and a capo,
and his quiet song filled the practice room. Gulley and Brantley sat
looking down and really listening until their voices swept in
together and swelled with Gli(Jewett's.
It was difficult to tell that there was only one instrument
playing, because the song felt so full with their voices. The indi
vidual Skirts sing their own melodies, and each overlaps and comes
back to the others in a way that is difficult to capture. There is a
kind of reverence that the Modem Skirts approach their music with.
They aren't trying to be clever or dramatic or moving, because tney
don't need to try. The/re just listening to each other, and that
makes it much easier to listen along.
The Modem Skirts' back-to-their-
roots performance on Monday, June
13 is an acoustic show. The Athens
Folk Music and Dance Society sup
plants its monthly 'Hoot' program
every June with the "AthFest
Sampler," a selection of acts who're
performing at the late-June
downtown festival.
nnni: nuirm Miupioi hiui mwuwi teiu,
Modern Skirts, Little Country Giants
WHERE: Hoyt House Pavilion
WHEN: Monday, June 13,8 p.m.
HOW MUCH: FREE!
JUNE 8, 2005 • FLAGPOLE.COM 25