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MIKE WHITE dMdlydesigns.com
Making an Impact
M any given moment in any scene there
are only a handful of bands doing
anything truly worthwhile. For now,
in Athens, Chrissakes is one of them.
Composed of Helen Rhinehart (bass and
vocals), Rob Thomason (drums) and Drew
Smith (guitar and vocals), Chrissakes is among
the most consistently satisfying Athens bands
both in terms of composition and perfor
mance. Early '90s hardcore fans are quick to
classify the band as "screamo" (itself a bas
tardization of "emo," and both being terms
that are unrecognizable, if not entirely inaccu
rate, in their application today), but holding
fast to such terms not only denies the fluidity
of language, for better and worse, but, also,
the utter freedom represented by Chrissakes'
music. Drew Smith concurs and says, "I don't
know what to call us, either." Then again,
that should only prove frustrating for a person
insistent on categorization.
The band's jagged, heavy and melodic
compositions come about in the usual way.
Something loose develops into something
more cohesive and generally begins with
Smith (ex-Gasmask & Matchsticks, ex-Life
Is a Fight) and Rhinehart (ex-Atlanta band
Brickmason). "Somehow we manage to stay on
the same page most of the time," he says.
With one demo under its belt, the band
is on the cusp of releasing a split-LP with
Baltimore, MD band The Convocation (for
merly, Convocation Of...) that will place it
miles ahead in terms of the band's interper
sonal association with the true roots of its
sound. (The Convocation was founded by Tonie
Joy who was previously in the legendary bands
Moss Icon, Universal Order of Armageddon
and Bom Against.) But, it was kind of a fluke
happening.
Smith says, "[It was] totally random. We
had just finished recording for the first time
with [Athens engineer] Joel [Hatstat] and we
wanted to see if anyone would be interested in
doing a split... we sat around and hit a bunch
of bands up on MySpace to humor ourselves.
We didn't expect anyone to say yes, and the
only person to even respond to us at all was
Tonie Joy. He said he was into us and [they]
would do it. Blew our minds." Chrissakes will
also appear on the We No Fun compilation on
Atlanta's Transruin Records. Another split LP is
planned with Atlanta band Hawks.
Having witnessed several incarnations of
Smith's music over the past five or so years,
this writer was keen to inquire whether post
graduation adulthood (Smith is in his mid-
20s) played any role in the music. "I think the
variation and intensity has a lot to do with
both getting older and having more musically
inclined friends than I ever thought I would,"
he answers. "Being in a band as an adult is
different than being in one as a teenager...
but the good feelings I get from playing music
have never changed."
Significantly, nothing is immediately fun
about Chrissakes. It exists outside the realm
of good-time rock and rolL That isn't to say
the band's music isn't satisfying—it is—but
at a far deeper level, one that demands listen
ers bring nothing to the table other than an
open, but not empty, mind. For as much as
Chrissakes' music can instantly recall several
seminal bands, it simultaneously calls them
into question. The freshness the band infuses
into its compositions, while all built on famil
iar elements, makes categorization silly and
it makes nostalgia not only distasteful but,
ultimately, irrelevant. Visit Chrissakes online
at www.myspace.com/chrissakesband.
Gordon Lamb
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