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The R.E.M. 30 Celebration
O nce upon a time in Athens, there
was a party held in a nearly col
lapsed old church on Oconee Street.
Word spread quickly through town,
boiled down to the essentials: birthday, bands
and beer. In order to get to the stage, guests
had to enter through a hole in the closet
and then make their way past many a rotten
floorboard. But it was all worth it because
that night, Apr. 5, was Kathleen O'Brien's
birthday. And who among the guests would
have thought that 30 years later another party
would be thrown for the unnamed band that
premiered that night?
That unnamed band soon became R.E.M.,
and during the years that followed, it would
take over the world with jangly guitars,
a singer who mumbled most of his lyrics,
melodic bass and harmonies and a drum
mer with a taste for the quieter side of life.
Through a mixture of hard work, talent and
just sheer luck, R.E.M.
has managed to go
from basically nowhere
to the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame, taking
the name of Athens
along with them on the
ride. Thirty years and
14 studio albums later,
the band is still going
strong, albeit as a trio
now. R.E.M. is even
currently working on
the follow up to 2008's
Accelerate.
So, what better way
to celebrate R.E.M.'s
30th anniversary than
with a concert of
R.E.M. covers?
"We're just putting
on this party as sort
cf a 'thank you,' not
just for the 30 years
of music, but for all that they've done for
Athens," says show promoter Cathy Edmonds.
The lineup for the night includes some of
R.E.M.'s closest work friends, such as local pro
ducer John Keane, who has acted as an engi
neer for the band and has occasionally played
on some of their albums. Mitch Easter is also
on board for the party. Besides being known
for his North Carolina-based band Let's Active,
Easter produced some of R.E.M.'s earliest work,
including the band's celebrated debut album
Murmur. <r
Experimental pop band Casper and the/
Cookies will kick off the night, fgUowed t>y
Supercluster, the local supe^up made up of
members of Pylon, the Squalls and Circulatory
System. Post-punk rc\.«fcrs VieTNam will be
trekking in from Atlanta to play a couple of
tunes as well. //
The wilcljdird artist for the night will be
local fun)c%id soul group The HEAP. The band
had tafontend with the fact that it has two
basses and a horn section, but no guitar. In
order to perform the R.E.M. covers, the band
has to deconstruct the songs and play them
as if The HEAP had written them, says bassist
and vocalist Bryan Howard. The result led to a
very different kind of cover.
"So much of [R.E.M.'s] stuff is guitar-driven
and jangly, and we tend to be the opposite;
but I enjoy the challenge," says Howard.
"In one of the tunes, I just listened to the
song and asked what the bass was doing. I
realized that the bass was basically playing
the rhythm-guitar part, and since I'm a bass
player playing this part, it made me want to
do it less that way."
Slightly more intimidating than learning
how to play R.E.M.'s songs is the thought of
playing them in the band's own backyard.
"Nothing is as scary as the fact that we're
doing these songs in their hometown in front
of people who have seen them for years and
have preconceived notions of how the stuff
should be preformed," says Howard.
That doesn't seem to be as big of a prob
lem for the last band of the night, but then
again, some of its members are no strang
ers to the limelight. The special collabora
tion is billed as Cindy Wilson (The B-52s),
Dana Downs and the Debauchelors, and the
group's members are promising a night to
remember. Both Wilson and Downs have been
friends with R.E.M.
since the early days.
"We were just all
sort of buddies back
then, and we'd go to
the R.E.M. shows and
dance like crazy and we
all just hung out," says
Downs. "They're good
guys; they're super rock
stars, but they are still
very real and give back
to the community. They
do it right. They incor
porated themselves
right away and worked
their asses off. That's a
really good lesson. It's
a good one for aspiring
rock bands. You should
get out there and play
to everybody."
R.E.M. themselves
are not expected
to be in attendance, but the band's giving
spirit certainly will be. True to their style,
proceeds from the show will benefit some of
the local charities they support: the Athens
Area Homeless Shelter and the Athens Area
Emergency Food Bank on Barber Street.
R.E.M. has had 30 years full of music and
adventure. It hasn't always been the easi
est road; the ones worth taking rarely are.
But through it all, R.E.M. has persevered and
continues to make music that inspires, while
the bandmembers take care of the town that
started it all. The call's gone out from party
central, and the crowd responded with a trib
ute concert. Whatever the future brings for
R.E.M., at least they can rest easy knowing
that they always have a perfect circle of tal
ented friends to come back to.
Jordan Stepp
— .
WHAT: “MM. 30" feat Cindy Wilson, £
Dana Downs and die Bebauchelors,
Mitch Easter, The HEAP, VUsTHara,
John Keane, SttpercMer,
Casper and die Cookies
; s . WHERE. Tire Melting Point
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MARCH 31,2010 FUGPOLE.COM 19