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W Every Tuesday is
Open Mic Night
Concert Series
......... -
FlA6POlE.COM NOVEMBER 3.2010
Just Announced!
H one knows exactly who they
•••f are or where they come from.
They have always worked under
aliases, and their origins are shrouded in mys
tery. Some say they are travelers from space.
Some say they hail from the great state of
Alabama. Some say that, until this very tour,
they have been in suspended animation, cryo-
genically frozen and replaced by clones until
they were sufficiently rested and prepared
no unleash their solar surf storm upon the
peoples of Earth again. Be they man, or astro-
man, they are undeniable badasses and titans
of a genre that few living musicians do better.
Back after nearly a decade of hibernation,
they're kicking things off at the 40 Watt, and
drummer Birdstuff could not be more excited.
"In a greater sense," he says, "Athens
has always been a kind of home away from
home. When we were young we played a lot
of concerts in Athens, but it's probably been
15 years. We originally formed the band in
Auburn, AL, but we've split our time between
Auburn and Atlanta and Athens. Athens was a
place from early on that was beyond kind to
us for whatever strange reason."
The rest of the current lineup includes Coco
on bass and Athens resident Star Crunch on
guitar.
"We all have names," says Birdstuff, "and
we started this band to kind of have fun with
it It was kind of a reaction to a lot of the
cver-serious, ludicrous modem rock that was
going on. We wanted the band to be about
the thing,' ya know? The thing itself and not
about us."
The "thing" in question turns out to be
supersonic, intergalactic, instrumental astro-
surf rock in the grand tradition of guitar leg
ends Dick Dale and Link Wray (both of whom
the band has toured with in years past). "It's
really awe-inspiring—not only getting to play
with people [like that] but getting to tour
with The Cramps as welt having the guys
from DCVO come out and see us play; ft's tike,
these are the people from bands that made us
want to make music when are were kids, and
getting to hang out with them and see them
appreciate it—that's more success than ! ever
thought we'd have. Outside of having anybody
show up to shows, or making any money, or
to travel, or toy of that bullshit, just
getting euumwteogment num your mrue* nas
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coming for us. We'd best be prepared.
&
spacey effects, sci-fi sound clips and a risky,
pyro-cosmic stage show.
"A lot of that started just as a segue device
for us, but it also kind of helped us remember
the songs [laughs]", says Birdstuff. "When you
play a lot of instrumental music you're like,
'Oh it's the one with the Videodrome sample
in front of it,' and then it also kind of helps
our audience know the songs, too. Our very
first use of samples... we had a bunch where
we heckled ourselves as if we were audience
members, and we'd have heckles playing
through the PA. We may be one of the first
bands in rock history to heckle ourselves. Most
of that stuff is taken from sci-fi B-movies *
which are just ripe for strange one-liners and
non-sequiturs. Some stuff has been from, like,
weird PSAs and instructional records—a lot of
Cold War era stuff—but the majority of it is
just from long-forgotten sci-fi B-movies."
Birdstuff continues: "Coco, our bass player,
has always been kind of the mad scientist of
the band. Besides making theremins, which
are very strange devices, he also wrote an
entire song on a Dot Matrix printer where an
entire line of text was a B sharp, and another
line of text was like a D. He also made lots
of strange devices like Tesla Coils and Jacob's
Ladders and a whole lot of things that shoot
out electricity. We've blown the 40 Watt power
before, so maybe we could do a reenactment
of that [laughs]. Henry Owings, who does
Chunkkt, is promoting the show and is one of
our longest, old-school Athens friends, and it's
great to kind of count that additional reunion
element He's done tons of cool shows for us.
He's booked us in Athens for old skating rinks,
an old lazer-tag place, the 40 Watt every
where it's possible to play in town. We can't
be more excited. Shutting down the 40 Watts
power, and maybe causing an entire brownout
of downtown Athens is the plan."
Whether they shut down the city or not
remains to be secn, but rest assured, after a
decade of waiting and wondering, the return
of these shadowy figures is an event not to be
missed. Be they man, or astroman, they are
The
12 Slots Available. Sign Up at 9pm
Mob
w»h DubConscious 2.0
Ponderosa
with
Jonathan Tyler
and the
Northern Lights
*7
Adv. tickets are avaHabte onHne and at
School kids Records. Blue Girl Boutique
and 42 Degrees • downtown Athens, GA.
| Big
Gigantic
MB 11/12-11/13-Berioid Brecht’s
Three Penny Opera (2 Nights)
11/16 - JJ Grey and Moira with Bren
11/17- Last Comic Standing Round 3 .
with Ana Sla
*15
Early:
The Mezmer Society
11/18-AtoxBwNh Hot Upp and
Dank Sinatra -
Late: Flretooe Int’l, Alpha PM Alpha
and Kappa Alpha Psl present
Ice Kream
JON KOWNACKI