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Upcoming Events
Come watch the Braves
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The Athens-Clarke County Leisure Services
Department Invites You to Celebrate...
ZlAif is
NATIONAL
PARK AND
RECREATION
MONTH
Thursday, July 7
Sandy Creek Nature Center
’6 ACC family and -9 Non resident family
Pre registration required by calling
706-613-3615
RORSIGUES
ESB
1MS033IEE6
Saturday, July 9
East Athens Community Center Playground
Free popsicles from 10.00 - 11:00 a.m.
Free! (706 613-3625)
HESS 05®
Monday, July 11 -
Thursday, July 14
Bishop Park Pool
M0 per child. Pre-registration required by
July 6 by calling 706-613-3580
i. J(L A jjl 4-
N ot a whole lot about Grand Rapids, MI
band Stepdad was premeditated. The two
core members didn’t grow up together,
and they weren't toiling in obscurity for
years playing songs they believed in but no
one else seemed to care about. Rather, the
buzz around Stepdad and their ultra-catchy
synth pop tunes started with a chance meet
ing at a bar and a cursory recording offer.
"I was doing freelance production stuff,
and I saw him performing as a solo artist in
Mount Pleasant," says Ryan McCarthy, referring
to the other half of Stepdad's core, a musi
cian who goes by the name ultramark. "He
had. like, a pink kitten sweater on; he looked
so ridiculous, but he was playing these really
catchy pop songs."
So, McCarthy emailed ultramark and invited
him to come out to his bedroom studio in
Saginaw, MI to record some tracks for free.
"He was commuting from Chicago to
my studio in Saginaw, and, eventually, he
just asked if I wanted to come to Chicago,"
McCarthy says. "So. I packed up my stuff and
moved out there. Then pretty quickly... we
just started writing songs together, and it's
kinda been that ever since."
After the move, the duo recorded and
released the Ordinaire EP, a debut featuring
eight retro-pop gems. The quality of the record
was not up to chance, of course, as McCarthy
and ultramark had spent years crafting their
songwriting on small stages and in their home
studio. What the duo didn't anticipate was
how successful Ordinoire would be.
"Wc didn't have a plan when we put it
out. It wasn't like, 'OK, we're gonna put it
out. and then do all the normal stuff a band
does like tour and try to get a record deal,'"
says McCarthy. "We sent it out to our friends
around the country, and it kind of spread in a
really weird way."
That weirdness included a chance encoun
ter with the now hugely popular web comic
Axe Cop. After seeing the webpage soon after
it went live. McCarthy and ultramark wrote
a song for it, just for fun, and sent it to the
creator. It then filtered down to fans of the
comic, who soon became fans of Stepdad.
Suddenly, with little promotion other than
the pop muscle of their songs, Ordinaire and
Stepdad were getting noticed, with reviews
and downloads available on numerous music
blogs nationwide. And the reviews were good.
The final, perhaps most important happen
stance for Stepdad is the band's actual sound.
Drawing comparisons to current retro-synth
pop bands like Passion Pit and MGMT, Stepdad
seems to be riding a wave of appreciation for
‘80s-influenced pop music... only thing is.
that was unintentional, too.
"People think. '[Stepdad's music] is totally
'80s throwback,' which is cool, but it's not at
all what we were going for," McCarthy says.
"We were just like, 'Well, we got some synthe
sizers, and we tike writing catchy pop songs,'
and that's just what happened to come out."
McCarthy says that although many of
Stepdad's favorite bands are basically '80s
bands, most of them aren't the ones his band
is compared to. But he admits that as song
writers. both he and ultramark feel it's impor
tant to study the melodies and structures of
their favorite bands; that process helped them
create their own powerful hooks.
"Mark and I both are just self-taught song
writers." McCarthy says. "And I think now we
are kind of getting to do it and show people
what we've been learning for the past seven
years in our bedrooms, not having any social
lives throughout high school.'
Chris Miller
WHO: Stepdad. Qurious,
Space Ghost, Baby Baby
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
WHEN: Wednesday. July 6,9 p.m.
HOW MUCH: $8 (adv.)
V J
14 FLAGPOLE.COM -JULY 6. 2011
