Newspaper Page Text
RlEtOL
EAUtH At HE<JD EARjH
thens has had a hard time knowing what to
do with its heavy metal. Many can attest
to the poor attendance of several of Harvey
Milk's early liturgical explosions, and that band is
the finest the Classic City has ever offered in terms
of aggressive music. In a town more well-regarded
for its forays into psychedelia, pop and college
rock—not to mention a tightly packed downtown
where volume travels with impunity—where are
metalheads to go to get their fix of the loud stuff?
Although his venue is popularly regarded as the
local haven for dubstep and the like. New Earth
Music Hall talent buyer Ryan Hetrick wants people
to know that his room is open for heavy business.
"It was branded as a mostly electronic music venue,
but since [then] Adrian [Zelski, owner] and I [have]
chatted and had very long discussions about where we'd like
to take it and be more of a full-service music venue, where we
embrace a lot of counterculture types of things," says Hetrick.
"That's part of what metal music and what loud, heavier music
is; it's counterculture. I feel like there needed to be a place for
those kids and those types of music listeners to feel comfort
able in... There's been some stigma; there's been some things
that I've battled against. I had to get people into the room
and have them see and listen to it and see that it can be some
place that isn't just electronic and raver kids running around."
Since Hetrick joined the New Earth team in March of this
year, his "Metal Earth" series has done great guns, kicking off
with a headlining set from Atlanta grindcore quintet Primate
(featuring moonlighting Mastadon guitarist Bill Kelliher),
"party doom" act Demonaut and Athens' own Savagist. This
was followed in quick succession by a show including ex-Athe
nians/ Flagpole Band of the Year Award recipients Lazer/Wulf,
doom-bearers Guzik, power trio Hot Breath and newer band By
the Sword. Beyond mere decibels, a common bond between
these two shows is Clem Adams, whom Hetrick describes as his
"right-hand person" throughout the process of bringing metal
to New Earth: helping to bring in bands, designing the first
flier and performing with Savagist and Hot Breath.
It makes sense that New Earth would want to expand
beyond a niche audience; in a music community as small and
somewhat segregated as Athens, strict genre lines hurt more
than help local venues. But for Hetrick, including metal in the
venue's purview was essential to his joining on to book shows
at New Earth.
"I just felt like in the times that I lived here, I saw so many .
great bands that had heavier influences, whether it be metal or
whether it be math rock or what have you," says Hetrick. "And
up to that point, before I moved down here, I listened to a
decent amount of it when I was younger, but when I got here,
it re-energized me as to the power of a great heavy music show
and how it transcends things and takes people's aggressions
out and focuses them towards music and gives
them an outlet. There's so many great bands and
so many phenomenal musicians in that realm, and
I felt in some ways that it never got represented
in the way that it needed to. And that's no shot
at the 40 Watt or Tasty World or to anybody else; I
just felt like I had an opportunity to put that sort
of music back in the forefront and give the metal
kids and the musicians and the people in town who
play in heavier bands a chance to take their thing
higher and farther than what they could have gone
previously."
In the immediate future, there are three more
"Metal Earth" shows are on the horizon. The next
event features Weedeater, the 10-years-strong
Southern metal pioneers who debuted in 2001 with
the amazingly titled ...and Justice for Vail. Following that,
the venue will be host to the most legitimately huge band
of this series, The Black Dahlia Murder, a Detroit band that
represents the vanguard of extreme metal's more melodic side.
Finally, the CD release by Music Hates You is around the cor- .
ner; Hetrick says that "they're a long-standing Athens institu
tion, and for them to want to do their CD release party under
the [banner] of Metal Earth and New Earth Music Hall was a
complete honor for me. I'm tickled by it."
Beyond all that, Hetrick makes ominous reference to some
thing called "New Year's Eve Evil," but can't divulge much
other than general enthusiasm. "Whether it be math rock, punk
rock, sludge rock, stoner rock, weed metal, thrash metal, black
metal, what have you. I don't care," he says. "If it's turned up
and it's loud and it's somewhat aggressive, I'd like it to be rep
resented under Metal Earth."
Jeff Tobias
0)
-Q
o
o
O
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB
of Athens
Join us on October 21st for a night
under the stars with the music of Crosby,
Stills, Nash and Young by Deja vu
Table of 8 Sponsorship: $500.00
Includes dinner, wine, show '
and silent auction
Time: 7pm
Locos Mooseyard
at 581 S. Harris Street
To sponsor your table, please contact us at 706-548-7277
October 22
' ^ REGISTER ON ACTIVE.COM
Loco j Moo&eyard at 581 S. Harris Street
3
<t>
&
CO
o
$
m m
•v
3
&>
o
<D
■ ■
<0
>
3
DEUIVEftt
PJP
nri
DAYS
ON
m
tSDAY OC1
A I
(T
(HMI
ui
li
7
ii 1
mil
T1
£
11 i JMMijj
|| j! l/n^
1 \ “1 J 1
[ [| ~
nfj^m
ONTHURS
10PMCL0SE
SUN 8P
MCLOSE
AT BOTH LOCATIONS^ |
2440 WEST BROAD ST. - 1706) 208 7979
48S BALDWIN ST. - (706) S48 3442
WWW.
v? ■ ’ i'
SaaOlRNBM
OCTOBER 5,2011 • FLAGPOLE.COM 17
