Newspaper Page Text
oes the world need another loud
i;Southern rock album about whis
key, dogs, mamas, whiskey, being
broke and whiskey? Its tough to
argue that it does, and good luck with that
task if you choose to take it up. But whether
that's what the world needs isn't particularly
the point, 'cause in this case, another loud
Southern rock album is what Scott Low needs.
See, Scott Low's got this band called Efren.
They're from here—maybe you've seen 'em
out; they play a ton. And in less than three-
years as a band, Efren's put out into the world
a serious amount of music EFs and full-length
albums both. Efren's past releases have tended
toward a more exploratory Southern folk
sound, getting quiet and haunting at times,
and occasionally ramping up the volume. But
Efren is a touring band, and touring bands
play in bars, and people in bars are drink
ing and talking, especially if you're a band
from out of town and your friends aren't in
the audience. So, Scott LoW needed a loud
Southern rock album because Scott Low
needed to get that audience to pay attention.
And so: Writs a New Song. It's the brand-
new full-length album from the four-piece
comprised of Low, Jonathan Brill, Darrin Cook
and Jamie DeRevere. "With Efren I've just
been cranking out songs for two-and-a-half
years now," says Low, sitting on his porch
last week with Townes, his girlfriend's German
shepherd/husky mix. "A lot of its sort of an .
evolution of playing in clubs where nobody
cares, and trying to get their attention. This is
a record of more rock anthem-y 5*uff, with the
previous albums being more folk escapades. I
definitely went into it thinking 'rock anthem '
Try to get people into it That's one of the
reasons I started Efren, to catch the audience
more and get their attention on me, more
than what happens if I'm just playing lead
guitar for whoever calls me, /know? More to
be able to have some sort of attention with
the audience than shredding a guitar. I think
I loved what we're doing, but I think we can
put a little beat behind it with a free-jazz
rhythm section."
Several tiroes, Low calls the tunes on Write
q New Song "angry rock tunes," and it's not
just audiences that are more interested in a
brew than a band that get his goat. See, Low
went through a divorce with his son's mother
a while back, and that was right when he was
in the middle of writing the songs that ended
up on the new disc. <
•fcteli I got divorced," he says. "My wife left
me last January, 14 months ago. It was pretty
bad. The-songs were already sort of works in
progress, but that definitely changed my mood
and what I felt like I had to say."
And Low, who plays guitar and sings with a
twangy, guttural baritone that sounds kind of
like Chad Kroeger borrowing Patterson Hood's .
phrasings, decided to be more direct with his
lyrics, too. x *
"I still write these weird analogies and
metaphors that a lot of people can draw their
own conclusions to, but at the same time
there's a lot more straightness on this album,"
he says, "ranging from divorce to the experi
ence of 200-plus shows with four guys. There's
a special societal army of friends that I have
after nine or 10 years of being in Athens,
and I wrote songs about that It's a lot more
of a party-rock vibe, but it stiU sounds tike
Americana."
Readers who've kicked around town a bit
may remember a dude called Scott Leon-O'Day.
who played in jazz bands in town for much of
the last decade. Leon-O'Day and Low are the
same dude: he'd formerly hyphenated his last
name with his wife's, and that fell apart and
he also wanted to rebrand himself, make his
band (and some solo tunes he's working on)
easier to find through Internet searches. But
he's the same guy, and that jazz background
informs a lot of the ballsy sound of Efren—
which, speaking of names, was given its name
to honor Low's former father-in-law.
"I think (playing jazz involves] a lot of
trust," says low. "Jazz instilled this confi
dence or trust within me. We'll jam out some
times, well do a little Allman Brothers or Neil
Young tears on the new album, and we'U defi
nitely extend stuff live if it feels right, and
that comes from jazz. When I started Efren, I
thought, Wll play real simple folk and rock
songs,' but now four albums later, I think it's
broadening a little and we can pull from my
jazz heritage a little more." •
Write a New Song was recorded in
WatkinsviUe's Full Moon Studios, and the band
should have copies of the disc available at
this weekend's show; it gets a more official
release later this summer. Low's excited to get
it into the world, and it seems like it's the
right thing at the right time for him.
"I grew up on all that Southern country
stuff," he says. "Even though I did play jazz
for 10 years, I'm definitely a country boy at
heart"
.* v Chris Hassiotis
FINE WINE > DOMESTICS & CRAFT BEER • LIQUOR
H ^ace in for great deals
wine & liquor!
D LOW PRICE
ICE COLD
4388 Lexington Rd.
706.583.4066
265 North Ave
06.543.0005
NO 1.D. NO BEER. DRINK RESPONSIBLY.
APRIL 25,2012 • FLAGPOLE.COM 21