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MIKE WHITE • dea<J}yd«$igR$xom
Hello, people. I hope everyone enjoyed
their AihFest weekend and associated activi
ties. While you're re-hydrating and treating
your sunburns, it'd probably be a good idea
to catch up on the ongoing scene by catching
some shade and reading this page. 1 made it
just for you. So, look below for the haps...
Welcome Aboard: This week marks a changing
of the guard here at the of flagpole music
department and Fd like to take a moment
to welcome Babe Vodicka aboard as our new
musk editor. He first came to Athens in the
middle of the last decade, played in several
bands—including long legged Woman and
Erutrevo—and then moved away. Now, he's
back and at the helm of everything you'll
experience in the music section. He's a heck
of a good guy and thoroughly knowledgeable.
Fve been happy to know him as a friend in
the past and am glad to welcome him as a
new colleague. He can be contacted directly
via music@flagpote.com.
And Thanks for Everything: After the above
paragraph, it'd only be appropriate to say a
hearty thanks to exiting Musk Editor Michelle
Gilxenrat Davis. She's leaving this position to
begin law school at USA in the fall, so shell
still be around town. Hopefully, everyone will
get hip to this and make a mental note not
to file verbal complaints with her—see above
paragraph—when she has a rare moment to
Supercluster
go outside in between hitting the books.
She's been fabulous to work with, and I can't
sing her praises highly enough Good luck,
Michelle!
Grandpa Would: The debut album from The
Welfare Liners is due out Sept. 18. The old-
time group recorded the album, High on a
Hilltop, at member Russ Hallauer's Ghostmeat
Studio in Watkinsville, and the album will
come out on Hallauer's Ghostmeat Records
label The album's mastering was handled by
Andy LeMaster at Chase Park Transduction.
You can download a song ("That's What She
Said") from the record over at www.thewel- .
fareliners.com. That's also where you should
check for information on the band's rumored
Kickstarter campaign, which Fve been told
about but could not find hide nor hair of as of
press time.
ing fi&Mength album by experimental hard
core proprietors Muuy Sfien are available over
at www.muuybiien.bandcamp.com. I mean
"experimental" in the best sens .' of the term.
That is, pushing the boundaries of a form,
not simply wanking around, flexing supposed
dexterity. It's-titled This Is What Your Mind
Imagines, and the two songs available ("Unde
Tony" and "Failin' Out (Reprise]") are a nice
aural aperitif. Get yourself together and go
listen to them. " >
V Two Sides of the Same Coin: Band of stars
Superduster released a new single last week.
The A-side ("Things We Used to Drink") fea
tures vocals by member Kay Stanton (Casper
& the Cookies), and the flip side ("Memory
of the Future") has vocals by Hannah Jones
(New Sound of Numbers). The melodies for
each were created by Vanessa Briscoe Hay
and fleshed out by the entire band. The 45
RPM, 7-inch vinyl record has national distribu
tion behind it, so you should be able to grab
it easily at your favorite record store. You do
still have a favorite record store, don't you?
Well, you should. , •
Sweep Out the Ashes: Athens musician William
Chamberlain has shut the door on his three-
year-running band Vestibules. The band
played its final show last week at the Ricker
Theatre & Bar during AthFest. If you'd like to
pick over their bones, just visit www.reverbna-
tion.com/vestibules for their songs, photos,
etc.
Fangs for the Memories; Careful listeners might
have noticed a bit of Athens in the season
premiere of H80s True Blood. Local songwriter
Ken Will Morton had his song "Devil In
Me," from his 2008 album of the same name,
appear in the episode. I haven't personally
seen the episode in question, so I can't tell
yog when it appears, so you're on your own
there. For ongoing information concerning ;
Morton and his happenings, see www.kenwitt-
mortofi.com. You can also fUi your home or
office aU the live long day with streaming
Morton tunes courtesy of www.kenwillmorton-
music.bandcamp.com. *
Gordon Lamb thr^tsandpromises@fiagpote.com
“Does the phr«»se ‘power imbalance’
mean anything to you?”
—Kathleen Hanna
T he phrase "power imbalance" means
nothing to Street Eaters. The Berkeley,
CA-based power duo of John No and
Megan March organize their creative work as
a complete collaboration. No's chainsaw bass
guitar and March's sparkplug drumming find
time to shine while making equal space for
one another. And there is not a single song on
their most recent fuU-tength, Busty Eyes and
Hydrocarbons, that doesn't include both musi
cians hollering, harmonizing and generally
making a tightly knit lattice of their voices.
After forming four years ago and releasing a
slew of 7-inches, the pair have figured out
how to work their partnership as two lockstep
elements forming one solid unit.
Flagpole reached Street Eaters at the outset
of a short tour; they're used to being out on
the road for five or six weeks at a time. When
asked how the four years of steady touring
have improved the nature of their collabora
tion, March immediately offers: "I think we're
a lot less shy." Her bandmate, No (speaking to
Flagpole alongside March on speakerphone),
agrees. "I don't think there's any self-con
sciousness about it anymore; this is kind of
what we do. We put a lot of time and energy
into it With the whole picture—the music,
the lyrics, the art we do all the video work
ourselves—it's very strongly in-house. It's all
more and more along those lines."
While two musicians working together
on their music isn't rare, the complete col
laboration on lyrics is for less common. (And
as anyone who witnessed the brainstorming
sessions featured in the Metallica documen
tary Some Kind of Monster would agree, this
method rarely gamers much in the way of
quality results.) As the duo met 10 years ago
as volunteers at 924 Gilman St in Berkeley,
the QIY space that fostered countless punk
bands, Street Eaters work hard to keep their
lyrics socially relevant as well as personally
resonant. And as anyone who's spent innumer
able hours arguing over coffee (or 40s) will
attest finding common ground can be hard
even when it isn't being set to music.
"It's actually really personal, in the sense
that one of us will come up with an idea for a
song and we may have different takes on what
that means," says March. "It's interesting to
put the two different ideas together and hash
it out It's really liberating, actually, to write
with someone else."
"Part of it... is that we also spend most
of our waking hours together and we have
lots of conversations and a lot of emotional
discussions—discussions of all kinds," says
No. "The discussions can produce thoughts or
ideas that we'll end up translating later into
lyrics. For the most part, we end up dovetail
ing on a concept. We do find a place where we
come together usually."
While this all might sound heavy-handed,
a quick survey of the work Street Eaters do
in the real world proves the opposite is true.
Addressing the issue of the oil spill in the
Gulf, the video for "Livid Lizard" finds No
hollering at oil pump jacks and windmilling
his arms like a madman, while Ma.-h is seen
in what appears to be a lizard costume. It's
obvious that the collaboration isn't a forced
leveling of any sort of playing field, but rather
the natural outcome of the kind of kinetic fun
that is generated when the right two people
come together.
"We like to make space for each other
in each other's lives normally, and it makes
sense to have that process be transparent
through the writing as well," says No. "It
seems really natural. We don't really think
about it that much; it just kind of happens
because, I guess, that's just the way that we
communicate."
Jeff Tobias
12 FLAGPOLE.COM JUNE 27,2012