ABC Pick
originally published April 11, 2001
Set On Edge, Reeve Hunter, Steve Grubbs
The Bean'ry
Singer-songwriter Shannon Lewis first fell in love with the Classic City while he was attending college in Athens... Ohio, that is. After multiple road trips south, Lewis moved to the Georgia version in 1996 to open a recording studio and start a label, bringing with him his band Set On Edge. Lewis spent the next year restructuring the band and writing songs, crafting complex melodies and lyrics.
"I have like 20-something Kansas records, so it's in my blood," Lewis laughs. "I like elaborate, orchestrated music and I like that full sound. It's not that I don't like the normal rock and roll sound, but I just like when a band pushes past the normal guitar-bass-drums sound."
An admitted recovering metalhead, Lewis says his musical outlook was changed after seeing Cincinnati's Over The Rhine. "I left the show thinking, 'I've been doing music all wrong and those guys are doing it right.'" Lewis formed Set On Edge in 1993 with fellow songwriter Steve Rieske, and the current line-up includes Patrick Strawser (bass), Patrick Davis (guitar), Steve Grubbs (guitar), Tom Crea (drums), Tonya Strawser (piano, organ) and Emily Beam (cello, violin). Tonight's show is something of a reunion with Rieske and ex-SOE member Randy Kinsey traveling down from Ohio to perform. Brittney Norris will also sit in on percussion. SOE has an EP coming out soon entitled A Story To Cling To, and Lewis is putting the finishing touches on a full-length called Falling On Deaf Ears for a winter release.
"I'm shooting for a simple sound on the surface but with complex lyrics and music when you dig deeper." Lewis says about the band's unique-to-Athens sound.
Solo songwriters Steve Grubbs and Reeve Hunter open. 8 p.m. [MT]
ABC Pick
originally published April 11, 2001
Entropy, Gorgonzola
Caledonia Lounge
"Entropy" is defined as "a measure of the amount of energy unavailable for work during a natural process" with a "hypothesized tendency toward uniform inertness." There's nothing inert or sluggish in the musical jams of the Athens/Atlanta band Entropy, however.
The trio formed just a year ago when drummer Rob Robinson (formerly of Athens band Dr. KPants) hooked up with guitarist Slappy Goodman and bassist Justin McCathie - both players in the Atlanta scene.
"All of our stuff is pretty much instrumental, and we just try to play the deepest funk we can," says Robinson. "It's our interpretations of what we love to listen to, like anything that James Brown has thrown out there. It's pocket grooves more than any kind of extended jam thing. We're just trying to hit as hard as we can."
The band played a few dozen shows over the last year in small venues in Athens and Atlanta. Highlights included opening for the Yonrico Scott band at the Georgia Theatre and "EarthFest 2000" at Legion Field on the UGA campus. The band plans to compile a collection of live tracks for a forthcoming, self-produced album.
Look for guest saxophonist John Kell (ex-Planet Jive) to sit in and local instrumental funk band Gorgonzola to open. [BL]
ABC Pick
originally published April 11, 2001
The North Mississippi All Stars, The Neal Pattman Band
The Georgia Theatre
Like Gov't Mule, The North Mississippi All Stars play a brand of improv-heavy blues rock with emphasis on gutbucket grooves, nasty guitar work and flourishes of jazz stylings. The trio, which features brothers Cody and Luther Dickinson also keeps the hoary sound of "guitars for miles" updated with the addition of G. Love & Special Sauce-like sampling. Live, the band has a tendency to occasionally wander into noodle territory, but when the grit's on, the Brothers Dickinson play some of the freshest blues rock on the circuit.
Natives of North Mississippi, natch, the Dickinsons formed the All Stars in 1996 with bassist Chris Chew, and rapidly became favorites on the Beale Street blues scene in nearby Memphis. Drummer Cody and guitarist/mandolinist Luther had been jamming together since childhood, achieving a bit of local notoriety with the punkish DDT and the more acoustic rural blues-oriented Gutbucket. After building a following on the Southern jam band circuit and a reputation for strong live shows, the All Stars released the 2000 debut, Shake Hands With Shorty (Tone Cool), which has received plenty of critical acclaim for its fire and authenticity. The band deals mostly in covers, preferring the rural Delta blues of cats like Mississippi Fred McDowell, Junior Kimbrough and Bukka White to the better known Chicago and Texas stylings.
Local blues howler Neal Pattman and his band open. [MT]
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