Iron Hero

w/ Colour Revolt & The Pendletons

Saturday, December 9 @ 40 Watt Club

originally published December 6, 2006

Iron Hero

Stagnancy can be the death of a band. Playing the same songs in the same ways to the same crowds at the same clubs can only last so long before momentum, interest and inspiration expire, as countless local bands have found. The most successful bands evolve and make the decision to push forward; Athens indie-rock team Iron Hero is currently undergoing a period of changes both deliberate and circumstantial.

The last year and a half saw the six-piece group refine its atmospheric, layered and rhythmically propulsive sound, and this past spring, Iron Hero released its debut album Safe as Houses. But since then, drummer Nick Hasty and bassist Ben Simpson moved out of town, guitarist-keyboardist Jimmy Taylor left the band due to health reasons and new bassist Justin Schneider joined ranks. "Before, we were a bit wild, unhinged, creating as big a wall of sound as we could muster," says guitarist-vocalist Sam Gunn. "Now it's tighter, tougher, a little more visceral, a bit more direct. I think we were all surprised at first at how good it sounds… to judge by the stuff we've been writing since playing as a four-piece, it seems like we're possibly getting a little swampier, a little bluesier, but there's also more of a focused krautrock feel to the rhythms. I think Califone and Can are becoming more obvious influences."

As far as what this new incarnation means for the future of Iron Hero, "I guess 'figuring out what to do' is the best description," says Gunn. "I'm not interested in playing in Athens every two or three months for the rest of my life, so we'll be figuring out how to get our asses out of town more frequently. I think we're all really excited about our new songs… for now we'll just be settling into this new lineup and figuring out how to push eight hands to do as much as humanly possible."

Chris Hassiotis

Tatsuya Nakatani

with Zepubicle

Monday, December 11 @ Mercury Art Works

originally published December 6, 2006

Masashi Harada

Tatsuya Nakatani

For the avant-garde at heart, there are many delicious things that are hard to find. Improvised music and noise are at the top of the list, so to find a billing that features the two functioning separately and together is reason for excitement. The musician formerly known as Erik Hinds, now officially and legally called simply Killick, has been warping and enlightening the Athens music scene for years. Best known for his amazing h'arpeggione "devil cello" rendition of Slayer's Reign in Blood, Killick has dabbled in the murky depths of experimental music and the gentle pastures of folk. As part of Zepubicle, Killick lends an invaluable hand to a meshing of doom metal, noise and trance-inducing folk. Also featured in the trio are experimental guitarists Jeff McLeod and Marshall Marrotte, both as prolific as Killick and familiar to those keeping an eye on local boundary-testing music. This is a sound that can go anywhere on a stage, from fascinating train wreck to out-of-body experience.

But the true juggernaut of this show's pairing is Tatsuya Nakatani. A world-renowned improvising percussionist, Nakatani has released millions of recordings, played virtually everywhere in the world and collaborated with far too many legends to mention here. Rarely will you find an artist more genre-defying. Nakatani has dipped his talents into drone, free jazz and new music, to name just a few, and most everything he touches turns to molten, aural gold. But his forte, solo percussion, really blows the mind, brushing against the sounds of Steve Reid and Autechre but eclipsing and sounding nothing like them. If you stuck Merzbow in a jazz club and took away his laptop and amps, he might try something like this magic. Fans of experimental music have no reason to miss this match made in some parallel universe's heaven.

Nakatani will perform solo, and then will collaborate with Zepubicle in a quartet setting. The show takes place in the Mercury Art Works' new gallery location at 160 Tracy St., and starts at 8 p.m.

Michael Wehunt

Exene Cervenka & the Original Sinners

with Knuckel Drager

Tuesday, December 12 @ 40 Watt Club

originally published December 6, 2006

Exene Cervenka

In 1976, Exene Cervenka hitched a ride from Florida to Los Angeles, seeking to escape a difficult upbringing and to explore her creativity. Within a year, she was a member of seminal American punk band X with Billy Zoom, John Doe and D.J. Bonebrake, singing duets and harmony and cowriting many of the band’s songs, and becoming an avant-garde fashion icon with her signature two-tone hair, heavy eyeliner and thriftstore garb.

X split up in 1987 after the release of the maddeningly underappreciated album See How We Are, but Cervenka continued to pursue her art, which included visual work, spoken word, writing and collages addressing her explorations of America as seen from the road. In recent years, she has toured with a reunited X, the “electrified folk” act The Knitters (comprised of three of the four X members) and Auntie Christ, a band sporting members of Rancid, Stone Fox and X's drummer Bonebrake.

For the past five years, Cervenka has fronted her latest project, Exene Cervenka & the Original Sinners, whose current line-up features Cervenka and guitarist husband Jason Edge backed by Missouri punk band The 7 Shot Screamers (Dan Sabella on guitar, Chris Powers on bass, Kevin O’Conner on drums). Commenting on the current line-up, Cervenka says, “These guys can play everything from rockabilly to glam, and the fact that they’re so flexible and skilled has allowed me to work in a more free-form way.” The new group recently released the album Sev7en on Nitro Records, weaving punk, surf, rockabilly and psychedelic sounds into its throwback rock-and-roll tapestry.

The band's Athens date will be a short stop on a long tour that ends after Christmas. Cervenka says she looks forward to returning to her new home in the Missouri countryside, where she has “lots of space to do art and make music.” After all, it's the same thing she's been doing for three decades.

Deirdre Sayre