Club Notes

Regeneration & Renewal

originally published November 16, 2005

You go out of town for a week and the bare streets fill with crackling leaves as new bands emerge from somewhere within the autumnal haze. Thursday, Nov. 10, starts in Little Kings where the new local synth-pop quartet Freeze Tag has drawn a substantial and particularly attractive young crowd. Freeze Tag has a much rawer edge than most bands that you'd expect to fall into the synth-pop category; the drums have a particularly naked feel, while the vocals are clear and strong. The bass lines are equal parts bold and melodic, and the mini-Korg keyboards are pretty twee, with a real Atari-era vibe.

The overall effect comes out like a blend of bubblegum pop and ragga punk, floating between Ben Folds and The Clash. The young foursome plays a pretty slick and short set which - while it may not have me running back for more just yet - does indicate loads of potential for the band's future.

With a vocalist-guitarist who looks like a jazz hound and an upright bass player who looks like a soccer hooligan, the duo Bellyache is next on my list as it takes the stage at Lunch Paper, playing narrative-rich folky-blues, much of which is infused with ragtime jazz. Local brothers Austin and Caleb Darnell have a smooth, smoky style with an understated charm and, as their name implies, they're more than happy to wax lyrical about themes such as ex-girlfriends (theirs, yours, ours), being broke and other melodious maladies. The guys are playing a swampy mix of originals from their forthcoming release Porkchops & Milkshakes, with the odd Cash cover thrown in for good measure. Bellyache evokes everything you want to complement a late-night drink in a smoky juice joint (if those still existed).

After tackling the human plague of football fanatics swarming over Broad Street, I wedge myself into Gus' bar on Friday night for my first official visit to one of the newer venues to target the college crowd, and I'm here to see local blues rock band Bloodkin. By the time the four-pieces takes the pseudo-rustic, chicken-wire-sided stage, the crowd inside has grown as dense as that outside, proving that football crowds are drawn to alcohol like flies to stink. The one thing that doesn't stink is the music; it may be straight-up, honest, no-frills rock, but it comes across with a darkly charismatic and mellifluously Southern vocal edge. Even the younger members of the band, like drummer Rick Williams (Park Bench Trio), have paid a decent share of their blues dues, whereas the guy sitting next to me at the bar says he remembers seeing the core of Bloodkin - Daniel Hutchens and Eric Carter - play just as well when he lived in Athens 14 years ago. Meanwhile, the band continues to drive home its enigmatic roots rock with increasingly gutsy vocals, carrying a palatable taste of melody over Williams' dead-straight backbeat and enough guitar to keep the ball rolling without getting in the way with excessive solo action.

Bloodkin's sound lies somewhere between Jon Spencer, the Rolling Stones and AC/DC, but with a change in vocalists (from Danny to Eric), also just a hint of the Doobie Brothers. More than anything, though, it's Hutchens' and Carter's songwriting credibility and character that sell the sound of this band, and for hard-drinking college crowds or devotees of barroom rock, Bloodkin deserves to be near the top of the list.

I can't face the football crowds again, so on Saturday, night I hide down in the Caledonia Lounge, which is harboring the astringent odor of cheap cologne and tequila that accompanies this young power-metal band. Local trio Theocracy is pounding it out in true High-On-Fire-meets-Motörhead style, and wouldn't you know, I forgot my earplugs. After opening with "Martyr," Theocracy goes a little glam with a King Crimson theatrical vocal style before bordering on high-caliber speed metal, making full use of Sean Vincent's double kick drums and Matt Smith's phenomenal voice; he refers to it as "screaming like a girl," but in truth it's pretty incredible, especially once he gets warmed up and holds monstrously high notes for what seems like forever. It's also pretty cool to see a fairly young-looking local outfit committing to a style of headbanging power metal that could be considered revivalist given that its roots are so firmly nourished by and nestled between both the demonic and glam metal movements of the 1970s (and all that has grown from it since, from Metallica and Megadeth to Mr. Bungle and beyond).

After Theocracy, high-speed and hard-rocking four-piece Gonzalez takes the stage, bending Black Sabbath-style metal into hardcore rock and roll. There's no doubting that this band makes a lot of noise and expends a lot of energy doing it, but its wall of sound is not well separated and could be better arranged so that the guitars, drums and vocals don't all run over each other as they all strive to achieve this urgent, mile-a-minute, smash-and-grab. Meanwhile, a man dances erratically with a bicycle and is politely escorted from the club's beer garden.

Ben Gerrard Ben Gerrard is a radio journalist and writer living and working in Athens. Club Notes is a weekly look at the local club scene.

Ben Gerrard

Ben Gerrard is a radio journalist and writer living and working in Athens. Club Notes is a weekly look at the local club scene.