Local Spotlight

The Chemistry Of Slackdaddy

originally published October 17, 2001

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McCain, bassist Bryan Howard, and drummer Ian Werden have been playing music together since high school. By their junior year in college the three had become Slackdaddy.

Originally from Alexandria, Virginia, the trio moved to Athens in 1996 in search of a musically creative and nurturing city. The move inspired its first album, IS (Roundtable), a collection of groove and funk-oriented songs relating to transition and the struggle to "find one's self."

This past summer the band released its second album Supercell (Roundtable), an objective look at life in general accompanied with variations of heavy rock riffs reminiscent of old school Aerosmith and Black Sabbath, Hendrix-style blues licks, slow rock melodies, classical era harmonies, and poetic lyrics.

Although McCain's lyrics are heavily influenced by American transcendentalists Emerson and Thoreau along with religion and mythology, his ideas develop from normal everyday occurrences.

"I'm more of a journalist," he says. "I go through life with a notebook and basically write down what other people say and put meaning into song."

With a new album in the works for release next year, Slackdaddy is currently infusing its new stuff into the live shows.

"If I were to describe our new music, I'd say it's... sweet melody with hard undertones," says McCain. "We're coming from all different directions and creating this hybrid sound. We take a piece of the drone, a piece of the punk, a piece of the jam and a piece of whatever we feel like drawing upon and create a nice little package. Things that you don't think can go together usually can - they're all a piece of the same manifestation. There's something for everybody in our music. It takes you to many different places."

Given the diversity between the three musicians, McCain's straightforward rock riffs, Werden's indie rock leanings, and Howard's soulful groove; experimenting and evolving is inevitable. However, fans can still expect the Slackdaddy they heard two years ago and just last week.

"You've got the basic molecule comprised of [Brian, Ian, and myself]. Then it develops all these oxygen and hydrogen strands that come off creating this thing. No matter what macro molecule it is, it's still Slackdaddy. Let's just watch the music crystallize into brand new molecules."

Slackdaddy opens for Digital Underground at the 40 Watt Club on Wednesday, October 17.

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