Radiolucent

originally published November 14, 2007

In the beginning, the praise and worship jams performed in rural church groups (coupled with Bono's most didactic U2 offerings) shaped singer, songwriter and guitarist Michael Mann's musical vision. Though songs like "Guiding Wheel" and "Lucky One" retain both the spiritual subject matter of the former and the slick emotive vibe of the latter, this is no Sunday service rock show or United Nations symposium on the plight of [insert oppressed people here] featuring inappropriate sunglasses, by any stretch. From the start, Mann's music has been in a perpetual state of evolution, and has been leaning, of late, in a more secular (and lo-fi, fuzzy) direction.

The Colbert, GA, native recruited the son of a preacher man (bassist Daniel Hill) and, more recently, the son of a Hell's Angel (drummer Jake Hicks, formerly of The Empties) to fill out the increasingly ferocious back end of a power trio that took home the 2007 Flagpole Athens Music Award for Up & Coming Act. The band admits that its victory (it earned 7% of the total votes in one of the few open-ended categories) can be somewhat - okay, okay, entirely - attributed to Mann's mother and her "extensive email list" and "super bubbly personality." Flagpole recently spent some time with the ballot stuffers.

Flagpole

So how do your Mom's friends really feel about the band?

Michael Mann

We're very risqué, and they just love that about us.

Flagpole

What's that written on your guitar strap?

Michael Mann

It says, "What if?" I think I was 19 years old and trying to hard to be deep.

Flagpole

How difficult was it to transition from playing the Lord's music to more secular material?

Michael Mann

It was hard. It took a lot of time, passion and heart. I was listening to a lot of old blues - these guys that really wear their emotions on their sleeves, and, especially in the land of church, you don't see that so much in the music, the art. If you can bleed yourself dry… that's what's compelling.

Flagpole

So, what do you look for in music?

Daniel Hill

I like to have a good time, but sooner or later I want substance. Fortunately enough, I do find these songs compelling, and maybe more so than 97 percent of stuff out there, i.e. Panic! At the Disco, Fall Out Boy… that's on the record, right?

Flagpole

Certainly. So, you're a preacher's kid. Fill in the blanks. What's your story?

Daniel Hill

I'm Scottish, Irish and Native American… The family came over on a debtor's boat. I'm a real-life example of that Tim McGraw song ["Indian Outlaw"]. My granddad's a full-blooded Cherokee Indian. We've got the papers at the house.

Flagpole

You're the next Max Weinberg! So, how does it feel to be a hot-shit drummer in town?

Jake Hicks

Wow, thanks. I feel like I'm really immature as far as music goes. I've always gotten better within a band, exploring different angles I never would have on my own. I love playing. I was without a band for three months [before Radiolucent] and I felt odd, like I had just broke up with a girlfriend. I have to play music.

David Eduardo

Spotlight is a regular feature looking at newer or emerging local acts.