Masters of the Hemisphere

1996–2002

originally published April 25, 2007

By 1996, Athens music was feeling a substantial upswing of enthusiasm. Guitar-based pop rather than guitar-based bludgeoning was refreshing everyone's ears, and, to the dismay of some older rockers in town, was actually becoming the largest musical phenomenon in Athens. Drawn to this wave - and eventually caught up in it - were Sean Rawls and Bren Mead. Although the pair had attended high school and collaborated on four-track tape projects during high school in Warner Robbins, GA, the two communicated by mail and traded tapes between 1994 and 1996, as Mead had moved to New Mexico.

"Sean and I went to school together in Warner Robins and had a bunch of bands in high school. We pretty much came to Athens to go to college. But we knew we were going to form a band in Athens," says Mead.

Rawls concurs: "I moved to Athens because I needed a college to go to. Bren was going there and so I decided I would, too." Rawls was forbidden by his parents to bring any of his instruments to Athens with him. "My parents were convinced that I was going to form a band and drop out of college," he says. "They said I couldn't bring up my guitars and stuff until I got good grades. I kind of never did get good grades until much later. It was okay, though, because Bren had a guitar."

In town for college orientation, Mead and Rawls attended a show by Providence, RI, band The Godrays at the Atomic Music Hall and went looking for records by the band the next day at Wuxtry. There they met Kindercore Records' Ryan Lewis, who was playing in Kincaid at the time, and after discussing their burgeoning musical creations, Lewis asked the pair for some tapes. Lewis soon encouraged them to release something on Kindercore and, thus, a band was born. Lacking a drummer, Lewis filled in until just after the band's first show. "He pretty much said we should put something out on Kindercore. He [Lewis] offered to play drums," says Mead. The band made its debut live appearance in late 1996 at a party for Optic Nerve cartoonist Adrian Tomine at The Ultramod Compound.

Lewis lasted one show with the band before he was replaced by then-Mendoza Line drummer Jeff Griggs. "I was given to the Masters," says Griggs. "Tim Bracy knew they didn't have a drummer and he told them, 'Hey, you can have our drummer.'" Says Rawls, "Tim called us in our dorm room and said, 'Hey, you need a drummer, you can have ours.' Jeff quit Mendoza Line not long after that." For his part, Griggs says, "Obviously, I like their songs. It was weird. I felt like an elder statesman, but I was only 20 years old, which was only a couple of years older than them!"

Adrian Finch joined the band after meeting the guys at their practice space located in Buckhead Beach (the former B&L Warehouse and current Hodgson Oil Building). "They noticed I played violin. They asked me to do a track on a [Mead solo project] Vetran song. After that, they just started including me more and more, and I started playing with them all the time," Finch says.

At the Time

Although many of the pop bands around Athens at the time were accused of purposeful amateurishness and imitative childishness, Masters of the Hemisphere managed to largely sidestep any accusations of this because of the strength of the group's songs. Mead was a strong writer and able lyricist very early on, and some of the band's best material is actually on its self-titled debut album from 1998. As the last member of the band to join, Finch has a particularly clear impression of the material. He says, "I didn't know much about what other bands were playing, like college music or whatever. I saw them live at The Atomic a couple of times and I just liked songs. It was all about the songwriting. It was so simple, just guitar and drums in the beginning. They wrote some great stuff, even early on."

Although not the most-hyped band in town, Masters of the Hemisphere enjoyed a steady audience and loyal fans. It was the only Athens band of the time with a fan-created online discussion group, named Kermit's Bells after a track from the first album (which was never released, though "Kermit's Bells" does appear on the posthumous The Terminal EP), on the then-burgeoning Yahoo. The group also fell into the good graces of 40 Watt booking agent Velena Vego and, as such, enjoyed enviable headlining and opening slots. Rawls says, "The club we played the most was definitely the 40 Watt. That's seems weird because it's so big. The Atomic shut down just as we had been a band for about a year. Velena would always give us good shows on the weekend and stuff. We would try not to play very often, so when we would play and people saw us, it was like they really wanted to."

The band often shared stages with Gritty Kitty, Bugs Eat Books, Je Suis France, Rock and Roll Summer, Elf Power, Summer Hymns, Of Montreal, and, basically, anyone who was anyone, big or small, at the time. The guys found themselves to be nearly infinitely compatible with nearly any bill one could imagine. Masters of the Hemisphere enjoyed several U.S. tours and the group's attitude toward touring was pretty much as a working vacation. Finch says, "We had a lot of fun on the road. We went on tour with Essex Green. We went on tour with Elf Power." Mead recalls one night in Philadelphia where the band was unable to find Finch and an angry soundman was breathing down their necks. Eventually, Finch stumbled out of the bathroom and revealed he was lulled to sleep by the humming of the fluorescent lights.

In 2000, the band recorded and released the ambitious, if not altogether coherent, concept album I Am Not a Freemdoom. Based around a story involving an evil dog keeping the inhabitants of an island captive, the album was lyrically dense even while maintaining the tunefulness and pop-worthiness for which the band was known.

Why the Split?

Masters of the Hemisphere recorded its final album, Protest A Dark Anniversary, in 2001 and Rawls especially remembers this as a good time. "I guess I liked the recording of the last album the best, because we did most of it ourselves. Kindercore had its office with its own studio and we did it there. Mostly, we would hang out, play video games, drink beer and play Wiffle ball out back. We just recorded as many songs as we had and then picked the best ones. We tried to annoy Dan [Geller] and Ryan [Lewis] as much as possible."

At the end of 2002, Griggs had decided to go back to school, and had already stopped touring with the group. Finch was itching to move to the Arizona desert and Rawls was getting ready to move to San Francisco. Everyone pretty much agreed the band had run its course, but the Masters played one final show at the 40 Watt on Nov. 23, 2002. The show was recorded and released for posterity; appropriately titled Last Show Ever, the 38-song, two-disc set was released via local label Bumblebear. An EP called The Terminal received a digital release on the Bunch of Beatniks Riding A Rocket website after the band split up.

These Days

Since parting ways, the band has reunited for at least three shows - most recently, one year ago at the 40 Watt - but is still officially broken up. Finch left Arizona, moved to Decatur, GA, and continues to make music with members of Je Suis France and The Trap under the name Night Moves. Griggs is currently attending school and applying to nursing programs and has played in too many bands (Je Suis France, Shiitake Knights, et al) to count, but is a permanent member of Murder Beach, and works at the Caledonia Lounge. Je Suis France, Night Moves and a reunited Trap are playing at the Caledonia Lounge on Saturday, Apr. 28 as part of the annual "Twilight Delirium" show.

Rawls briefly played in a band named The Stones until receiving a cease-and-desist order from the actual Rolling Stones, and then broke up The Stones figuring it had accomplished the best thing it ever would. Now, Rawls and Mead (along with ex-Athenian and Maserati member Phil Horan) both play in the Rawls-created, 20-member California reggae band Still Flyin'. Additionally, Mead still pursues his own muse under his original side-moniker, Vetran.

Gordon Lamb

That Beat in Time is a feature examining dearly departed local acts worth digging up.