Flash To Bang Time Glows At The Green Lantern Showcase

originally published October 10, 2001

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"I think we're really lucky in that we're always trying to catch up to all the ideas we want to take care of," states vocalist-cellist Lynda Stipe. "We have a gazillion starts to a gazillion different songs and ideas."

Stipe formed Flash To Bang Time (the name refers to the lag between a flash of lightning and the bang of thunder) gradually out of a series of songwriting sessions. After playing bass in the danceable post-punk band Oh, OK in the early '80s and putting effort into the long-running art-pop group Hetch Hetchy in Athens and Gainesville, Florida during the late '80s and early '90s, Stipe settled back into the Athens scene a few years back and began writing new material on her keyboard. She wrote a batch of songs specifically with a cello sound in mind, although she couldn't actually play the instrument. In 1998, she finally purchased a second-hand cello, taught herself where the notes were on the neck and got on with putting a new band together.

"I had specific ideas about specific sounds," she says. "But I do play the instrument all wrong!"

Stipe initially collaborated with members of Macha and Empire State, but enlisted bassist Robin Edwards and violist Jenny Culler alongside drummer-guitarist Charles Greenleaf to form the first proper version of the band. The music they made was beautifully demented chamber music: a dexterous blend of avant-pop, ominous noise-rock and almost-operatic vocals.

"We've been called a 'quiet' band in the local papers, but I don't think that's accurate," says Greenleaf.

"Yeah, we're always trying to think of ways we can get louder sounds out of the cello," adds Stipe. "I'm not sure we want to be 'pop,' because we're always trying to play harder and harder. It's also a little difficult to dance to some of this music."

The quartet recorded and performed at small clubs and at benefit shows in Athens and Atlanta through '99 and 2000, dazzling (and sometimes baffling) audiences and challenging music writers to come up with a definition for its oddball sound. Stipe and Greenleaf reconfigured the lineup with bassist Kevin Sims and moved ahead with violinist Amy Heaton and cellist Diana Obscura. The band's 2000 debut, Glo, is a mini-album of clever musical activity that spirals around through layers and textures. The uninitiated couldn't tell whether or not Flash To Bang Time even qualified as a proper rock band at all.

"When [local promotion company] Team Clermont sent that disc out, we got one response from a radio station that simply read, 'Too spooky. Not into,'" laughs Stipe.

This summer, Flash To Bang Time officially consolidated into a something of a power-trio with Stipe on amplified cello, Greenleaf on drums, Sims on bass and all three on vocals.

"There's always something new going on in the band's sound," says Sims, who steps up as lead vocalist on much of the newest recorded (but unreleased) material. "I'll bring something coming in from a completely different direction and Lynda and Charles will make it work somehow."

"Some of the songs are heavy and more hard-hitting but others are a little more sweeping and minimal," adds Greenleaf.

"Hitting notes is one thing, but the spirit behind it is more important," explains Stipe. "The lyrics are very personal... a lot of the songs can sound dark, but we know they're actually very upbeat. Sometimes the music is dark, but the lyrics are quite happy-sounding. Musically, it's a nice mix... just like life."

Flash To Bang Time plans to release a new collection of songs later this year. The band headlines Friday night's "Green Lantern Showcase."