Lineup: Samn Lemley, Blake Hyatt, Tim “Timtation” Pounds, Chris “Clark” Barger, Kevin Kiester. Influences: Death Cab for Cutie, The Strokes, The Mountain Goats, Modest Mouse, Neutral Milk Hotel.
Clean Break
Ironically, of the two similarly named acts, Clean Break actually has the less clean sound. Maybe it’s just the muddy quality of the demos online, but Clean Break seems to feature angular guitars and warped keys bending around Samn Lemley’s raw vocals. There are occasional horn fills, melodic basslines and a generally upbeat tempo. Lemley says his lyrics are most often about “not wanting to grow up to be responsible members of society.”
Clean Break played its first show in Athens in 2010 at Rye Bar, and the group says it has continued to “polish its sound and add new instruments” since then. The group has also continued to add new members, with keyboardist Clark Barger and horn player Kevin Kiester most recently hopping onboard, adding a new layer and dimension to the group’s work. Clean Break promises at least two new songs at the upcoming Caledonia gig, plus a few new covers, including “Walking on the Sun” by Smash Mouth. The band’s official site at CleanBreakRock.com is still in progress, so your best bet for now is finding the band on Facebook (for info) or Bandcamp (for tunes).
Next show: Monday, Apr. 30 @ Caledonia Lounge
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