Live Concert Review: Marriage at Lamar Dodd Art School

Local Progressive Sludge band Marriage have played in some form for nearly seven years. Led by frontman Josh Wootton, they have consistently featured Ted on bass and Brent Blalock on drums. Over the summer they added local guitar virtuoso Bryan Aiken of Lazer/Wulf and 'Powers to make them a four piece. Their sound has evolved much to becoming less acoustic and more riff based. Live, the songs are much more distorted and intense than on the bands previous three recordings. The show they put on in the Lamar Dodd Art School's main foyer on the UGA Campus was a short term farewell performance. "The band will take some time off," Josh said, "for around three months or so after this."

After a small but dedicated crowd of people had formed, Bryan began playing a dissonant chord rhythm on a twelve string acoustic as he followed Josh who was singing a soulful melody. They strolled up the stairs directly behind where the band was set up and continued to play through the halls of the Art School. Soon there after, Ted emerged with a big blue upright bass which he started to slap an accompanying rhythm on. Brent joined in with brushes on his snare. Ted began to wander as well, and both groups of musicians came and went from the main performance area a couple times. After about five minutes, they came together in the foyer to finish the song.

Their electric set began with an unrecognizable number, probably a new song or a old one that'd been rewritten. Despite the inaudibility of most vocals due to an underpowered PA, their performance was gripping and strong. The riffs seemed especially heavy and I especially enjoyed the song which included the lyrics "land, beast, food!!" screamed multiple times and followed by a slick descending riff. Bryan Aiken did his typical poses and other stage mannerisms as Ted fell to the floor multiple times from the heaviness of the music. Brent's facial expressions as he slammed groove's was like a possessed demon of otherworldly fascination. Josh's performance too was a highlight, as always. He screamed his soulful howl and yet delicately moved the audience with his passion.

The performance was particularly "artsy"- befitting of the venue. The band performed on a large mat of Flagpole Magazines which were taped together at the seams. Most notably were the three square plywood platforms which held clusters of seven receptacles for light bulbs to screw into. One was positioned in front, and the others lined the sides of their Flagpole mat. Between songs they gave bulbs to audience members who screwed them in to light up. By the last song all the bulbs shone in unison like small burning fires. As the set ended, Josh sang into the microphone that same haunting melody and lyric which he'd sang as they were roaming the halls an hour earlier. Then the members of the band took hammers and began smashing the light bulbs. In the final act of their set, Brent smashed a bulb affixed next to his cymbal with a  drum stick.

Marriage are great performers with good song writing skills- thats a hard combo to find. Unfortunately, they have not received the attention of other local acts such as Reptar or Venice Is Sinking. A somewhat erratic schedule of shows and unsolidified membership has until now prevented them from gaining notoriety, but I believe that in their current line-up they have the potential to create even more great music and to explore new sonic realms not before discovered.

Poetry: President of Tar

President of Tar

Damn this tar slick

Germany tomorrow

Apologize to those bastards as well.

Then Japan,

comfort with words there

Why not?

Covers up the burning inside my chest,

like milk over a hot wax candle.

Metal grille bulbs

on short black sticks beg up at

me. Greedy sows at feeding

time.

Before, I was

in the air above zero-point,

chopper blades beat air into mush,

blue on top and bottom… with some black.

A muffled whurr.

Birds

White

Why do I care?

Afterall, I’m not

aware. I sleep on greenbacks.

I’ll burn it off.

Forty foot flames from thirty seven platforms.

Creatures of the sky now will

die. Instead of those beneath waves.

Suck that money

from a million years past.

Harvest the Earth for all its

Worth.

Pipes

prick her like a thousand needles in a Japanese salon.

Make love through her crust.

Deliver me what I’m owed,

then Close the door on your way out.

I’ll rape those reptiles,

the ones that gave their bodies

so I can do 190

in my Corsa Red Ferrari.

Maintain a collection of

140 Nikes.

Have a house built around Kohler faucets.

I want my mile long

landing strip

for a VIP jet with crystal windows and a little golden statue

of myself on its nose.

I want my towers breathing smoke.

I want Horizon pumping juice.

Hello news camera.

“Let me start off by saying,

I’m sorry.”

I originally wrote this as a creative writing assignment. It went through various stages of revisions before I settled on this version. At the time, the BP oil spill was hot in the news, and public sentiment towards the company's president was very poor. Ultimately, previous to my writing of this piece, he resigned. I envisioned this less as a political poem, and more as a character study. Certainly the President of BP isn't this evil, but what if he was? That was the basis for this poem. 

Poetry: From A Journal

It was a Sunday wrecked by rain

and the howl of my neighbor’s miniature

poodle who thought he was a German shepherd.

I found a yellowed journal in the cellar.

A lost toy was dropped down forty years

ago to a grass patch in this cellar.

The blue hair mold rabbit pawed until it had

invaded Jeremiah’s cellar.

This place of grey stones encircled is Stonehenge –

they call it. Have your merry dances around

a “monument” used by sellers.

Green acacia tree’s blossoms fall down on the Shogun’s palace

in mornings of Fall. Frantic children run about

as they are freed from its cellar.

Dust trodden path baked brown

by the sun

carries carts and horse

through my master’s city.

A militant bursts in.

Finds what he needs in the cellar.

American Revolution of blue and red

smothered in smoke from guns.

I remember before, when we’d gather

to play games and drink ‘til dawn in my cellar.

This morning we run forty miles

to what were our father’s hunting grounds.

For lunch is turned milk from a hollowed bull’s horn

kept clean in the hut’s dug-out cellar.

Our clothes are stained in lead from

shooting Ruger pistols too early

this morning. Hope we didn’t wake any Semite’s

still hiding after War in the cellar.

Whatever. You picked your road

now pave it as I lock up in the rain.

Tax dollars by the million sent to reconstruct

our nest now a defunct cellar.

Avoid conquest laughed the dirty man

to my even filthier wife

preparing for sex

as I cowered helpless in a four foot by eight cellar.

Do the dance. Do it NOW!

We won’t leave until I see the twisty-Twist!

Cyclone squabbles all about my head. Nice to see you

teddy bear coiled in the cellar.

The chemo pushed follicles up

from her scalp and took the place of her

skins pigments. I closed my book

of thoughts kept sealed by vice in the cellar.

Originally written for my Creative Writing class in the Summer of 2010, this was a Ghazal style poem at first, but it has since been modified for flow.

Interview: NY Transcendental Black Metalist's Liturgy

After a show at Farm 255, I sat down with drummer Greg Fox and guitarist Hunter Hunt-Hendrix of the Transcendental Black Metal band Liturgy.

Brad: Hi guys, good to meet you. You put on a very interesting show tonight.

Hunter: Thanks man. It’s good to meet you.

Brad: So I noticed a lot of your merchandise has the term “Transcendental Black Metal” printed on it. Can you explain to me what this is as opposed to “regular” Black Metal.

Greg: For me Black Metal was always a really negative term. When I was a kid I used to love the sound of it and the intensity, but I didn’t want to play music that was so dark.

Hunter: Yeah it’s a very mystical type of music. In a way all music is transcendental, but for us, Black Metal is just a way of becoming closer to nature and achieving a sort of mystical ecstasy.

Brad: In your set you played two songs, I believe the third and last, which were very different from the rest. They seemed a lot slower and focused more on riffing than blast beats.

Hunter: Yeah those are new ones we played. Our new stuff is longer and more repetitive. We're trying to hypnotize listener's with the riff.

Brad: So your new record is going to be a lot different from the older ones?

Hunter: Yes. We can’t keep doing the same formula on each album. I mean, the super intense stuff works well for a while, but we need to move on.

Brad: And you have a new album in the works now?

Hunter: Yeah, we've got songs we are working on for a new album.

Brad: So do you guys enjoy touring and writing music full time?

Hunter: Oh yeah, totally. Playing and the creative process are two separate things though, but we enjoy them both.

Live Show Review: Liturgy with Geisterkatzen at Farm 255

On Sunday November 14th New York Black Metal band Liturgy performed with Athens locals Geisterkatzen at Farm 255 in Athens, GA. The night was filled with noise and brutal beauty.

Geisterkatzen were first to perform. Consisting of guitar, drums, synth, saxophone, keyboards, and voice, the group’s name literally means “ghost cat” in German. Each member wore an identical white cat mask during the set. Combined with the ghostly sound of theremin and droning bass feedback, the cute masks were somehow made menacing. Their set consisted of two songs, each building from a simple keyboard drone, adding instruments, and crescendoing to a raucous jam. At the peak of volume drummer William Kennedy tortured his kit with mad thwaps in no predictable fashion. He was like a windmill flailing about the thing and coming up from his seat in agitation multiple times. He could hardly contain himself, while the rest of the band stood their stoically staring from beneath the cat masks. Low saxophone, squirrelly theremin, blaring keyboards, a synthesized guitar sounding like a space organ, and a steady bass line created a huge, but audible crust. For thirty minutes they deconstructed music to it’s most primitive form: sheer noise. They are one of my favorite local Athens bands.

After wheeling in their drumset, bass amp, and two guitar amps, Liturgy began their set. From the get go they wasted no time in spraying high frequency notes. I had expected blast beats and double picked riffs, but they were different. Drummer Greg Fox’s drumming technique was impeccable. He easily moved between different styles of blast and grind within songs. Watching his left hand on the snare, I saw that his arm and palm barely moved. With the mere flick of his middle and ring fingers he could send the drumstick down to the drum head at speeds which made it nearly invisible. He was cool and relaxed though their entire set and seemed to exert little energy in creating such extreme sounds.

Although it took me a second to adjust to the breakneck tempos, by the second song I began to understand what their self incurred moniker of “Transcendental Black Metal” meant. Within the buzzing terror of their sound existed beautiful chords and harmonic dissonance. Despite blast beats, harsh tone, and screeched vocals, the sounds beneath the surface were delicate and touching. They were blissful, happy, and hopeful. Somehow, Liturgy infused beauty into the chaotic noise of Black Metal. Frontman Hunter Hunt-Hendrix’s unchanging, serene facial impression only furthered the effect.

Their third song began with technical failures from bassist Tyler Dusenbury’s amp. Apparently a speaker had been blown (a recurring problem for him I later came to find). Thankfully, a member of Geisterkatzen came to the rescue with a spare cabinet. The song began with a distorted bass line which turned over several times before being joined by drums. The rhythm remained slow and subdued - a stark contrast to the previous songs-and guitars eventually joined to double the riff. For the first time in their set the twin guitars rung together on unison chords of a riff and created a stereoscopic effect within the room. Greg’s drumming in this song impressed me again with groovy combos and speedy yet simplistic tom-tom fills.

Another song, their last, matched this hypnotic groove and likewise was completely instrumental. The two songs were favorites of mine, but their speedier ones were equally entrancing in their own ways. Hunter’s complex and unusual fingerings of the guitar tended to spider their way down the high strings of the neck as he strummed at a lighting pace. After their set, the band had introduced a crowd of strangers to Transcendental Black Metal and, hopefully, garnered some new fans.

Interview: Joe Preston of Thrones

At a recent show at The Caledonia Lounge in Athens, GA, I sat down with Joe Preston, performing that night as the solo act, Thrones, for a brief interview touching on musical theory and the future of Thrones. Preston is best known for his early work with Earth, the Melvins, and more recently with Sunn O))), High On Fire, and Harvey Milk.

Brad Olsen: Hi Joe, it’s good to meet you. You’re performing tonight as your solo act, Thrones. Does being a one-man-band have many benefits?

Joe Preston: Yeah. In a way it lets me express myself without limits.

Brad Olsen: You play bass as well as sing live. Do you write your own lyrics?

Joe Preston: My “lyrics” are all stream of consciousness. I just say whatever feels natural. Of course, after performing night after night, a lot of the same stuff tends to get repeated.

Brad Olsen: Who were some of your earliest influences?

Joe Preston: Oh I was into all the usual stuff. Kiss, Alice Cooper. But I wouldn’t say it shows in my playing too much. Too many bands try hard to imitate the stuff they like. I don’t wanna be like anybody else. I don’t categorize myself into any genre because my influences are so broad.

Brad Olsen: How often do you write? Any new music in the works?

Joe Preston: I used to ferociously, but not so much anymore. I just released “Wage War” [a 7” on Conspiracy records] this year and I’ve got a split with Sedan, a band from Washington [state] coming soon.

Brad Olsen: It’s all written and recorded?

Joe Preston: I’m done with the recording and sequencing. I just need to mix it and then it’ll be released.