Shows (Tonight's and Last Week's)

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Flicker Theatre last Saturday night to catch solo sets by Mitchel Thunderbolt, Matt DeCamp, and myself. The turnout was great in spite of the weather and we all really enjoyed the experience. Special thanks to my boy Malcolm for showing up and videotaping the night. Hopefully we can get some footage up on the Forces page before too long. If you missed it, there are already other solo shows in the works so we'll catch you next time.

Mitchel Thunderbolt took the stage first with some help from Nick (Velveteen Pink, Kuroma) on guitar. These two sounded absolutely awesome singing and playing together and held the crowd captive throughout the performance. Here's his thoughts on the night, and here's his set:

1. Secret Garden
2. Mind Warper
3. Great One Of Nothing
4. Long Ride Home
5. Big Brother/Little Brother
6. What Are You? (Bonnie Prince Billy/Matt Sweeny cover)

Next up was Matt DeCamp who fingerpicked his way through some beautiful instrumental originals. I was really pleasantly surprised when Matt started singing. He's got a great voice that suits his playing style perfectly and once again, the attentive crowd took note. Matt's set:

1. Doodle
2. Dirt (Phish cover)
3. Wristwatch
4. Puppy Might
5. A Good Thing
6. Reservations (Wilco cover)
7. Fall
8. What Do You Say

I was up next, and I humbly took the stage after these two really great performances and played a short little set. Being the reverb junkie that I am, I took my AM radio and placed an echo-soaked mic in front of it. In between intermittent spurts of reverby AM talk shows I sang a few songs and strummed my fiddle. Here's what I played:

1. Eyes
2. Halfway To A Threeway (Jim O'Rourke cover)
3. But One A Reflection Of the Other
4. October House
5. Gardenhead/Leave Me Alone (Neutral Milk Hotel cover)

If you can, please make it out to the Gift Horse show tonight with two very good bands Dancer Vs. Politician and Golden Animals. Caledonia. 10 pm. A small handful of dollars.

Saturday, November 29:

Me, Matt Decamp, Mitchel Thunderbolt. Flicker. 8:30 p.m. FREE. www.myspace.com/flickerbar.

Happy Thanksgiving (Random Giblets)

R.E.M.'s 25th Anniversary of Murmur party at the 40 Watt was pretty fun for the most part. Last night's crowd was massive and seemed to enjoy themselves and the music. Considering that all of the proceeds were for charity, I feel pretty good about the fact that the merch booth sold out of the Deluxe Remastered version of Murmur about halfway through the night, and it also looked like they sold out of the Perfect Circle t-shirts at the end of the night. This is good news for Community Connection and Hands On Northeast Georgia, two of the charities that benefited from the sales. Lisa and I were there on behalf of these charities, encouraging people to sign up for an R.E.M. day of charitable service taking place sometime in April 2009. Click the link to sign up. Highlights of the night included Iron Hero (without a doubt one of the most intriguing and captivating acts), Don Chambers and Goat, Nate Nelson (I love the effect that dude puts on his vocals), Liz Durrett, and about 400 people crapping themselves to get a chance to talk to Michael Stipe. The sizable crowd disputes the idea that "everybody leaves Athens for the holidays" and proves that even if they were in town, most UGA students are more likely to inexplicably go see Stewart and Winfield, or something like that. But you truly can't say enough good things about R.E.M. and all that they do for the Athens community. Thanks!

From the news you can easily read in the Flagpole but choose to read here department:
The shifting monikers of Contraband/Megaband/Ninja Gaiden Band have been consolidated under the new name Bit Brigade. They still continue to play the same amazing sets covering the Contra, Megaman, and Ninja Gaiden NES game soundtracks while some dudes beat the games on a big screen without dying once. They are playing the Georgia Theatre on Friday, December 5 with The Buddy System opening up. More to come on that. Promo video!



I was kind of lazy on the calendar a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to mention that I caught Hank Sullivant's solo set at Mercury last week and although I only heard the last four songs I really enjoyed it. The crowd was small but attentive and the effects on his guitar and vocals were just plain outta site, my man. Sorry I left that show off the calendar, but make sure you do yourself a favor and check out his band Kuroma.

In the spirit of solo sets and shameless self-promotion, I just want to remind everyone that Matt Decamp, Mitchel Thunderbolt, and myself will be playing our own solo sets Saturday, November 29 at the Flicker Theatre. The show is FREE and starts at 8 o'clock or so. Here's the respective descriptions in this week's Flagpole: MATT DECAMP Sweeping, acoustic instrumentals plucked gracefully on guitar from this local musician. MIKE STOKES Guitarist/vocalist for Athens' own reverb-heavy psych band Gift Horse. MITCHEL THUNDERBOLT Soft, swaying folk with an introspective croon and experimental approach. Hope to see you there.

In this Flagpole-laden post, check out this article on Julian Koster's holiday caroling tour. He's basically going around to houses that he has been invited to and caroling door to door, playing songs from The Music Tapes and some traditional carols on the singing saw. I thought this was just too good to leave out. One of the coolest ideas I've heard of to date and he gains more and more of my respect as a musician and all around human being as the days pass. I'm not really saying much here am I? Maybe you should just go scoop up a Flagpole...

Above all else, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday from all of us here at Rebel Forces. Be safe going where you go, eat too much, be safe coming back home, and don't worry about the economy for a few days.

November 24-30

Tuesday, November 25:

Perfect Circle: Athens Bands Play R.E.M.'s Murmur. 40 Watt. 8 p.m. $10 (advance). http://www.40watt.com/.

CD release party for the 25th anniversary, deluxe edition of R.E.M.'s debut LP. Don Chambers & Goat, Liz Durrett, Iron Hero, Nate Nelson, Heavy Feather, Spring Tigers, and Packway Handle Band cover songs from the 1983 album. The event features a screening of vintage footage of the band and limited edition Perfect Circle event shirts for sale. See the Flagpole's Calendar Pick and Redux Nation spots for more.

Saturday, November 29:

Me, Matt Decamp, Mitchel Thunderbolt. Flicker. 8:30 p.m. FREE. www.myspace.com/flickerbar.

Thats me as in, well, me. I'm excited to do some solo stuff with my good friends Matt (aka Rebel Forces contributor and Gift Horse/Panic co-manager) and Vaughan (aka Mitchel Thunderbolt and Gift Horse bassist). Matt's got a cool acoustic/fingerpicky set worked up, Mitchel Thunderbolt is a touch deeply moving acoustic melancholy-folk aimed at the religious right, and I'm just gonna play some stuff off of my demo page and a few obscure covers, experimental noise rock style. Hope to see you there...

The Black Fortys, The Duke Spirit, Eulogies, Spring Tigers. 40 Watt. 9 p.m. $5 (advance). http://www.40watt.com/.

Heavy Petty. Farm 255. 11 p.m. FREE! http://www.farm255.com/.

Kevin and Jeff from the Caledonia staff roster rock through Tom Petty's catalogue of songs. This is probably where most of our crowd will go after our sets at Flicker considering it's also free, right next door to Flicker, and a hell of a good time.

The Sammies, Idiot Slowdown, JY, Pretty Lights. Tasty World. 10 p.m. $5. http://www.tastyworld.net/

---------

This is the weekend of NoPhest #5 in Atlanta. This year the festival is held at a community arts venue called WonderRoot and it's only $5 bucks a day. Not a clue about most of these bands but here's the entire lineup:

Friday, November 28:

Walk To Run Records Showcase:
8:00 p.m-Leadcar Holiday

9:00-The Jonesplan

10:00-Nerd Parade

11:00-Sunday Drive Bye

12:00 a.m.-Phoenix for Saints

1:00-Lions & Scissors

Saturday, November 29:

2:00 p.m.-Intrepid Souls

3:00-Lindsay Appel

4:00-Jungol

5:00-Jesse Nobody

6:00-Tealights

7:00-Mice in Cars

8:00-Extraordinary Contraptions

9:00-It's Elephant's

10:00-Envie

11:00-FishHawk

12:00 a.m.-Pistolero

1:00-Trial By Fire

Sunday, November 30:

1:00 p.m.-Toby Foster

2:00-Dustin and the Furniture

3:00-Red The Exploder

4:00-The Sneaky Hand

5:00-Eric Zer
6:00-The Blacks
7:00-Why Are We Building Such A Big Ship
8:00-Bambara-->
9:00-Gift Horse-->

10:00-Wighat

11:00-Free Ticket

12:00 a.m.-Finletter

Thanks to the boys of Bambara for that flyer.

One Part Mission Statement, Two Parts Daydreaming...

As the crackpot, uh "staff" here at the Forces write more and more entries, it is becoming clear exactly what we are trying to do with this blog. When we first started writing it we pretty much just wanted to lay down anything that had to do with anything regarding music, Athens and life. With great pride I purport that we are painstakingly still travelling alongst the path.
Bullet Points!

1. This site is intended to be used for promoting Athens music. A quick glance around the interwebs will reveal many other sites that are dedicated to this very same idea. I noticed that ours is a little different in one very important way: it remains positive regarding every band that we talk about. See points #2 and #5 below.
   
   
2. I vow to delete every single comment that I deem unworthy. Every other Athens blog has at least one post that contains a thread of comments that are hurtful, ignorant and unnecessary. You'll find none of that here because I usually don't give people the benefit of the doubt. You are a hypothetical music snob whose scope is limited to about fifty obscure bands that are very hard to listen to. Or you are in another band in Athens and you look at local music as a competitive market that you think you can control with your words (but you can't). All you can do is make music. Sorry I think I've said this multiple times in other posts. So far I've only had to delete one comment. But I don't respond, I delete.
   
   
3. Having called out most people for being dumb, we do not profess to know everything about Athens here at Rebel Forces. I know that there are really great bands left off of our list and really important monumental historical stuff has happened that we were not a part of. Anything that is left out and fits this category should be added and it is someone else's responsibility to tell us (THIS MEANS YOU! please). Also I don't consider myself an expert or a very capable writer. There is nothing competitive about this site so if we are way off base about something then feel free to tell us. We have very open minds here and that is why we discuss the happenings of many different bands playing many different styles of music. We don't love everybody but everybody gets a fair chance.
   
   
4. Although this site focuses on Athens in general, we will more often deal with a few specific groups because the contributors either play in these bands or are employed by these bands. Matt works for Brown Cat (Widespread Panic). J.J. plays drums for Blue Flashing Light. I play guitar for Gift Horse. We will write about these bands more than others because hey, you've gotta write what you know. See point #3 about telling us what's going on around here. By the way at no point do any of us speak for or represent any of our respective bands or organizations. We're just some dudes.
   
   
5. Okay, I think this is it for the "mission statement" because this is redundant. But please realize that this site is meant to represent a pretty sincere effort to do no harm to Athens music. Remember Athens is a very unique place. There aren't many towns like it. So please don't come here to be told what sucks. Please be humble and passionate. Listen to music.

In unrelated and less Buddhist news, I've been thinking a lot lately about how nice it would be to have mountains of cash. I wish I could say that I am completely unmotivated by the pursuit of money but I am just a lowly human being. Remember that scene from Office Space where Peter and Lawrence ask each other what they would do with a million dollars? No? Well here it is, cut right before the best part:

..."Look at my cousin man he's broke and he don't do shit."

Okay, If I had a million dollars I would do the following:

1. Open up a retail store in downtown Athens that sells nothing but local music and related artifacts. Only stipulation: you must be from the area in order to have your disc sold in my store. My store would be called...REBEL FORCES (eureka!). We would sell all formats: CD's, vinyl, and I would have an mp3 database. Bands would bring in one copy of their cheap demo cd or a rare live recording. I would take this cd and enter it into my mp3 database. When someone wanted music from this particular band but it isn't in stock at my store (or anywhere in existence), I could burn it and sell the customer a cheap CDR with the Rebel Forces logo stamped on it. We could also do this with DVR's of live video footage of shows in the same database and sell merchandise from Athens bands. This would include a huge stockpile of t-shirts, original artwork, flyers, movies, memorabilia, you name it.
   
   
2. In the back of this store there would be a small performance space. I would host as many in-store performances and record release shows as humanly possible. These would be relatively chill, relatively cheap, and open to music lovers of all ages. I envision the bigger bands that roll through town possibly playing an in-store show at 2 p.m. on the day of their Athens show. Something like that.
   
   
3. Along with continuing to write this here online version of Rebel Forces, I would start an independent monthly print magazine called...REBEL FORCES (too confusing?). It would be advertisement driven in order to keep it free for the fair citizens of Athens. It would be placed around in various bins just as the Flagpole is now, but Rebel Forces mag would be devoid of all political influence and contain no insight regarding the best place in Athens to eat tacos. Strictly music. Mainly features on bands and upcoming shows and stuff. Some reviews of shows and albums, but no bad reviews. Athens has a cool enough music scene that it's citizens deserve at least one printed paper that is strictly devoted to music. But the Flagpole is still a great publication. Tacos are delicious.
   
   
4. Start a record label called...well, you know what I'd call it by now. Make records with good local bands using local studios and then proceed to promote and sell the hell out of it in my own store. Your band's success is my success!
   
   
5. Make movies. Arthouse films scored by local musicians. Documentaries on bands and the scene and stuff. Random music videos. Maybe even a video magazine that you could subscribe to and get a new short film or collection of music videos every month. Guess what I'd call this video magazine?
   
   
6. Of course, I would continue to create my own music.

Sounds good, right? I'm a little bit of an idealist and a daydreamer, but I like talking about it. So back off. Just kidding. Any rich, bored people out there don't try to steal my idea please because now it is published and documented as my idea on November 11, 2008. I'll just sue you, take your money and then use it to fund my scheme. But if you are rich, bored and reading this feel free to become my benefactor and donate for a good cause. Support the arts. I am seriously thinking about a grant proposal that might help me do this. Not kidding.

In the meantime we'll just talk about some records and other random unimportant stuff. You know, dog fart films and my iPod.

I know that we aren't kicking up too much dust yet, but I hope this long-winded self-absorbed post gives you an idea of where the three of us are coming from. Thanks for reading.

Spare Time

So here are a few links which may help explain what our contirbutors do when they are NOT writing for this fine blog, playing music in their respective "main" projects, juggling management and PR duties for one of Athens' largest bands, pruning the hedges, raping the horses, or riding away on the women:

When J.J. isn't playing drums in local Athens band Blue Flashing Light, he writes tunes and records bad ass drum solos for his myspace page currently titled Augusta Grown. J.J. has had this page for a while, and we have all sat around the computer and just laughed at how hilarious some of his songs are and how disgusting (in a good way) his drum solos are. By the way he won best drummer in Ohio back in the day after performing one of those solos.

When Matt isn't running things (yeah that's right, I said it) at Widespread Panic's Brown Cat Inc., he's usually selflessly devoting the his time to helping my band, Gift Horse. And we are eternally grateful. When he's not doing that, he somehow finds time to record and recently made a myspace page to showcase his talents. So far he's only got one tune up there that all made us say "Damn! Matt good!", but we all know that he's got more coming, right Matt? I'm pretty sure that last sentence contained a comma splice and possible haiku.

The efforts of these two gentlemen has inspired me to start my own myspace page in order to flesh out a few ideas. Yeah I know, unoriginal bastard. So now I have something to do too whenever I'm not doing whatever the hell it is that I do during the week.

Even though he's not a contributor, check out the myspace page that my friend and ex-band member Dede created. Dede used to play bass in a band I was in and now he plays guitar for Athens staples The Empties.

Isn't myspace great when it's not used to promote unwanted sexual advances for once?