Ohio-based jam band The Werks will make their return to Athens on Friday night when they play at The Venue of Drxvms.
The Werks formed at the University of Dayton in 2006 and have been performing together for the past 10 years. The band has played in Athens countless times, drummer and vocalist Rob Chafin said, but touring got in the way of coming back here.
“We used to play Athens all the time, then we started touring nationally and we haven’t been back in like four years now,” he said. “It feels good to come back to A-town.”
The Werks have performed multiple times with Papadosio, an electronica band originally from Athens, at Jackie O’s Pub & Brewery. This weekend, they will play the larger and newer Venue of Drxvms, located at 13 W. Stimson Ave.
The Werks will be accompanied by another jam band — Cincinnati-based Peridoni.
Peridoni is an independent rock jam band whose debut album, Pixel Pieces on a Parallel Plane, released in July. The band’s Facebook page describes their music as “modern grooves and textures with blistering guitar solos and progressive improvisation.”
“They’re good friends of ours,” Chafin said. “They’re definitely a band to check out.”
Peridoni is not alone in having released an album over the summer — The Werks released a live album from 2015’s Werk Out Music and Arts Festival.
“We definitely take pride in our live show,” Chafin said.
While The Werks has not been to Athens in a few years, they always make their presence in southeastern Ohio known. Their annual festival, The Werk Out Music and Arts Festival, draws over 5,000 fans annually to the village of Thornville.
When describing live performances, Chafin said, “It’s all about the experience, man. No, I’m just kidding.”
Humor aside, Chafin said that the band’s improvisation makes their shows special.
“You have to see us live to understand us,” he said. “Live, we make songs much longer than we do in the studio. (Performing live) gives us room to stretch our legs and breathe and really explore and feed off the crowd.”
Jam bands are often hard to place in one genre and The Werks are no exception. They are often described as psychedelic dance rock.
Chafin said that their music has a “rock and funk foundation, with heavy improvisation.”
The band also has electronic influences, Chafin said, but the band prefers not to use computer-generated sounds.
Chafin said that this show is something of a homecoming, especially for bassist Jake Goldberg, who used to live here. Chafin also called playing the 2009 Halloween block party the band’s “big break.”
Connor Hall, a senior studying biological sciences, said that he likes when bands stay true to their roots.
“I mean, I appreciate that,” Hall said. “It’s pretty cool … if they come back, I respect that.”
Chafin teased numerous surprises during the homecoming show and said that concertgoers should expect a good show.
“We want to show Athens and OU what we’re all about,” he said.
