One of Athens’ largest bands — in both size and sound — is set to call it quits Saturday night.
After three years of making music, funk band First Street Heat will play its final full-length show before taking an “indefinite” hiatus.
The show will celebrate the group’s three years of achievements and challenges, said Dave Young, the group’s keyboardist.
“It’s going to encapsulate our whole band’s career but with a few covers mixed in,” Young said.
Since its start in 2008, the band has built a reputation around its lengthy sets and its sound that incorporates genres including hip-hop, pop, reggae, funk and ska.
The band’s large size is mostly to blame for the group’s upcoming hiatus.
“We’re just too big in size and have too many different musical directions,” saxophonist Jack Gould said. “Too many of us are focusing on graduating, and some of us already have real jobs.”
With a group size that reaches into double digits, the band needed at least three vehicles to go on the road.
“It’s hard to travel with that many people,” Gould said. “We lost a lot of money on tour.”
Having such a large band also proved to be difficult for the songwriting process.
“It takes the right combination of people and vision to really pull it off,” Young said. “That’s hard to do with four people, let alone 11 people.”
In his time with First Street Heat, Young said the most definitive part of his experience was last year’s release of the LP, Say What You Wanna Say.
“I actually produced the album, so it was especially special for me,” he said.
Although the group’s members will be going their separate ways for the time being, a variety of side projects are already in the works.
Young and several of his bandmates joined the Athens-based hip-hop group The DysFunktional Family, while Gould has lent his hand to a variety of projects, including The Paul Elisha Band.
Gould also recently helped to organize the first Groove Street Fest at the Dairy Barn Arts Center, 8000 Dairy Lane, a music festival featuring bands from throughout Ohio that Gould said he hopes to continue working with in future years.
The show at The Union has been advertised as the band’s last full-length show, although the group also will play on Court Street for Halloween. The set list for Halloween, will be short, however, which is one of the reasons the group decided to organize a farewell show.
Devotees of The First Street Heat need not give up hope yet, though, as Young said the band might not be retiring for good.
“I definitely don’t think this will be the last time we’ll play,” he said.
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