Here we are at the end of the quarter. I hope you've learned the names of some bands you might not have known before and maybe even attended a show you might not have even known about before. The goal of this column has been - and will continue to be - to let more people know about my favorite music being produced in Athens. If you have discovered any of this town's great bands through this column, send me an e-mail to let me know about it.
I'll be back next quarter to do more proselytizing. Now for this weekend's picks, featuring many names you should be familiar with by now: Men of Gentle Birth, Shotgun for Royalty, Fatboat, Starving Goliath; 8 p.m. Friday; The Wire, 21 Kern St. - This is quite the little show we've got here. Columbus high school seniors Starving Goliath are coming back into town to show off their incredible skills as entertainers. The band, together for more than five years now, is not only great at songwriting and playing its instruments, but the guys are absolutely frenetic on stage. Don't miss them.
Joining them will be some of Athens' foremost guitar-slingers, Men of Gentle Birth and Shotgun for Royalty. The genteel men have been developing a sound that draws from '90s indie rock standard-bearers Pavement, Modest Mouse and Built to Spill, all the while continuing to turn up the volume in continually intensifying live shows. Shotgun for Royalty, on the other hand, trades violently virtuosic solos between guitarist Brad Locher and drummer Christian Dawson.
Fatboat will be there too, but I don't know much about them. If they're as good as the rest of the bands on the bill, they're surely worth checking out.
Paper Airplane, The Paranormals; 10 p.m. Friday; O'Hooley's, 24 W. Union St. - Columbus/Cincinnati hybrid Paper Airplane is one of the finest bands around, and if you're in town this weekend, it would be foolish to miss them. Featuring Ryan Horns of The Last Hotel and Jeremy Darwin Foltz of Planet 12, the group performs pleasant pop perfectly, hitting every note and locking in precise rhythms. The guitar and keyboard melodies are insane, the rhythm section delivers, and it's a wonder to me that this band has not become national superstars. Plus they cover Radiohead's transcendent Exit Music and actually pull it off.
Joining them will be The Paranormals, a pair of Athens men who have done more than almost anybody else for the music scene. Either by facilitating open stages or playing the role of musical evangelists, these guys have done more than anybody could ask. And they're entertaining too, delivering song selections ranging from rootsy folk to punk rock covers, all on acoustic guitar and bass. This is a night filled with performers that the average music fan would really enjoy, so show up, have a beer and take in it all.
We March, This Moment In Black History, Dropdead Sons, The Makebelieves, Leslie Keffer; 10 p.m. Saturday; The Union, 18 W. Union St. - What better way to end the quarter than this? No out-of-town band is more loved by the Union crowd than Cleveland's This Moment in Black History, an enraged shooting spree of a band, featuring lots of jumping up and down. Joining them are three pillars of the raucous Union hierarchy, We March, The Makebelieves and Dropdead Sons. If there was ever a show that sums up the Union aesthetic, this is it.
We March, of course, are the punk rock kings of Athens. Nobody commands more attention than Zach Fuller and company. Twin garage rock towers Dropdead Sons and the Makebelieves, fronted by Union booking manager Scott Winland and John Dirty Johnny Clift, respectively, also will appear, plus noisemonger Leslie Keffer. This show gets my full endorsement.
- Chris DeVille is a Post contributing editor. Send him an e-mail at cd252802@ohiou.edu.
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Chris DeVille
