A party with drunken pirates is sure to be a good time. When those pirates deftly finagle instruments, it is even better. And when those instrument-laden pirates are members of the Athens and Columbus-area band Six Gallery, precautions must be taken to make sure the audience doesn't defecate in its puffy pantaloons.
Self-described melodic, epic, progressive indie rockers Six Gallery has only dressed as pirates once, but the band's madcap antics are not limited to clothing choices at concerts. For example, the band's symbol, a frog riding a bird skeleton, is so complicated and mysterious that drummer Sam Almadani will make only broad statements about the representation.
(The frog riding a bird skeleton) represents our band. That's it
he said.
Six Gallery began in spring of 2005 when Almadani and guitarist Will Vokac lived and started playing music together. They picked up bassist Alex Weinhardt and the band stayed a trio for two months. Guitarist Ben Schreiber had a job lined up at a radio station in West Virginia but instead decided to play with Six Gallery and slept on a couch because he had no other place to stay, Almadani said.
(Schreiber) dropped it all to come play with the band he said.
Since then, Weinhardt and Schreiber graduated from Ohio University and now live in Columbus. Vokac said the two have come down to Athens every weekend so far this quarter to practice. He and Almadani, students at OU, will make the journey to Columbus when they find time. Almadani is a commercial photography and visual communication major and Vokac is an English major. Both plan to graduate soon, Vokac said.
The name Six Gallery comes from one of the first public readings of poetry from the Beat Generation in San Francisco, Almadani said. Poet Allen Ginsberg first presented his now-famous work Howl at the event while Jack Kerouac drunkenly cheered on. Incidentally, Vokac said, their show this Saturday coincides with the 51st anniversary of this reading.
Six Gallery, whose influences include Ghost and Vodka, American Football, Minus the Bear, Mars Volta and Hanson, released a demo via their Web site www.sixgalleryband.com, and they are working on releasing a full-length disc.The recording will feature remastered versions of songs on the demo plus new songs. The CD should be out by next summer, Vokac said.
Vokac and Almadani said Six Gallery plans to do a tour this winter to Chicago and other parts of the Midwest, as well as an East Coast tour in the summer, assuming all members of the band are able to separate themselves from their respective jobs. The band is touring to gain new converts to their sound but also greatly enjoy the perks of playing in bars, they said.
Free beer is God's gift to man Almadani said. We're probably going to get drunk every night.
Vokac, however, disagrees.
We do shows for the music
man
he said.
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Chris Yonker
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Will Vokac (Left) and Sam Almadani of the band Six Gallery with cutouts of members Alex Weinhardt (Left) and Ben Schreiber. They will perform 9 p.m. Saturday at the Front Room.
