Now in its sixth year—but fostering it’s fourth actual festival thanks to that global pandemic that happened a while back—Fuzzstock is a celebration that blends Atlanta’s local music scene with sounds from the rest of the country. The tie that binds is friendship and a sense of community united by all things fuzz, stoner, and rock ‘n’ roll.
There will be food, a vendor market, and music all day. Festivities kick off at 4 p.m.
Nearly 27 years after the tragic death of Brainiac frontman Tim Taylor brought an end to the group’s meteoric rise, the beloved Dayton, OH post-punk freak out ensemble is returning to stages once again. The group’s Surviving members—guitarist and vocalist John Schmersal, drummer Tyler Trent, and bass player Juan Monasterio—are paying homage to Brainiac’s fallen leader with the addition of guitarist, keyboard player, and vocalist Tim Krug of Dayton-based indie rockers Oh Condor as well as the electronic projects Hexadiode and Halicon.
From 1992–1997, Brainiac twisted the boundaries of indie rock, industrial music clatter and collage, and noise rock to the tune of a mangled Moog synthesizer. The group’s sound was truly revolutionary, as evidenced by their three steller full-lengths 1993’s Smack Bunny Baby, 1994’s Bonsai Superstar, and 1996’s Hissing Prigs in Static Couture.
The group’s final offering, 1997’s Jim O’Rourke-produced Electro-Shock for President EP offered just a hint at the bold and engaging new sounds the group had in store. But Taylor’s death in a single car accident that same year marked the end for Brainiac.
Cincinnati’s drums and cello two-piece Lung opens the show with a set of blackened and apocalyptic post-grunge, post-goth dirges.
HEX ERROR: David Lane (from left), Jason Hatcher, and Greg Stevens.
On June 19, 2003, bass player David Lane, drummer Greg Stevens, and singer and guitar player Jason Hatcher of Hex Error went into Zero Return Studios with Rob del Bueno, aka Coco the Electronic Monkey Wizard of Man? Or Astro-Man?.
The plan was to cut the instrumental tracks for six new songs the group had been working on since releasing their self-titled debut CD in 2001. Vocals were to be recorded during another session later on down the line. The rising noise rock three-piece was slashing its way through the local scene, playing shows at venues such as Lenny’s and the Earl, and landing spots at the day-long Corndogorama indie rock festival.
Alas, this fatal afternoon at Zero Return, now dubbed Maze Studios, was Hex Error’s last studio session. Hatcher, Stevens, and Lane broke up before vocals were recorded and the three never looked back.
Since then, Lane has long served as singer and guitar player with the band Skin Jobs, who released their debut album Def Bods in 2021. Stevens has spent time playing with various bands, and currently plays in the groups Uneven Lanes with Benjamin, as well as Total Peace Band. Lane and Stevens also currently play in the post-punk outfit Scratch Offs.
Hatcher died on February 20, 2022.
While doing some housekeeping during the pandemic, del Bueno discovered a 2-inch reel of the sessions and passed it along to Stevens.
The recordings offering a stark and compelling glimpse at what was a quickly evolving musical outfit. The crushing grooves that drive the opening number, “Death From Above,” and the dissonant energy of “Greed” capture a mastery of songwriting dynamics. “Social Leprosy” and the wide-eyed “Time” show off instincts that move far beyond the nascent, teeth-gnashing dirges of their self-titled 2001 debut. The instrumental recordings as they are rendered here capture Hex Error in gloriously muscular and sophisticated form.
Stevens took a few minutes to talk more about the recording.
Chad Radford: Where have these tapes been for the last 20 years?
Greg Stevens: The tapes had been in storage at Zero Return until the pandemic. During that time, Rob del Bueno let me know he had come across this 2-inch reel of tape from our final recording session. Jason passed away a year or so ago, so we figured it would be a fitting memorial to him to release this EP 20 years after the initial recording.
Did you alter the recordings in any way?
The initial recording wasn’t altered in any way. We had completed all of the basic tracking at the session on 6/29/03. That said, we broke up before we could complete the vocals, so these are instrumental tracks only. Given that Jason had passed, there wasn’t an opportunity to add vocals to anything. So we ended up putting the finishing touches on it, as is. We worked with David Barbe for the mixing of the 2-inch tape out at Chase Park in Athens and Carl Saff for the mastering.
Have you had any realizations about these songs or the band in general now that you have released this final recording?
David Lane and I have been playing music together off and on for the past 20 years. It has been interesting releasing these tracks from 20 years ago while at the same time we are putting the finishing touches on the upcoming Scratch Offs record. So from that perspective it’s interesting to see how much we have both grown as musicians over the past couple of decades. We’re really proud of how far we took the Hex Error sound all those years ago, and we’re excited about exploring different sonic territories with Scratch Offs.
What’s your favorite song from this session?
The opening track, “Death from Above,” really highlights what we could have accomplished had we not called it a day. We had started working within longer song structures and more intricate polyrhythms. That one was a crowd favorite, whether we were playing in Atlanta or out on the road.
Where there lyrics written and performed with these songs that are now just lost to the sands of time?
All of these songs had lyrics. We performed all of them live back in the day. So, yes, lost to the sands of time.
Any plans for a physical release with this one?
Not at this time. We decided to self-release this digitally mainly for archival purposes. But if a label was so inclined, we’d definitely be into it.
Do you have a release date in mind for the Scratch Offs LP? Does it have a title yet?
We just got the final master back from Carl Saff a couple of days ago. We’re aiming for a digital release in the next couple months, before we do our next batch of shows. We’re playing with Bass Drum of Death and Small at the Earl on September 7, and then headed to Florida for some dates shortly after that. So it would be good for people to have a frame of reference aside from the live experience. Right now, the consensus is to call the record Tidal Wave.
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Cow Punk. It’s more than just a genre of redneck rock ‘n’ roll. It’s a lifestyle, and it’s the title of Dash Rip Rock’s latest album. Since the 1987 arrival of the New Orleans trio’s self-titled debut on 688 Records, singer and guitarist Bill Davis has crafted a blend of Athens, GA-style college rock, fueled by Austin, TX-style country, punk, and rockabilly. The group’s latest release features a spread of revved up new recordings of older numbers from throughout Dash Rip Rock’s catalog. Check out a couple of Status Quo and Gram Parsons covers as well. It’s the definitive cowpunk statement—or at least it’s Dash Rip Rock’s vision of all that cowpunk can be.
Since 1982, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles (D.R.I.) have circled the globe, playing a break-neck blend of hardcore, punk, and thrash metal crossover forged amid Houston’s skate-punk scene of the Reagan era. The group’s sound culminates with recordings such 1985’s Dealing With It, 1988’s Four Of A Kind, and the 2015’s criminally overlooked But Wait … There’s More! EP. Co-founding members vocalist Kurt Brecht and guitarist Spike Cassidy have remained at the front of the stage, leading an ever-shifting rhythm section. After keeping the band on the road for more than 40 years, D.R.I.’s anti-commercial, anti-authoritarian values are symbolized by the group’s trademark running man logo—an emblem that signifies the whiplash fury the group has commanded for decades. In the pit, the ferocity remains unmatched. This marks the group’s rescheduled 40-year anniversary show.
Photo courtesy Loony!
San Antonio’s Metalriser, Atlanta punx Stripper Cult, and hardcore/nardcore skatepunk outfit Loony get the party started.
Why write a book about Atlanta record stores? The truth is that you get a singularly unique perspective on a city’s history, its culture, and its personality when viewed through the lens of a record store’s front window. I have often said that if you want to understand a society or a culture, just take a look at its pop culture, and music has always remained right there on the frontlines.
Atlanta is world-renowned as a hip-hop mecca, but a rich underground rock scene has been thriving here for decades. The hub of that world is the city’s record stores. Featuring decades-old institutions to shops that existed just long enough to leave an impact, Atlanta Record Stores is a rock-centric take on a hip-hop town, unfurling the secret history of music underdogs—outliers living among outliers—telling their stories in their native tongue. From Jarboe of SWANS to William DuVall of Alice in Chains and Neon Christ to Kelly Hogan, Gentleman Jesse Smith, Atlanta Braves organist Matthew Kaminski, and those surly characters behind the counter at Wuxtry, Wax ‘n’ Facts, Criminal, Ella Guru, Fantasyland, and more, all were drawn by the irresistible lure of vinyl records—all found their communities and their own identities, leaving an indelible mark on the culture of Atlanta.
Click below to purchase a signed copy of Atlanta Record Stores: An Oral History. $25 (postage paid).
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In the meantime, a video for the EP’s title track teases out the group’s feral garage-punk charge, as co-founders vocalist Valeria Sanchez and guitar player José Rivera are joined by bass player Paul Hernandez, and drummer Sam Adams.
Check out the scene for a backyard blowout at local punk, hardcore, and headbanger hangout, The Catacombs.
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Hammered Hulls play The Earl on Fri., Jan. 20. Alec MacKaye (Faith, Ignition, the Untouchables) fronts a lineup of veteran players that includes guitarist Mark Cisneros (the Make-Up, Kid Congo Powers and the Pink Monkey Birds), bass player Brendan Canty (of Fugazi, the Messthetics, et. al. standing in for Mary Timony), and drummer Chris Wilson (Ted Leo + Pharmacists, Titus Andronicus).
The group is touring behind the October arrival of its debut full-length, Careening (Dischord Records). The album was produced by Minor Threat, Fugazi, and Dischord Records’ co-founder (and Alec’s brother) Ian MacKaye, and was recorded at Don Zientara’s Inner Ear Studio. With Careening, Hammered Hulls carries Washington D.C.’s post-hardcore and post-punk legacies into powerful and direct new musical terrain with the winding rhythms of songs such as “Bog People” and “Rights and Reproduction,” and the slower tempos of “Not Gone” and “Mission Statement.”
Gentleman Jesse Smith also performs, backed by a lineup featuring bass player Chris McNeal, drummer Sean Zearfoss, and Milton Chapman on keys.
THE EDGEWOOD SAX TRIO: Ben Davis (from left), Jeff Crompton, and Bill Nittler. Photo by Jeff Crompton.
In December of 2022, the passing of baritone saxophonist Bill Nittler left a hole in the heart of Atlanta’s extended musical family.
As a tribute, his former Edgewood Saxophone Trio bandmates Jeff Crompton (alto) and Ben Davis (tenor) have launched a Gofundme campaign to release the group’s second full-length album, Heard.
Over the years, Nittler served as the Education Director for the Atlanta Young Singers youth choir. He also played a vital role performing with various jazz-based ensembles including Kingsized, Greasepaint, Nuzion Big Band, Lie And Swell, the 4th Ward Afro Klezmer Orchestra, Shaking Ray Levis, and more. He performed with Southern Culture on the Skids, and was known for crafting a bustling ska arrangement of Thelonious Monk’s “’Round Midnight” and an avant-garde take on the Butthole Surfers’ already twisted number “Cherub.”
Heard is the follow up to the Edgewood Sax Trio’s 2014 debut, Snake Nation, and marks the group’s final offering, which is expected to arrive this summer.
“I spent hours editing the existing studio material for side one of the LP,” says alto saxophonist and EST co-founder Jeff Crompton. “Some high-quality recordings from a live broadcast on Atlanta radio station WREK provided three of the tracks on side two. The final track is a special one—a live recording from our favorite gig ever: a 2015 concert at Atlanta’s Trinity House. The recordings have been expertly mastered by Chris Griffin of Griffin Mastering.”
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