I will be at Virginia Highland Books this Thursday, September 28 at 7 p.m. I’ll be talking about my book, Atlanta Record Stores: An Oral History, as well as a few other related topics. I might even talk a bit about my next book! But I mostly just want to talk with y’all! I would be honored by your presence. We might even get a beer across the street afterward.
Free. 7 p.m. 1034 North Highland Ave. NE. Click here to RSVP!
Fuzzstock Fourever takes over Boggs Social & Supply Sat., Sept. 9
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.
The lineup
Destroyer of Light (TX)
The Buzzards of Fuzz
The Pinx
Rae and the Ragdolls
MammaBear
The Mystery Men?
Black Cat Rising
Turbo Gatto (SC)
Gas Hound
WFMU DJ Vikki Vaden
Some of the vendors on hand
Loops Garden
Boho Lama
Jo Della
Dakoda Goods & Co.
KOHMODERN
The Asylum Countess
King of Pops
Murell’s Row
The sponsors
WREK
Criminal Records
Murrell’s Row
WFMU
King of Pops
Little Cottage Brewery
Now Dig This
Liquid Death
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The story of Rot is the story of four friends—outsiders—fighting for survival amid Atlanta’s unforgiving music scene of the late 1980s and early ‘90s. Drummer Corey Pallon, guitar player Richard Googe, bass player James Liu, and vocalist, guitar player, and principal songwriter Kevin Cornelius lived in musical, cultural, and geographic isolation. Metal was a rising force amid the Reagan/Bush era, but Rot’s musical style looked far beyond the eyeliner and Aqua-net that antagonistic audiences in the southeastern United States demanded.
Rot drew power from the same down-tuned dirges of Swedish death metal luminaries Entombed as well as early Carcass and the concentrated grindcore riffage of Napalm Death’s debut album Scum.
Cornelius, Pallon, Googe, and Liu played the music that was written in their bones, capturing a portrait of a place, a time, and an attitude, driven by unrelenting darkness. The group’s would-be legendary status was constantly at odds with a litany of socio-political hurdles that came from every direction. The scene was stalked by a diabolical skinhead crew at nearly every turn. As a band that included two Asian members, guitarist Googe and bass player Liu, and Cornelius, a Black frontman, Rot found itself in the crosshairs, subjected to real violence and torment. The group played as though their lives depended on it, and often times it did.
On stage and in the practice space, Cornelius progressed quickly on guitar, rising from beginner status to death metal master within just 18 months. Working alongside his bandmates, he wrote and recorded gnarly odes of putrescence during the early gestation period of grindcore and death metal. He also experimented with a whispered vocal style that Nuclear Holocaust later made famous with their 1991 album Dawn of Satan’s Millennium.
Upon arrival, Rot’s demo tape, Diabolus (The Unholy Rot), promised great things to come. Songs bearing titles such as “Mutilation of the Christians,” “Pray To Death,” and “Parasitic Withdrawal” were and still are unrelenting in their raw intensity of sound and bleak musical textures.
The demo tape has lied in obscurity for more than 32 years, existing only as a grainy video buried deep on the Youtube. Now, Boris Records has pressed the first official vinyl release of Diabolus (The Unholy Rot), unleashing one of the most strikingly raw and gutteral death metal recordings to ever come from the Atlanta scene.
The album places a remastered recording of Rot’s original four-song demo EP alongside two previously unreleased cuts, “Baphomet” and “Violent Beast.” There’s also a recently unearthed live recording filling out the B-side. Really, though, it’s John Mincemoyer’s in-depth storytelling in the liner notes that adds depth, context, and a human element to the story of these four friends, illustrating the countless hurdles and seemingly insurmountable odds they faced, and the extremely hard, fast, and loud music they created during their brief but fiery existence.
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It’s misleading to call MSSV an experimental rock trio, as these three elder statesmen of the underground know exactly what they’re doing. Still, bass player Mike Watt, guitarist Mike Baggetta, and drummer Stephen Hodges craft a fluid, mostly-instrumental body of work that flows beyond the confines of their impressive collective resumes. Hodges has performed with the likes Tom Waits, David Lynch, Wanda Jackson, and Mavis Staples for years. Baggetta has collaborated with everyone from Bob Stagner of Chattanooga’s Shaking Ray Levis on the Triage album to legendary session drummer Jim Keltner. And, of course, Watt raised the bar high for American punk and indie rock playing bass and singing with the Minutemen, fIREHOSE, and via scores of solo releases and offshoot ensembles. Together, MSSV hones in on a rhythm, a groove, or a subtle shift in sound to explore and expand upon with each new number. Their approach is part composition, part improvisation, and part file-under-some-other form of silent musical telepathy that is as sophisticated as it is undeniably catchy.
MSSV is on the road playing songs from their second studio album Human Reaction, due out Sept. 1 on Big Ego Records.
Atlanta’s noisey post-punk newcomers Blood Circuits (featuring former members of Free Masonry, Gaijin, Remuxers, Hal Al Shedad, and Car Vs. Driver) and the city’s quintessentially baroque chamber-punk balladeers W8ING4UFOS set the night in motion.
$15 (adv). $20 (door). 7 p.m. Thurs., Oct. 26. Boggs Social & Supply.
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CANCELED: This live appearance has been canceled, but you can hear Thurston Moore’s interview with Chad Radford on 90.1 FM/WABE’s “City Lights” on Monday, October 30 at 11 a.m. and again at 8 p.m.
From the founding member of Sonic Youth, a passionate memoir tracing the author’s life and art—from his teen years as a music obsessive in small-town Connecticut, to the formation of his legendary rock group, to 30 years of creation, experimentation, and wonder.
A Cappella Books welcomes Thurston Moore to The Plaza Theatre to discuss his new book, Sonic Life: A Memoir, on Monday, October 30, at 7 p.m. Moore will speak with your truly, Chad Radford, music journalist and author of Atlanta Record Stores: An Oral History. Moore will also perform a short musical set.
Following the conversation, The Plaza will host a screening of director Stuart Swezey’s documentary, Desolation Center, featuring performances by Sonic Youth, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Swans, Redd Kross, Einstürzende Neubauten, and more. Moore will introduce the film.
A note on the THREE types of tickets available for this event:
Book Talk Ticket:
Includes a pre-signed copy of Sonic Life + admission for the 7 p.m. book talk. ($35+tax).
Book Talk and Movie Ticket:
Includes a pre-signed copy of Sonic Life + admission for the 7 p.m. book talk, and the 8:30 p.m. screening of Desolation Center. ($45+tax).
Movie Ticket:
Admission to the 8:30 p.m. screening of Desolation Center. ($20 + tax)
About the Book
Thurston Moore moved to Manhattan’s East Village in 1978 with a yearning for music. He wanted to be immersed in downtown New York’s sights and sounds—the feral energy of its nightclubs, the angular roar of its bands, the magnetic personalities within its orbit. But more than anything, he wanted to make music—to create indelible sounds that would move, provoke, and inspire.
His dream came to life in 1981 with the formation of Sonic Youth, a band Moore co-founded with Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo. Sonic Youth became a fixture in New York’s burgeoning No Wave scene—an avant-garde collision of art and sound, poetry and punk. The band would evolve from critical darlings to commercial heavyweights, headlining festivals around the globe while helping introduce listeners to such artists as Nirvana, Hole, and Pavement and playing alongside such icons as Neil Young and Iggy Pop. Through it all, Moore maintained an unwavering love of music: the new, the unheralded, the challenging, the irresistible.
In the spirit of Just Kids, Sonic Life offers a window into the trajectory of a celebrated artist and a tribute to an era of explosive creativity. It presents a firsthand account of New York in a defining cultural moment, a history of alternative rock as it was birthed and came to dominate airwaves, and a love letter to music, whatever the form. This is a story for anyone who has ever felt touched by sound—who knows the way the right song at the right moment can change the course of a life.
About the Author
Thurston Moore is a founding member of Sonic Youth, a band born in New York in 1981 that spent 30 years at the vanguard of alternative rock, influencing and inspiring such acts as Nirvana, Pavement, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, My Bloody Valentine, and Beck. The band’s album Daydream Nation was chosen by the Library of Congress for historical preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2006. Moore is involved in publishing and poetry and teaches at the Summer Writing Workshop at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. He divides his time between the USA and England.
About the Film
Desolation Center is the previously untold story of a series of early ’80s guerrilla music and art performance happenings in Southern California that are recognized to have inspired Burning Man, Lollapalooza, and Coachella, collective experiences that have become key elements of popular culture in the 21st century. The feature documentary splices interviews and rare performance footage of Sonic Youth, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Swans, Redd Kross, Einstürzende Neubauten, Survival Research Laboratories, Savage Republic and more, documenting a time when pushing the boundaries of music, art, and performance felt almost like an unspoken obligation.
Directed by Stuart Swezey, the creator and principal organizer of these unique events, Desolation Center demonstrates how the risky, and at times even reckless, actions of a few outsiders can unintentionally lead to seismic cultural shifts. Combining Swezey’s exclusive access to never-before-seen archival video, live audio recordings, and stills woven together with new cinematically shot interviews, verité footage and animated sequences, Desolation Center captures the spirit of the turbulent times from which these events emerged.
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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.
Brainiac and Lung play The Earl’s 25th anniversary celebration. Monday, February 5, 2024. $22 (adv). $25 (doors).
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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.
Dash Rip Rock and Kraken’s Release play Smith’s Olde Bar on Fri., July 14. $15. 8 p.m. (doors).
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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.
San Antonio’s Metalriser, Atlanta punx Stripper Cult, and hardcore/nardcore skatepunk outfit Loony get the party started.
$20. 7:30 p.m. (doors). Boggs Social & Supply. 1310 White St SW, Atlanta, GA 30310.
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Rejoice! Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. return to the Earl on Tuesday, May 23.
The last time Japan’s ultimate sorcerers of psychedelic rock delivered a dose of cosmic freakouts to the East Atlanta Village was in the Spring of 2019. Now, the group’s founding guitarists Makoto Kawabata and Higashi Hiroshi are on the road again, traversing the States on the “Metareboot North American Spring Tour 2023.” For these shows the group’s lineup features drummer Satoshima Nani, guitar and bouzouki player Jyonson Tsu, and their latest addition, bass player Ron Anderson (also of PAK). Acid Mothers Temple’s kaleidoscopic stage presence is the stuff of legend—full throttle exploration of inner space while reaching for outer space. Every live show offers a mind-bending portal into unknown realms of the multiverse, where ecstasy and overload collide with searing rhythms and riffs.
The group’s body of work is truly immense. Although no new AMT offerings have materialized since the pandemic shut down the world, the group filled up its official Bandcamp page with 60+ albums and various unreleased offerings.
ATTENTION COLLECTORS: There will be a full-on mountain of rare reissues on the merch table—LPs, tapes, CDs, hand-drawn artwork, and more. Speaking of which, Austin’s ST 37 will open the show, and there will be a split live cassette of recordings made during their 2015 tour together.
$16 (adv). $20 (doors). 7:30 p.m. (doors open). 8 p.m. (show). The Earl, www.badearl.com.
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