No. 1

The Und er g ro und to the Und er g ro und

Macon NoiseFANZINE

Editor’s Babble It was about two years ago

when I first came up with the idea to do a fanzine covering the more

avant-gaurd and lesser-known bands but with a lack of enough

bands playing shows and my busy schedule I never got around to it.

To my delight, this has all changed, not my busy schedule but the lack

of bands. There has been an abundance

of bands crop up from all over the place, they each

have their own iden-tities and indivual

sounds. For the first time since I’ve come

back to my home-town and started playing, organiz-

ing shows, and just helping out wher-

ever I can, I can now say the word “scene”

when referring to Macon without a smirk and the

sarcastic “qoutation mark hand gesture.” This makes me very

proud and happy.I have considered

leaving Macon again many times but now with everyone

working together and supporting one another I see something worth staying for. This scene we are build-

ing has nothing to do with fame, money, or any of the other things

that people think go along with playing music, it is about express-

ing yourself and the things that are important to you and sharing them

with others. Hopefully someone can relate. That is why you will hardly see the bands and artists featured

in this zine play places like the Hum-mingbird, The Asylum, or any of the

other “big time” bars. The bottom line for us is not the “almighty dol-

lar” but the sacred expressions and convictions of one’s self. Don’t get

me wrong , Citizen Insane and a few others that are featured have

played some of these places but it doesn’t last long. We are artist not

money-hungry business people and

the two do not mix without conflict. So, my original idea was to put

out a fanzine every so often and after about six issues put a compilation fea-

turing the bands we cover in a issue. Like I mentioned, it never happened.

Then, one day my close friend and one of the hardest working people

in the scene, Clark Bush, suggested we make a compilation to expose all

these great bands we had been work-ing with to people who might not

know them. I then reminded him of my idea and we decided to join forces,

with him handling the compilation and me pursuing the fanzine. So, with

a partner and a striving scene I had all the motivation I needed to finally

get this thing off the ground.It has brought me great joy putting this

issue together. It really helps you see the whole picture and how big this

thing really is getting.

I do, however, need the help of fans, writers, artists, musician’s,

and photographers. I could not possibly attend every show, write

about, and photograph all the stuff that is going on to fill a zine. So, I am

asking everyone to participate in

helping spread the word. If you go to

a show or hear a record you enjoy,

write about it or take pictures and send them to us. This is a fanzine

which means it’s for fans by fans.

We don’t mind negative reviews,

all we ask is it be respectful. It’s o.k.

if you don’t like something, just

don’t be deroga-tory. Give clear,

informed reasons why you don’t like it. Other than that there are no rules.

In conclusion, I’d just like to thank all of the people who work

hard to make this scene worth sticking around for. Thank you for giving me an answer when people

ask why I have so much pride in being from Macon. Thank you

for making me feel like I belong . Thank you for the friendships. Thank you for the great music.

Thank you for making my life in-teresting. Most of all thank you for

being yourselves.

-Shawn Williamson

If you would like to contribute or your band has something going on

we should know about, please send all info to:

maconnoise@live.com

June 25, 2010

Cover art for fanzine by various artist All Photos and Articles are the property of their creators.

Cover art for compilation by Kenneth Shearer The creators of uncredited photos are unknown.

New Releases

Xavii is one of the most interest-ing bands to come out of Macon’s

music scene in a long time. Their recently released EP, Mud Is Bet-

ter Than Words,

is an eclectic,

experi-mental release

that shows off the young

group’s con-

sider-able talent. Their willingness

to discover sounds beyond the typical rock conventions is re-

freshing and exhilarating, even if they sometimes seem to get

lost in their own lengthy musi-cal explorations. Still, Mud is a

remarkably strong debut that’s worth checking out for anyone

involved in the Macon music scene.

I’d hesitate to strictly define the band’s sound as post rock, but their meandering and melodic

guitar lines, crashing drum fills, and explosive crescendos have

more than a little bit in common with Scottish rockers Mogwai and Texas’s Explosions in the Sky. The album’s second track (the sleeve doesn’t come with

labeling, so I’m in the dark as to song titles), puts its own spin on

the standard “long periods of ambience bulding up to an vola-

tile climax” formula that we’ve all come to expect from most

post-rock acts. It’s not exactly breaking new ground, but the group does their thing incred-ibly well, switching around in

odd time sig-natures and

expressive instrumental

breaks. This is post-rock done right.

If I had to ex-plicitly define

their sound, I’d describe

the group as a sort of cross

between Explosions in the Sky and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, combining the explosive instru-

mentation of the former with the latter’s transcendental jazz-fu-

sion methodology. Fortunately, their sound is more concretely rooted in the post-rock side of things, as I personally find the Mahavishnu Orchestra techni-

cally proficient, but horribly, horribly masturbatory. Xavii

squarely avoids a lot of the self-indulgence that plagues many

instrumental bands, and though their song structures are more

experimental and less common, they’re squarely recognizable.

Ultimately, Xavii also draws influence from several other

areas, including punk and acts like Sonic Youth. The group is

a melting pot of experimental ideas and techniques, and their

willingness to push the envelope is incredibly welcome in Macon’s

ever-expanding music scene.

Shows & Events

July 1 THURSDAY!!!!! @ Golden Bough:

Mojo Pop (Pittsburgh), Who Goes There (Pittsburgh)

July 2 First FRI @ Grants Lounge:

Macon Noise Fundraiser - Cult of Riggonia, Some Withces Are Horses,

Citizen Insane, Floco Torres, Scotty Lingelbach, live art by WIlliam

Dantzler & Kenneth Shearer, Videos by Andrew Lewis & Clark Bush

July 27 @ Golden Bough:

Chu Feng - Chris Bell

July 31 BRAGG JAM @Bottoms Up:

Citizen Insane- The Moaners- The Roly-Bots

Eric Brown reviews Xavii’s Mud Is Better Than Words.

Another thing: this is a surprisingly long record. Though it contains only three tracks, Xavii packs an incredi-

ble amount of content into them. The EP lasts about 18 minutes overall,

which is practically unheard of for a three song EP. Two of the three songs

clock in at over 8 minutes, so you really feel like you get your money’s

worth with this release.

Live JiveMacon Noise Volume 1 Fundraiser #1 at The Golden Bough

By Murphy Hill

It was an interesting evening at the Golden Bough on Cot-ton Ave. Three acts performed, each a little bit different from the other, all with their own definitive sound.

The first act up was the indie band, Stribling. Only 2 of the 4 members were present, so the remaining members played a nice acoustic set. Using great vocal and acoustic guitar har-monies, the boys played a fairly good show. If you enjoy sweet sounding guitar licks with layered vocals of a similar nature, then this is definitely your thing. The full foursome is definitely worth checking out as well if you have not. The only complaint I would have is the set being awfully long, and I think overshadowing the other 2 acts that played.

Next up was The Polygraph Event, an electric/acoustic two-piece featuring Dustin Murdock, one of the members of the prog/indie/whatever-you-want-to-call-it band, Xavii, and

featuring Dustin Murdock, one of the members of the prog/indie/whatever-you-want-to-call-it band, Xavii, and Meghan Dowlen. Personally this was my favorite act of the evening. The guitar was brilliant and flowed seam-lessly, as did the vocals, which Ms. Dowlen did with a surgeon's precision. Listening to this songstress is the equivalent of an angel descending from the heavens and saying, "The world will be ending in 5 minutes.", yet with that kind of a voice that wouldn't seem too bad. Excellent performance. A definite must-see/hear if you haven't yet.

The last act of the evening was Anna Mae Kersey, a two-piece acoustic/piano band. Anna has also the voice of a songstress, but what she lacks in guitar-plucking she makes up for and then some in slapping some ivory/plastic keys. The range of her voice is the most surprising thing about the group, I believe. One moment she is purring like a kitten, and the next she is roaring, with animal-like vigor, like Aslan.

All in all, a good night's worth of music. If you are sitting around the homestead on a Tuesday night with nothing to do, then walk/run/bike/drive/teleport yourself to 371 Cotton Ave. You won't be disappointed.

N i g h t o f M a n y M u s i c

Trendlenberg

By Angel Collins

So, it turns out that my husband has a band. I’m not sure what genre I would say it was, but it pulls heavily from the southern music tradition, whether it is blues, bluegrass, southern rock, rock, and… well, you get the idea. Back City Woods is a long real-ized dream and I hope people can support them and show them the same love as they show other local bands. I put a lot of myself into this scene, enough that this band felt safe jumping into that cold water that is Macon’s interest in what is going on with original music, but I know there are peo-ple like me (and better than me who are giving all of themselves for the possibility of how good this scene can be) who want to see the scene succeed and I found

out how many the other night. It was a Saturday and it was starting kind of early. Back City Woods was playing at the Hummingbird’s new Summer Series, the kickoff where they play music, cook food and every-thing is free (except the beer). From there, we were heading to Mellow Mushroom to check out-Trendlenberg and Citizen Insane. After that, Floco Torres was at Ap-plebees, then back downtown to catch Royal Fireworks and Roly-Bots. You heard me right. 7 bands. 7 hours. Could I catch them all?

Back City Woods I loved the acoustic set from Back City Woods. They covered

Nirvana’s All Apologies (and got every word right this time!) in a way that was quite catchy, but the stand outs were original songs Leaving’s The Hardest Part, Lawdy Mercy, and Promises. I like Noth-ing For Me Here too… Hell, it’s my husband’s band. I pretty much like everything I hear. That doesn’t keep me from being impartial. It’s still my music scene. But I was blown away by how good they were. Knowing my husband is a musician is way different than seeing him play in front of people. My hotdog and hamburger were good as well. Thanks to Vic and that other guy for cooking the tasty treats up.

Trendlenberg/Citizen Insane After BCW, we sat around talking because we knew that Trendlenberg wasn’t starting until closer to 10. We got to Mellow Mushroom right before Trendlen-berg (aka Justin Cutway) started, so we had a seat in a booth while a couple of people got a small pizza. They were not serving slices, but I think, for nights like these, there should be a beer/slice option for music-lovers. Anyway, I digress. Because I was going back with two of the members of Back City Woods, I was only able to listen to a few Trendlenberg songs and I missed Citizen Insane com-pletely. Trendlenberg sounded awesome, the clearest his voice has been, the most technical his playing has been – I’m so used to the Golden Bough shows seem-ing as if they are just for fun that I forget that I’m surrounded by amazing talent. I should have just driven so that I could have stayed for more. We left about 4 songs in

Aftermath That night wasn’t planned. I mean, the groups didn’t get to-gether and say, “Let’s play all over this city today!” It wasn’t Bragg Jam, although the fun was try-ing to see them all. 6 outta 7 ain’t bad. It wasn’t the Foodies! or the Reader’s Choice Awards where people expect to go out and see some good stuff and then go to every club in downtown Macon to hang like it’s their one night to celebrate. No, it was a normal frakkin’ Saturday night and the music scene did this city justice. Not everybody is ready to step out of their comfort zones and try the variety of music that this city is creating. Yet this was just one Saturday. So much is happen-ing every week, it borders on the ridiculous to say the opposite. No, you can say you don’t like inde-pendent music, you can say that you don’t like to go downtown at night, but you can’t say there’s nothing to do in Macon. That’s just plain wrong.

-Taken from Angel’s Blog at http://angelcollins.wordpress.com

The loft was arranged dif-ferently this time, with a sitting area where the stage used to be, a dividing wall of curtains and the band to the left of that cur-tain. I only got to hear the last three songs from Royal Fireworks as I was greeting and talking to others. Chris Nylund, guitarist from MagTard, was on the keys and he was having a blast in the corner. Apparently, he was playing a sweet keyboard, but I don’t know anything bout that. I didn’t know the other people in the band since I missed Treas in Season, but to my ears, they sounded really good. I was really there for Roly-Bots. That doesn’t take away from Royal Fireworks. I heard others compare their sound to My Morning Jacket, but I don’t know. If I get the opportu-nity, I want to hear them again. It was an interesting blend of indie rock and noise rock. It was loud, but it wasn’t. It was almost soothing, melody wise. But then, I only heard three songs.Roly-Bots struggled through some sound problems at the beginning and I could feel my body starting to get to that point where I know that I have to leave, but I couldn’t leave until I heard Doomsday Death Dance. So un-like the other songs, it stands out to me and makes me want to move a lot, even if I can’t always do so. I love their music, the little things they do to add depth and fullness to their sound, the way the drummer can keep up a two handed beat with one hand, how into the music they get. It adds to the sound that makes them great and when they play, they always put on a good show.

to head to Applebees and Floco. I went to say bye to Shawn and Lacey because I felt bad. I didn’t want them to think that I didn’t love them, didn’t crave hearing them play, but I knew they had the fans, the familiar faces and if anyone needed familiar faces, it was going to be Floco.

Floco Torres Applebees is a weird place to hold a concert, but when Dan “Dano” Pittman asked his old employee to come back and play, I’m sure Floco couldn’t say no. Running into Dano at MidTown’s Kroger, he told me about the show and I knew I would be there before he could finish the sen-tence. Floco’s good, don’t get me wrong, but was he “playing to the masses” good? If that show was any indication, he is. Those people didn’t come to Applebees to hear some dude doing hip-hop. They came to eat some food, have a drink, watch a game, order a Floco Torres, whatever the hell that was, and go home for the night. But after some initial nervousness (yeah, he realized he was playing at Applebees) and a few drinks, Floco was in more than fine form. He even did his 500 Songs for Kids song, Gold Digger. By the time I left (before he finished as we headed back downtown), people who were a bit annoyed were un-consciously moving their heads to the beat and watching the stage and not the tv screens.

Back to Downtown Macon After a stop at the Humming-bird, we headed to the Secret Devo (I like that name) to listen to Royal Fireworks and Roly-Bots. Back City Woods

Photo: Angel Collins

by Clark Bush

Stuck in traffic 4 miles and possibly 4 hours away from the Bonn-aroo music festival in Manchester Tennessee, I still can’t help asking myself how this event will compare to last nights show at the Golden Bough Bookstore. One would say if the devil had a dance hall Redemer from Chicago would be the house band. I agree. With album names like Dancing Tumor Tour, Zombies Are My Second Coming, and Daringly Edible Moose Organs its not hard to imagine how well they would go over in hell with the crowds.

Starting the night off Ben Vance, Johnny Vance, and William Dantzler treated us to some semi-improve music by the name of Spaghetti Junction. Redemer seemed to feel right at home with this group as in Chicago improve noise is just an everyday occasion. Ben pounded out guitar licks and random recordings from a cassette tape while Johnny screams and yells over the frantic jazz drumming by Willie D. In the mean-time Ben is demanding everyone to take a serving from a several gallon tub of spaghetti in which seems to be named “mandatory pasta.” DONT EAT THE PASTA!!!!

Up next Redemer touring from Chicago brings us all a very unfamiliar sound/stage presence to some welcoming and some not so welcoming ears and eyes. A two piece band consisting of only drums, elec-tronic drums, synthesizers, and two horribly twisted modulated vocals, it was unlike anything many of us in Macon have experienced. A stampede of dance beats, rockabilly grooves, and free jazz sensibility combined amazingly with Connie oHs twisted vocals, customized midi keyboard, circuit bent synthesizers, and a guitar was enough to intimidate anyone in ways not yet imagined. My head was twisted at one point hearing the song

“Super High.” Trying to understand the timing of what the drummer named ‘Thee Agitator” spoke of be-fore the song to be a waltz, was just not possible for me to grasp. Before starting the next song Thee Agitator mumbles a bit about how the next song has been known to start a fight or two. Instantly they thrash into a sonic blitzkrieg stirring up the audi-ence which basically inspires the tub of “mandatory pasta” to be strewn around the room in a dance/mosh fit. Members of Spaghetti Junction take turns bathing, dancing, feeding, and demolishing this once nearly edible 3 gallons of pasta until Redemer fin-ishes this jaunty tune. Thanks guys!!!!

With a bit of cleaning of the italian restaurant fashioned room Josh Mcginty begins his set. The tone of the room settles down and we all begin to meditate to the ambient soundscapes Josh offers. Armed with an 808, a microphone, tapco mixer, and a loopstation, Josh stacks mul-tiple vocal harmonies atop of odd minimal samples he collects from various sources. I’m nearly forced to close my eyes as his music is very transcendental. It offers somewhat of a spiritual and healing quality you don’t find to often. I find him to be experimenting a lot this evening and he even plays us some new mate-rial which is fresh to our ears. It was a great show. Many would compare his sound to that of Panda Bear from the group Animal Collective or The Ruby Suns perhaps. Though what

Josh does is a somewhat a technical process, he is a minimalist at heart I feel. Throughout all his material you can sense his motifs in his harmonies and in his song writing style. This isn’t your typical singer songwriter though his songs do have somewhat of a pop sensibility that you can relate to. His lyrics offer a bit of reflection on the world, himself, and his views and invites us to take a ride on the sound-scapes he paints.

So what can Bonnaroo 2010 offer me as weird and intimate as this? Well Les Claypool was nearly all I could find for those 4 days that really touched me in the spot I needed, though what an amazing festival it was. I got to see Stevie Wonder, Ween, Mexican Institute of Sound, Calexico, Dr Dog, Isus, Medeski Martin and Wood, Manchester Orchestra, and many others.

Redemer may one day come back to town with what they call Free-jazz Noise. I hope to see the jaws drop on some kids faces when they hit the stage. They earned my respects by playing hard and even going as far as doing promoting online themselves to some Macon natives. Here is what they had to say on their myspace tour blog;

“GOOD THING THERE’S GEORGIA! HAHAHAHAHHHAAHA-HAA! Who knew? Macon is as good as bacon, but the creepy crawlies inhab-iting und cavorting around abouts valdosta sure know how to throw in-sanity in a blender at the last minute! Turns out real people are preferable over establishmentary facisms! Who knew! What a surprise! Hope that you die mister master pie! apparently you’s guys is crazy. well done mr.T! spaghetti every bloody where like a stringy brainy holocaust of canola bum spanking! horrible cacophany und enough books to shake a stick at! und the ambient bring down a great precursor to what it cursored.”

The Bookstore

Sitting here, chainsmoking and half-assed remembering a Christopher Hitchen’s qoute about writing while intoxicated, well, I don’t remember what he said, not verbatim. Just the way it felt reading it and thinking after-wards “Fuck DUI’s, writing under the influence sounds like a much better idea.” True story and I’m a sloppy mess right now. A sloppy mess with no idea what to write, or better yet, where to even begin. So, I’ll just write what-ever. “Whatever” is just another word for freedom anyway.

Citizen Insane’s early shows always left me remembering why I grew up loving punk rock. Surely unin-tentional battles onstage. Shawn’s well-rehearsed dirt-skronk vs. Lacey’s weirdo-pop, Bjorkian sensibilities and of course “Drummer Jesse” holding it all together… mutual and varied tastes being spat out everywhere. Black Flag, Beatles, Bjork, Big Black, Butthole Surfers… B’s, B’s, B’s. I’ll write whatever.

I am somewhat ashamed to admit to not having caught many of their more recent shows. Just one actu-ally (Forbes’ Benefit) and Shawn, of course, has allowed me to hear various recordings of more recent material. Seems they’ve traded in a (tiny) bit of yesterday’s raunch for something a bit more free and loose. A good move, yes. Music should evolve… feelings and atmospheres change. Last I heard Shawn is listening to more Fugazi these days than Sonic Youth. Good for him, good for them!

And one final thought: Their version of Fang’s “The Money Will Roll Right In” totally kills every version of the song I’ve ever heard… including Fang’s. Sorry Nirvana, sorry Mudhoney, sorry Fang?

Drunk ThoughtsWith Sway Austin

When you see a band four or five times, you generally know what to expect: what songs they’ll play, the level of energy they bring to the crowd, and the sort of response the crowd gives. When you see a band somewhere between 25 and 30 times, like I have with Ocean is Theory, you become even more familiar with the way they operate. It almost becomes routine, seeing your favorite bands. They open with song x or y, always close out their set with the fan favorite, etc, etc. It’s not like it gets boring or anything; you just become used to certain bands’ shows.

So of course when I went down to the 567 to see All Get Out and Ocean is Theory, I thought knew ex-actly what to expect. I’d swing by, chat with the bands, catch their set, have a moderately good time, and go home. It would be a good time, but not one that would stand out in my showgoing memory for some time to come. As it turned out, I was completely wrong. Both bands brought a truly stunning and memorable level of energy; I was sure I would pass out simply from exertion simply by watching. This show blew all of my expecta-tions away. It’s proof that amazing, memorable shows happen all the time in Macon.

I arrived a little too late to see the opener Baby Baby play, but soon after they left the stage, Mel Wash-ington of All Get Out performed a short solo set to make up for the fact that Junior Astronomers was running late. Mel’s voice and guitar playing are something really special to see, and the crowd was definitely lucky to get a glimpse at his solo work. Because all this was an impromptu time-filler, Mel’s set was short and a little rushed, but I think that gave it a good amount of heart.

If anyone’s read my piece about Ocean is Theory in the 11th Hour, they’ve seen that the band has been working on new material for some time now, and I’ve been excited to hear what they’ve come up with since last year’s In My Blood Again. Just as I expected, the new songs are incredible. Half of their six-song set was de-voted to new tracks such as “King Sized Bed” and “Nervous Boy,” which absolutely blew me away. I was already excited about their debut full length (after two short EPs) pretty anxiously, but now I simply can’t wait.

I’ve seen Ocean is Theory time after time after time, and they always seem to improve. I can’t believe they’ve evolved into such mature songwriters when just two short years ago they were playing tunes straight out of On Letting Go-era Circa Survive. I don’t think I’ve ever been so consistently surprised and impressed

with a band’s evolution as I am with Ocean is Theory. Their live show gets better every day, and each batch of new songs they put out is better than the best. This is definitely a band to watch out for.

All Get Out came on next, also debuting a few new songs. The Charleston, South Carolina quartet al-ways has impressive energy and stage presence, but this time they took it to a new level. The band considerably ramped up their already-impressive energy levels for this show, as they

cracked jokes and interacted with fans throughout. The best joke of the night came when the entire crowed recited the pledge of allegiance—not to any flag, but to singer and guitarist Nathan Hussey’s American flag-themed shorts.

As funny as the band was, their music was equally engaging. All Get Out plowed through their best-known tracks off of their 2008 debut EP, including “Coach Connor” and “Wasting All My Breath,” all while introducing new tunes slated for their next record. Usually, when a band debuts more than one or two new tracks, it can be hard for the fans to keep up, but All Get Out’s new songs are memorable, energetic, and infec-tious enough that the crowd was often singing along by the second chorus. They closed the set with a new track, “Your Girl, My Gun, Her Ghost,” that absolutely blew me away. I can’t wait for this band’s new record, and though I can’t find too many details about its release, I’m all too eager for more material from this underrated band.

National Undergroundby Eric Brown

Macon, GA 31201

maconnoise@live.com