My brother played AthFest. We're very excited
to be back for AthFest. I think that AthFest
is one of the most beautiful events in the country.
We're here backstage for AthFest. Playing AthFest
is wonderful. She's an AthFest regular. You've
got to come to an AthFest. We're talking to the
live stream for AthFest. Hello, live stream.
Hello, mom. A nice AthFest slot is really worth
a lot. Everything that happens at AthFest benefits
this nonprofit and arts education for K -12 students
in Athens -Clarke County. We were on one of the
first AthFest samplers. It was my first AthFest
ever playing it, which is super cool. AthFest.
SweatFest. AthFest is so sick. I love seeing,
like, Athens just has the greatest variety of
people. AthFest educates. You want to get a slot
at AthFest. One thing about AthFest, there's
so much going on. We're playing AthFest. This
is my first time at AthFest. First time I've
ever been here for AthFest. I'm here at AthFest.
You just did sound check for AthFest. Every musician
you play with wants to play AthFest. It means
a lot to me to be able to play AthFest. You look
at the AthFest lineup and you're like, these
are all new guys and you know they're going to
be good. You have bands playing everywhere, but
there's all kinds of different vendors. And can
you just talk a little bit more about what would
people experience when they come to AF Fest?
Everything that happens outdoors is free to the
public. So the three outdoor stages with musical
performances on the Kids Fest stage. So those
are youth performers or performers that are like
directed at youth, like kids bands. We also have
dance performances there. Then there's a block
-long artist market with anywhere from 55 to
70 artists that are local or regional artisans
that have, whether it's working with fabrics,
metal work, they're selling their wares. We also
have affiliated events. So these are events that
happen alongside or with. So comedy night, that
usually happens Thursday night. Yeah. Nate Ball's
comedy. And then we have the, at UGA Lamar Dodd,
they have a print and zine expo, I think it's
called. Yeah. With local and regional artists
that are making zines or graphic novels, that
kind of thing. We added a poetry reading at the
Globe. We usually have a movie night. I think
we have fire breathers. We're always talking
about adding more. To date, we've given out over
$750 ,000 in grants every elementary, middle,
and high school in Athens, Clark County. All
of our grants go to serve public school students.
We have three categories. We give out grants
for arts equipment. That could be instruments,
amplifiers, microphones, and... Software platforms
to be able to record live music or live interviews.
Drums that went to a school that they utilized
initially for a math class. Multiplication tables.
Like all of that stuff, they would do it to a
rhythm. And then they ended up taking those to
like a language arts class to do poetry with
and like figure out meter. One of our grants
is helping to fund a local middle school was
invited. Their orchestra was invited to perform
at Carnegie Hall in New York City. So we're helping
to fund that trip for 50 middle schoolers to
go perform in Carnegie Hall. So programs and
experiences. And then professional development,
which is something that's so hard for teachers
to get funded. We're sending one teacher to the
National Arts Educators Conference in Chicago
and another teacher to do like a, it's called
ORF. It's like a whole music teaching method.
I am so lucky in this job, A, that this job exists,
and I get to do all these different things and
wear all these different hats, but also the previous
executive director and the previous board had
to do so much work. This is just when the town
needs income, you know? They're making grants
to promote arts and music in those schools. So
basically, they'll give a grant to a band. that,
like a school band, a middle school band to buy
violins, or they'll give a grant to an art department
to buy supplies for such, or to take a trip somewhere
to do something. So basically they, teachers
will apply for grants, and then AthFest will
allocate the money as they see fit. And the grants
are very, it sounds like very specific for a
very, like... specific purpose that's right they
have to promote the music and arts in the schools
in local schools so at fest being for athens
they've made a lot of great grants and i think
once bands understand and people understand that's
what the money's for i think they'd be more accepting
and willing the number of like young bands i've
seen this weekend yeah it was awesome just and
like That's the thing is like happens has its
share of like seasoned longtime veteran musicians,
but You're also seeing like the young kids come.
Yeah Keep it going when I moved here. There was
a hundred and twenty or so original bands that
only played original music no cover bands, which
is Blew me away like I moved from North Alabama
Muscle Shoals And we only had a few bands like
three bands there that would only do original
songs The fest just kicked off this evening,
and there's electricity in the air, I think.
Is that fair? It's the solstice, and if anybody
comes to our show, I'm going to put a spell on
y 'all. It's going to be a good spell. I'm Kane
Stanley. That's one thing I'm sure of. I'm not
sure if it's a claim to fame, but I'm an Athens,
Georgia native, and I've been here playing music
for over 30 years. I did spend some time away
from Athens before college, and I came back up
here to go to school, and really, I just wanted
to play music, and I got a degree while I was
doing it, and I've been playing ever since, and
I've probably played in more bands than there
are letters of the alphabet out of Athens, and
I've toured the country several times playing
music. I'm here covering AFFest. That's why I'm
in town this weekend. Y 'all are playing AFFest.
Some of you, I'm guessing, have played many AF
Fests. Some of you have never played AF Fests
before. But I was the intern in 2007. Laura,
will you tell us about your internship in 2007,
please? Let's start there. Okay. It was still
Troy Aubrey. And there was another guy that was
doing it, too. I can't remember who it was. I'm
sorry, that guy. One time ago, I was going bar
to bar, getting the wristbands to the band so
that it wasn't chaos to get the wristbands. I
like the nil -dry flip. Whatever bar they were
playing at. And I keep forgetting, you couldn't
just text everybody or anything. Like, I'm finding
people on MySpace. Like, there is Facebook, but
it's only college students. I went to, it was
called Gainesville College, but that's gone now.
But, like, I had a dual thing. Like, I did high
school and college at the same time, so I had
a faith. But it was just chaos. But it was so
cool, so much fun. And, like, I was even talking
to 5 -8. Like, they played a rock and relief
benefit we did for our kid Katrina. And I was
like, it's just funny how that stuff, like, really,
like. It gets in your subconscious. And the modern
skirts are back. And unfortunately, playing while
we are playing, they're probably tired of me
saying this, but they were like... Yeah, you're
the competition now. But it was like, they were...
I mean, I went to all their shows. My dad and
I would go to the 41 together. I was always proud
of him because he was like, all right, if you're
going to rebel, then let me come with you. And
he liked it too. He liked it too. I don't have
an AthFest story because the first AthFest was
after I already left town. Is this your first
AthFest? First time I've ever been here for AthFest.
Yeah, I was either in Los Angeles or yeah, I
was always gone. when it was invented, so I was
here in 91 to 99, and then coming back a bunch
in 2000, but I moved to L .A. in 2003. My band,
Shank. What's up, Shank? We were on one of the
first AthFest samplers. They used to put out...
I miss those. Those are good. Okay, there used
to be a disc that they would put together, and
any band that released an album that year was
able to submit, and then, yeah, we got a song
on there, and we didn't play that. year, but
I was happy to be on the album. And then my Afro
-Caribbean Folkloric Drum Ensemble called Muyuba
has played several times, and we've opened up
some shows. And then I've played twice with a
reggae band called Natty Lovejoys on the main
stage, and that's always been really fun. And
there were several years where I was... not in
town for it, and I don't know. I really like
that we're doing a night show. This is our first
gig, and we're playing Half -Fest. It's pretty
cool. So I've been half -winking at introducing
slightly famous somebodies. We're introducing.
That's part of the fun. You've got to show up
to see who's going to show up, and you never
know when the next one will be. to all those
folks for making those hard choices and that
kind of work so that I get to be, I get to think
how big we can go. I get to dream big. It's something
that the community always supported, but it took
a long time for it to get to where it is now.
It's really great for the businesses. It's great
for all the venues that host the Club Crawl.
I've never seen Athens as alive as I do during
FFest. Yeah. is a lifeline for a lot of those
businesses. AthFest is put on and put together
by a mostly volunteer committee of about 20 people.
We have one event coordinator, and that is like
a paid stipend person. And then our booking agent,
Troy Aubrey, Aubrey Entertainment in town. He's
been doing it for 20 years. Troy works with a
booking committee, and that is something that...
He's done a great job. It was one of my first
pushes when I started was adding more people
to the booking committee. And he's done a great
job of recruiting from the community, recruiting
a couple of people who work in like booking hip
hop shows in town. And then going to some of
the smaller clubs like Flickr, Bouvet and getting
their booking folks on. They're going to know
who those smaller up and coming are better than.
myself or Troy or... There was a lot of diversity
in terms of the music. It was really a nice representation
of a lot of different kinds of music. Where is
the love? Where is the love? Where is the harmony?
Gone are the days, the days of happiness. Where
is the love? Where is the love? Where is the
harmony? Gone are the days, the days of happiness.
The simple little things like please and thank
you. I know it don't do no good to complain.
I learn to roll with the punches. I don't need
your check, baby, but can you teach me something?
Don't be acting like my daddy and be trying to
preach or something, because my life is my own.
And no, I do not need for nothing. No, I do not
need for you either. Hey, I'm by myself. I'm
in a two -seater. Hey, might switch it up and
get that new beamer. Hey. There's some fests
that happen where I'm from. It's like they act
like it's a representation of all the local music,
and then it's literally all middle -aged white
people playing blues and folk. I have to report
on the diversity of our performances for our
grants. And yes, this was the most diverse year
by far. And a lot of that is Troy's work recruiting
great folks for the booking committee. It makes
it a much better experience too. Like it's not
just like a token or something. Like this is,
it's way better to go see 10 different kinds
of music than it is to see three. Yeah. It's
just better. Trust, like they're like, oh, the
club crawl is going to be awesome. Every year
we get over 500 applications to play at the festival.
And somebody looks at every single YouTube channel
they link or everything. Like this year we were
approved for and completely thought we had like
a $35 ,000 National Endowment of the Arts grant.
And that was yanked by executive order. So, yeah,
those kind of grants are probably not going to
be available to us for the remainder of this
administration. So the kind of individual donors
or just popping in an extra five bucks when you
buy your pass is going to be even more important
for us to keep nurturing the next generation
of Athens artists. So with the booking committee,
everyone submits. Artists submit, and they submit
links and all their info, and then there's a
period during which the members of the booking
committee go through the spreadsheets and check
everyone out and make your own list of priorities,
maybes, and then you just have your no's or your...
Backup backups. But nobody's like, nobody really
campaigns against people being on. They just
have their picks for it. Yeah. Everyone basically,
yeah, we have our picks for it. Unless I can,
the only thing I can think of is if someone is,
I know that this act is very problematic in some
way. It doesn't represent AthFest or. I don't
know. It would have to be pretty extreme to be
like, I have to let you guys know about this
person or band. Otherwise, after we go through
looking at the list, we come together as a group
with kind of our picks. And Troy Aubrey is the
head of it. And Troy already always comes with
who he's picked for headliners and who he has
offers out for. And we fill in the blanks. is
essentially how the booking committee works.
This year it was really lovely because we had
an intern who was able to facilitate sending
out the contracts in the past we've split it
up gotten the contracts back from people but
we do split it up as far as who's contacting
who about the initial offers and getting things
How do you make sure that the bands that share
members don't play at the same time? Because
that's got to be like, that's got to be like
a real concern. It definitely is. And that's
Troy. That's Troy Aubrey. That's wild. Because
like John Neff, who I'm actually going to go
talk to this afternoon, he played in three different
bands at this year's AF Fest. And I was just
joking with him. We should just call it Neff
Fest. Just Neff. But that's a real concern. Like
I can think of other, several other examples
where people. are in multiple bands and that
it's a lot to keep track of it's not just the
hundred or so artists that play it's way more
than that your hip -hop calendar was like very
useful I love Athens. It's an amazing... I'm
going to go home in a good mood. And this is
a special town. And I mean, honestly, there's
no place like Athens. And the musical history
is really cool. So... It's got a little something
that nowhere else has, and I like capture that
and try to hold on to it for as long as I can
whenever I come here. Basically, it's the time
that almost every local band plays. You can finally
see the bands you haven't seen or some new band
that's good or whatever. Just kind of everybody
gets a lot of good camaraderie and a lot of good
shows. I don't know. And then everybody comes
out. It's a hyper -local thing, but it's... We
used to go up, Brian, when I think about it.
Yeah, we used to go up from Augusta. Yeah. I
couldn't wait. The first time I went, Jason Isbell
was playing, like, right after Here We Rest came
out. So it must have been, like, 2011, I guess,
or something like that. I remember the outdoor
stage. They closed it out Sunday, and the sky
opened up, like, right after a set. The camaraderie
is something you mentioned in the music scene
in Athens and in MathFest in general. It's unlike
anything I've ever seen in a music scene or an
art scene in general. It's really something to
admire and be proud of. Where do you think it
comes from, man? Everybody's just kind of interested.
And they're like, what are you up to? What are
you doing? And then the people are very interesting
there, too, because they're interested. And there's
not a lot of posturing and stuff. They're just
interested in what other people have going on.
so it stays supportive in that regard i lived
in athens and we were in atlanta and atlanta
was good to us it was bigger and kind of clicky
and easy to get lost and i was like guys i think
it might be good if we were in athens and we
came back there and it was just as good or better
and you just didn't feel any of that weird grub
with other bands it was like none of that it
was just like everybody was cool i've noticed
it in the comedy scene in athens too i think
the comedy scene is the same way Me and Katie,
we live in Forest Heights, a neighborhood. It's
a really cool neighborhood. Like, not cool like
a hip neighborhood, but like a nice. I don't
know, it's just that it's where Taiwanese go
to retire. Yeah, yeah. It's like affordable and
really nice. Quiet. And so, yeah, you know. Yeah,
that's what you want. And so we're there for,
you know, I don't want to go anywhere, you know.
It's crazy. I mean, there have been amazing places,
but there's never been a place where I'm like,
oh, this is where, you know, we've got to move
here. We're just like, I feel like it's like
been home for so long and it's kind of, it's
almost like engineered for. what i do you know
that's right it's not too big it's not uh -huh
i couldn't do a big city uh for any long period
of time yeah you just feel at home when you come
yeah it's very much and i think there's something
about the whole i think like the things with
the college the university the combination of
the university like and people you know bands
coming through and then leaving and and honestly
people just come back it's funny when people
like move away There's always that like, all
right, good luck with everything. We'll see you
in 20 years or 10 years or five years. And honestly,
I probably have like four or five friends who
have left and moved back. I started going to
AthFest definitely when I was in college. And
so I went, I want to say the first one I saw
the drive -by truckers. And I can't remember
if it was an AthFest or just they happened to
be playing, but I think it was AthFest. We're
playing at a pizza place that was on Baxter Street.
Oh, wow. Like maybe outside, like on a deck.
And I got my friend to go with me to that one.
And then I want to say the next year, my brother
played AFT Fest. And so with his band, the Blue
Laws. And so I got to go to that AFT Fest. And
that was really cool. That might have been when
Jason Isbell joined. I remember seeing. Jason
Isbell just come up and he had this powder blue
suit on and that was, and it was really cool.
One of the first bands I'd seen when I moved
to Athens and had just started school was Drive
-By Truckers and this little pizza joint and
here they were like on this gigantic, this was
my second time. I got super lucky last year.
I didn't apply to the end last year, but I had
asked someone if they had any openings for singer
-songwriters anytime soon, and it just so happened
that they had one for AthFest and The Globe.
And I was like, oh, this year I applied for AthFest
as early as I possibly could, and it means a
lot to me to be able to play AthFest, because...
going to it for so long for so many years it's
a very important festival to me and to be a part
of it it's just such an honor watching my brother
and his band be a part of it to me being a part
of it and then all the years in between it's
just very magical last year after i played a
teenager came up to me and told me how much my
songs meant to her and i was like oh my god thank
you so much It was just really beautiful. And
what's also, like, really beautiful about it
to me is that, like, the city turns out for it.
And that's really amazing. And that's the other
side, I think, of the music scene that we haven't
really talked about is there are just really
good fans in Athens. I 100 ,000 % agree. People
are really good at loving shit. And just not
caring. not having a care in the world about
it and being like, I'm just gonna dance. My special
guest is Fedden. Fedden is a stand -up comedian
and podcaster. I'm going to hand it over to him
and let him talk to you about what it's like
to do podcasts and get to meet all these people
and get to interview them. And you have a special
guest yourself, right? I do. Let's introduce
this guy. Yeah, I got Ben Spraker from a band
called The Arcs who's playing tomorrow. And he's
been on my podcast. My podcast is called Overeducated
and Underemployed. I'm here at AppFest with Ben
Spraker. I'm here at AppFest. I'm actually from
Florida. I'm not from Athens. The first time
I came here was to see Jason Isbell right here
at this stage that we're sitting right next to.
And I've been coming back ever since. I love
this city. I've been coming here since 2010.
Ben, what brought you to Athens in the first
place? Let's start there. I grew up in Virginia,
and I ended up here. Yeah, I just ended up moving
here to go to school at UGA like a lot of people
and ended up staying because I just fell in love
with it. All right, yeah. So it's one of those
places that it can get monotonous, but you just
can't quite leave it. Keep it real close. Can't
really leave it. It's just such a good place
to live. Yeah. And play music and all that stuff.
Be creative. A lot of creative people here. A
lot of infrastructure for creative things. It
almost feels like the creative people are the
majority and everybody else is the minority in
this city. Yeah. Where it's like most places
that's not the case. That's right. When I meet
somebody and I ask them if they play music and
they say no, I say God bless you. Yeah. Somebody
has to just listen for God's sake. And I'll say
that is kind of the philosophy behind my podcast.
I'm a historian, but I also really just approach
this as a fan. I really love music. I've loved
live music since I was a teenager. I think that
AthFest is one of the most beautiful events in
the country because of the way this city comes
together. to bring so many different types of
music. People do show up. The people do show
up, which is amazing. Even though every musician
in town is playing, there still somehow manages
to be an audience. Yeah, and they expect you
to play your own material. If you play too many
covers, people start looking at you funny. Whereas
most cities, it's the other way around. If you
hear too many songs they don't recognize, from
wherever. I think that's definitely true in my
city, in Tallahassee. The majority of the bands
playing are cover bands. They're playing in bars
while people are eating dinner. It's not like
here where the music is the main focus most of
the time. You play in a few different bands in
Athens. I do, I do. Athens is small enough that
it isn't too hard to get around. Yeah. Like,
a lot of these... Band practices are like five
minutes from my house, so it's really good. That's
also, I think, the thing about AppFest is a lot
of cities could never do something like this
because the number of venues and bars in downtown
Athens in a single location is such a unique
kind of thing for a city of this size, especially.
What do you think is, like, the other component?
What do you think he just said about there being
the number of Different bars and venues. I think
the story that I always read is that they built
the mall out of town a little bit and all of
the stores moved to the mall thinking that was
where it was at. All these empty storefronts
were there and then bars and music venues filled
those spots and that was the impetus for the
Athens music scene. But yeah, it's... A competitive
spirit, honestly, is what it is. It's like everybody
is trying to be the best, and everyone's just
trying to play the best music they can, write
the best songs they can. And you want to get
a slotted -ass vest. You want to do this and
that. It's competitive. Also, the city, because
of the reputation of the music scene, does draw
people move here for that reason. There's that,
too. Your band, The Arcs, is playing tomorrow.
That's right. Tell us about that band. So The
Arcs are playing tomorrow, Saturday, at 8 .30
at Nowhere Bar, one of our very favorite places,
one of the best places in Athens. I love Nowhere
Bar. The coldest beer in Athens. There's ice
flakes in it occasionally. That's right, that's
right. Yeah, but The Arcs are a band I've been
in for a number of years with. The drummer, I
grew up with him. We were like little kids playing
t -ball together. And then other guys we've known
for many years. It's one of those two songwriter
bands where you have two of the guys taking turns
singing because they were singing the songs that
they wrote. So it's a dual lead singer situation
and a dual guitar situation, for God's sake.
Oh, my goodness. Buckle up, people. Think about
a gig at AthFest versus playing just another
show. If it's an outdoor stage, it's really hot,
so you better be ready to deal with some salt
in your eyes, as they say. But also, playing
at AthFest is wonderful because people come there,
come to AthFest, engaged, ready to pay attention
to who is playing, and then they want to engage
with that band if they like them. They'll follow
you and all that stuff. It's like people are
ready to get halfway paying attention. That is
cool, too. Yeah. But, yeah, like a nice AthFest
slot is really worth a lot because you can get
in front of a lot of people who never would have
heard you otherwise. Have you ever considered
leaving Athens? Have you ever even considered
it? No, no. You don't strike me as someone that
has. I got married once and moved to Atlanta
for this person. But then as soon as that didn't
work out, I came right back. Because suddenly
it was twice as expensive to live in Atlanta.
Everything is twice as expensive, at least. Yeah.
Yeah. the big city and things have gotten a lot
more expensive here over the years too but i
still as someone who travels a lot like i do
notice that it's still lower than average yeah
yeah the idea is i think everyone who charges
anyone for anything is thinking college students
they got no money gone see i think it makes sense
to to want the repeat ability of Students being
able to come back over and over. And that's an
interesting thing about playing music in this
town for any number, any amount of time. You'll
have your band. You'll have people coming to
see your band. And then suddenly it just goes
away. And you're like, what happened? All those
people graduated. And now you've got to start
over. So this band is Improvement Movement. And
you're actually the person that turned me on
to them in the first place. I'm so excited. I'm
so excited about them, too. Let's talk about
them for a few minutes before they go on. And
then let's go watch them. They're from Atlanta.
All four of them can sing like birds and play
their instruments real well, and they write really
catchy songs, and they sing together in harmony.
Their harmonies are magical. It's mind -bending.
So I have been looking forward to this for a
while. I'm really glad you guys are going to
be able to show it. You were sitting in the 40
-watt, and they were playing in Tallahassee a
few days later. Yeah. I was like, I have to go.
And they blew me away. They are hard to describe.
And there's tons of clips. You can pull up anything,
and it's amazing live. They sing like birds,
and their songs are catchy. And just now, we
heard the guy, the singer, sound checking. And
he sang a little bit, and I knew it immediately.
So I am pumped. about this show yeah i love this
band i'm really excited for them how many athvests
have you played oh my god 10 something like that
i don't play every year because some sometimes
you just want to go to it it's really nice to
just go and then there's some years where every
band every musician you play with wants to play
at fest and you're trying to book them all and
it's really hard and then you're like schlepping
your gear up and down washington street at a
breakneck pace and it's yeah It's a mixed bag,
but I love AthFest. So AthFest raises money for
grant programs for schools and arts. Yeah. All
across the county and the city. Yeah. What are
some of your favorite younger bands to come out
of Athens? All right. Well, I just saw one I'd
never heard before called Bayou Princess. And
if you like, if you know anything about Athens
music history and pylon and. some of those kinds
of bands time toy limbo districts anyway they're
weird and danceable and that is the mixture of
athens the classic athens and bayou princess
has got it in spades go out and check them out
they killed on the hull street stage today i
was like they got the goods who else are you
looking forward to this weekend oh man um Tonight,
Dash Riprock are at the Georgia Theater tonight.
I interviewed them earlier today for an episode
of Overeducated and Underemployed. That's where
I'll be late night tonight, too. They are the
party. That band brings the party. I will at
1145 at the Georgia Theater. I will be with Dash
Riprock. And then Shakey at the Nowhere Bar after
that. I got to see them one time open for the
drive -by truckers, and they were phenomenal.
Yeah, they're a local treasure. I really enjoyed
them. They take everything that's cool, punk
rock, but they apply a Burt Bacharach filter
to it in the best possible way. A lot of cool
twists and turns in their songs, harmonies. Pure
punk ferocity. It's wonderful. They're incredible.
Go see them. I'm really looking forward to Lily
Hyatt over at the Georgia Theater. Daughter of
John Hyatt. I actually just talked to her earlier
today, too. Also, MK Barnes is playing over at
Hendershot. She's great. I talked to her earlier
this week. Great singer. I have interviewed probably
20 different musicians that are playing this
weekend over the course of this podcast. Wow.
After the stream's over tonight, if you want
to learn more about one of these artists, you
can probably start with Ben Sprakers. So some
other bands I'm really looking forward to this
weekend. We talked about tonight, but I'm really
looking forward to seeing the Arcs play. Me too.
We haven't played in a bit of time. I'm going
to be holding up a mirror because Ben hasn't
been able to watch himself play in a very long
time. I'm also really excited to see the Lanes
play. Oh, man, they're amazing. That's Kevin
Lane, who's also in the Arcs, but he has a band
with his brother. He and his brother, of course,
have been playing music together since they were
kids, and they're called the Lanes. It's Matt
and Kevin Lane, and they used to be in a local
band in Athens called The Possibilities. Out
is one of my favorite power pop records of all
time. Yeah, it's a classic. Kevin's an amazing
songwriter, man. He is. He is. He's quite good.
Pylon Reenactment Society is playing this weekend.
Yeah. I don't have it in front of me exactly
when their set is, but look it up. I think it's
tomorrow night sometime. Yeah. Pylon Reenactment
Society. Go check that out. That includes the
real, actual singer of Pylon. is in the Pylon
Reenactment Society. I've got to say, I love
their new records as much as I love the old Pylon
records. They're great. They've done a really
great job. Vanessa's done a great job of putting
together a band that really holds that sound
together. Yeah, they fly the flag for it, but
bring something new to it. I've known Jason and
Kay since I was a boy. I've known those people
a long time. best people and just top level musicians.
We've been graced by the presence of Gregory
from Athens, Georgia Live Music on YouTube. On
YouTube, Athens, Georgia Live Music. Yeah. I
didn't quite realize it, but someone in Flagpole
pointed out that Athens has the most well -documented
music scene in the country thanks to this man.
That's amazing. Yeah. I've used his site as a
resource for a lot of my interviews, so I really
appreciate everything you do, man. I've pulled
some of my own band's promo material from your
videos, too. Support live music and Bryce the
Energy. I'm filming them tonight. Oh, man. Dude.
I'll call you about 3 a .m. Okay. But I don't
know, because the reality of that is I've got
to be here at 11 o 'clock tomorrow. I need to
start taking position. Yeah. In front of the
stage. I'm so excited. I really appreciate you
joining us, Ben. Yeah, man. Thanks for coming
out. Always a pleasure. Yeah, thanks for coming
out for the live stream. And make sure you catch
the ARCs tomorrow. Tell us what time and place
one more time. The ARCs at Nowhere Bar. Thank
you so much, Ben. Make sure you check out the
ARCs. I've been looking forward to this. Snakeball,
y 'all. Athens, Georgia. Juggler TV. FFES 2026.
Look at this beautiful face and add me on the
socials. Love you. FFES. They're one of my favorite
bands out of Athens. They are also in a bunch
of different other bands around town, too. Kevin
Lane, the singer, he's also in a band called
The Arcs that I watched last night over at Nowhere
Bar. They were fantastic. Hey, we got Matt. Do
you want to jump in for a second? We got Matt
Lane here. He's the drummer of The Lanes, and
it's an honor to have you here, man. Sorry, I'm
a little out of breath. I imagine so. You just
played your heart out, didn't you? Hot, yeah.
It's really brutally hot out here. I'm jealous
of the folks watching this at home right now,
to be honest with you. They're on their couches.
Yeah. Matt, how many different aft fests have
you played with different bands over the years?
Oh, God. I'd have to think about it. We played
the very first one, Possibilities Dead. Matt's
also... He was the first drummer of the Drive
-By Truckers. He was in a band called The Possibilities.
And The Lanes is the current project that he's
in with his brother, Kevin. What is it like getting
to play with your brother again? It's always
good. We've always done things in some form,
side bands or real band. We've always done it.
But we've had this Lane thing going for a while.
It's been fun. It's not something that we do
a lot, you know, twice a year maybe. This Lane's
record that just came out earlier this year or
late last year, I guess it was. Yeah. It was
a long process. Do you want to talk about that
for just a second? It was just like we'd start
recording some things years ago and not finish
them or do one song here, one song there. And
just we never really had a plan to make an album.
We were just recording songs. And we finally
just, towards the end of last year, we just decided,
let's see what we got, record some new things,
and make an album. It had been 10 years or so.
And it's out on beautiful white vinyl, right?
Yeah, really nice looking white vinyl. Yeah,
black and white. Picking up all over town or
at your shows. Yeah. You got any other shows
planned in the future? Nothing right now. Well,
keep an eye out for the lanes. Yeah, I'm sure
we'll have something before too long. One last
thing I'd like to ask you, Matt. On a day like
today when it's so hot and you're the most active
person on stage, undeniably just by the nature
of the instrument you're playing, how do you
prepare for something like this? Just I'd stretch
a little bit and drink a bunch of water. Yeah.
Not eat too much, drink a bunch of water. That's
pretty much it. I have one of those little squirty
fan things that keep on me. And we've got Richard,
who played guitar today with the Lanes. Thanks
for having me, man. He was fantastic. Thanks
again, Matt, for coming by. We really loved your
set. It was fantastic. I'll ask you the same
question I just asked Matt. On a really hot day
like today, how do you prepare to play in that
heat? Bunch of water. Yeah. Gatorade. The crowd
should be doing the same thing, right? Yeah,
it's too hot. So everybody we're talking to at
home is watching this in the air conditioning.
Are you jealous? A little. A little, yeah. Yeah,
a little bit. It's really great that they've
put such a nice live stream together. I'm glad
the folks at home were able to watch your set.
Yeah, this is cool. I really enjoy the TV thing
going on here. It's a nice setup. You couldn't,
aside from it being 96, It couldn't be any better,
but you guys aren't gods, so I don't expect you
to control the weather. How many Outfests have
you played over the years? At least 10. Yeah.
What are some of the bands you've played with
over the years at Outfest? Mother Jackson, Joyful
Noise, and the Soul Small Voice. The Lanes, obviously.
I feel like the Taxicab Versus played it one
year. I'm forgetting somebody. That's all right.
What do you love about playing AFEST? It's just
fun. Seeing all the people out that get to see
new music they haven't heard before. It's a lot
of fun to see that. All right, I'm going to go.
Hey, thank you for joining us, Richard. I really
appreciate it, man. I hope you all enjoyed that
set by the Lanes. They were fantastic. Last night,
I tried to get into T. Hardy Morris. And I hadn't
seen this at any other club the whole weekend,
but there was a line all the way down the building,
and they were at capacity. And I think people
eventually got in for kind of the end of his
set, but it was amazing to see that much support
for T. Harney Morris. He's phenomenal. I really
love his music. I caught Bloodkin. I got to say,
what a phenomenal set. You really couldn't get
in. There was plenty of space in all the clubs
for all the club crawls. But, man, everybody
wanted to see T. Hardy Morris last night. I think
we're going to have to. I'm making a push right
now. I call for him to be on the main stage next
year. I know he's done it before. He should be
back on the main stage, maybe even close out
Friday night because that was a sight to see.
I haven't seen literally 100 and some odd people
lined up down the road. to get into Nowhere Bar,
and they were at capacity already. I hadn't seen
anything like that since. I'm trying to think
of... I feel like there was one time at the Georgia
Theater I had a really hard time. Maybe Centromatic
or one of the people from Centromatic was playing
or something like that, but I couldn't believe
it. Thursday night, I was part of the Nate Ball
Y 'all comedy kickoff show for this event. And
I had a blast. We had Drew Morgan in. You've
seen him on this live stream. We told a bunch
of jokes. We stayed up late and stayed up way
too late, especially for a kickoff party into
a long weekend like this. But it was worth it.
We all caught up with old friends. I'm in from
Florida. I come up every year for AthFest. It's
one of my favorite things to do, not just in
Athens, but anywhere. So if you're at home watching
and wondering, should I come next year? The answer
is yes. The answer is absolutely yes. There's
hotels all around downtown Athens that you can
get at a relatively reasonable rate. If you've
ever wanted to know what Athens is all about
and what this scene is, if you're not from Athens
and you're watching this stream right now. You
got to come to an AthFest and you'll get the
best demonstration of what Athens really means.
I've never seen another city come together for
art and music the way that this city does year
after year, event after event. And I think AthFest
kind of represents it the best. There's other
great events throughout the year, don't get me
wrong. I love all those other events. Wild Rumpus
is something that's really fun. The way that
AthFest just really brings together not just
the community, but all the local businesses and
bars and artists of all kinds, I really just
think it showcases what Athens has to offer,
no matter what you're into. In just a few minutes,
we've got Celia Chantel, but Cassie Chantel,
I'm sorry, I'm having trouble seeing my screen
there. Cassie Chantel. For a little bit. Yeah,
thanks. How we doing, Muggs? Oh, boy, struggling.
It's day three. Yeah, I can't see it from here
either. So I haven't been able to read anything.
But we're here backstage for AthFest. I've got
to say, it's not that bad. It's pretty cool.
It's not that bad. I'm still a little sweaty.
The tent helps. They gave us some fans to work
with. But we're still sweltering out here. Oh,
I see Count Zapula over there. We got to get
him. Count Zapula. Yeah, we do need to talk to
Count Zapula. Go get Count Zapula, Toby. Go get
Count Zapula. He's probably introducing the next
band or something. Yeah, I think he is. Count
Zapula is showing up. I'm going to hand it over
to Count Zapula here. Y 'all, thanks for tuning
in. Enjoy the rest of AthFest. Hey, what's up?
It's your good old friend Count Zapula here.
Hell yeah. Thanks for coming in. How are you
doing today? Pretty good. What do you do? What
are you here for? I think you're introducing
some Are we ready to rock on this thing just
sit here and I'll brought you oh Dude that band
was fun. What was the name of that band again?
Y 'all? Orcestra, but coop the Cuba Macuba they
were fun. I was out there dancing. I think did
you get it on the camera Dan Dane? That band
was so much fun. If you didn't make you dance,
then you are basically dead. Or maybe deaf. And
I'm apologizing if you are. I'm so sorry. Anyway,
you know who it is. It's your boy Nate Ball,
y 'all. Make sure you hit up those socials. Nate
Ball, y 'all. It's Nate Ball, y 'all. So first
up, I've got my good friend Yasmin here. She's
an AdFest regular. How many years have you been
going to AdFest? Keep it kind of close. Probably.
20. And you are only, what, 22 years old? I know.
So you started coming when you were two? Yeah,
been going since I was a baby. I got you. I was
actually watching this probably four -year -old
out there cutting a rug, and I was just like,
oh, she's got so much energy. I want to figure
out how to steal it. Not the baby, just the energy.
I can't lie, guys. It's a sweaty situation. It's
hot out here. It's hot out here. You still make
it look good. I make it not look good. You still
look fabulous. I do. Oh, my God. This whole thing.
This whole thing. But, yeah, so the whole point
of this is the guys at Joker Joker TV log in.
They are working really hard to live stream.
You want to give a shout out to them before you
head out? Shout out to all of y 'all. Yeah, all
of y 'all. We got one more day to go. We got
the rest of this day to go. I'm looking forward
to this next man. They're supposed to be really
awesome. What were their name again? Next man.
Barkhouse. Barnhouse is up next, and I've been
told that they're really fun. I've been watching
them set up and drum. They've got bongos. They've
got merengues. I think they've got key lime pie,
which I want some of that too. But say bye to
the lovely Yasmin. And I appreciate you coming
by. Thank you, Nate. You're very welcome. I love
you too. All right, you can sit right here. I'll
catch up with you later. All right. What's up,
brother? I'm Nate Ball. Hey, man. I'm Robbie.
Robbie, nice to meet you, man. I feel like we've
been around each other. I don't think we've officially
met. We're talking to the live stream for AthFest.
Hello, live stream. Hello, mom. Introduce yourself.
Hello, dad. Hello, Carmen. Hello, Archer. Yeah.
My name's Robbie. Robbie. Robbie, tell them what
you do. I'm the singer for Barnhouse. Oh, man.
I'm excited. Yeah, it's going to be awesome.
Everybody's been telling me y 'all are like fun,
like a rowdy fun time. Yeah. And then when I
see bongos, I'm always like, let's roll. You
can never have a bad time with some bongos. I've
actually kind of gotten in trouble for putting
my hands on other people's bongos. Hey, that'll
happen. That'll happen in the industry, man.
I'll be like, don't leave your bongos out if
you don't want them banged. No chimes, no congas,
no bongos, no nothing. Now, how long have y 'all,
how long has Barnhouse been a band? We've been
a band for about a year and a half now. We started
playing January 2025. Nice, dude. So going from
January 2025, this year you're on the main stage
at Fest. That's pretty dope. Pretty awesome.
Where are y 'all from? We're all from Athens,
actually. Other than me. I'm the one guy out
of the picture. I'm from Austin, Texas, but everybody
else is from Athens. Austin is pretty cool. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. Nepo babies, Nepo babies. Yeah, my
mom owns Athens. No, Austin, great town. I've
been out there to do comedy. It's one of those.
Austin gives me an Athens vibe. It's just bigger.
It's a big Athens. It kind of takes a little
bit of the charm out of it. We get to see stuff
like Athens. Exactly. And then I've been to South
by Southwest a couple of times. That's a fun
event. I think the last time, it wasn't always
two weekends, was it? It started. Wasn't it just
one weekend? I think so. Because I feel like
the first time I went out there was for the film
festival. Yeah. And then the next time I was
out there, my friends were playing a band from
Nashville called Cherub. Oh, that's awesome.
They rock. Similar to AdFest where it's a whole
weekend of like in clubs, on stages. It's a great
weekend. I like it. I like the diversification
with AdFest and the bands and everything. It's
like if you're into something, you're going to
find it. If it's not main stage or any of the
side stages. You're going to find something within
the big city. All the other smaller places. You're
going to find something that you're going to.
Yeah. That's the best part about it. You want
to tell these guys about anything? You got any
shows coming up? Well. We just recorded three
singles here in Athens this week. Nice. Debut
singles. Where did y 'all record? We recorded
at Chase Park. Okay, nice. Thanks to our buddy
David Barbie. Oh, David. I know David. Yeah,
man. David Barbie and our engineer McKendrick
helping us out at Chase Park. Yeah, it was a
great time. That's awesome, man. I might have
to head out soon, though. I was wondering if
you were going to go to the show. They're mad
at me over there. Yeah, they're probably going
to need you, brother. It was great to meet you,
man. It was so great to meet you. I can't wait
to see the show rock out, man. Thanks, man. Thanks,
brother, man. main stage. Y 'all gotta make sure
to check them out, because they're gonna rock
and roll. And it just so happens that the majority
of the boys are hometown locals, so we gotta
support them Athenians. Alright, up next, y 'all
know the man, the myth, the legend, Fedden. How's
your weekend going, dude? Oh man, it has been,
this has been the coolest at -fest that I've
ever had, I think. Cool as in... Vibe, not temperature.
Oh, it was way hotter last year. Actually, I
have been to some sweat fest. I mean, at fest,
sweat fest. So, no, this has definitely been
not bad. I'm glad we got a little bit of cloud
cover. And then it's not raining, not going to
work. I really love Dangfly. They were probably
my favorite band that I've seen out here today
outside. But that being said, that steel drum
thing was pretty cool, too. That's the one, like
I said, I had to go out there and dance. I accidentally
almost ran over a four -year -old girl. That
would have been rough. I don't know. What is
that? Manslaughter? It's weird. If you intentionally
kill somebody, it's just whatever. But if you
accidentally, it's manslaughter. Anyway, that'd
be a good band. What about band names of a band?
Do you think there's one out there called band?
Bandslaughter. If there's not one, don't steal
my idea, guys. Trademark 2026. That feels like
a fun one. I like to say it. I want to be in
that band and play cowbell. A name of a band
called Band Slaughter? Got to have more cowbell.
So what's some of the fun interviews you've already
done this weekend? So I talked to Lily Hyatt
and Dash Riprock yesterday. Nice. I talked to
MK Barnes earlier this week, and I watched all
three of them play last night, and it was phenomenal.
There's some great shows. That's the one thing
I like doing this. It's a lot of fun, but I'm
just going to be able to catch the main stages.
So I'm unfortunately missing some of the other
really good stuff. Yeah, I've been doing the
club crawls quite a bit. That's the one thing
about AdFest. There's so much going on. You get
FOMO. You're like, there's three bands I want
to see at the same time. That's happening to
me tonight. That guitar is awesome. Yeah, would
you bring that over here? Hey, we're here with
Mary Joyce. What's going on, y 'all? Whose guitar
is this, Mary? We've got this guitar for Raffle.
Oh, my God. Mary, do you want to tell us about
this guitar? This is the Raffle guitar. That
is sick. Yeah, so this guitar was donated by
Fender and then hand -painted by our theme artist,
Maggie Baxter. Maggie crushed it this year. I
love it. The lover. So we are raffling it off.
Tickets are only $5. That is a heck of a deal.
Show them the back, too. yeah so it's got the
year the logo i mean that's awesome i personally
cannot win this guitar but i really hope somebody
in town does so i can see it in action exactly
that would be super cool to be able to see somebody
playing it from this because it's the other thing
it's not just a piece of art it is a playable
piece of art it sounds really good i got to play
it a little bit really that's cool it's it is
lovely i mean it's a piece of art that makes
art yeah Wow. Just like you. Are we an inception
or what? You're like, we're in art within art.
All of us, man. Yeah, exactly. All of us. That's
exactly it. All right, I'm going to go on stage.
And then real quick, will you introduce yourself
real quick to the guys? Okay, I'm Mary. Director
of AthFest Educates. Everything that happens
at AthFest benefits this nonprofit and arts education
for K -12 students in Athens -Clarke County.
Exactly. And Mary Joyce, how we get those young
bands here in Athens is through these programs.
There's the raffle on the screen, guys. There's
so much going on. I have FOMO because I'm sticking.
I love watching the main stage, but I'm like,
there's like three or four things at a time I'd
love to be at. Next year, I'm going to figure
out how to clothe myself. Yeah, speaking of.
I got to go on stage. Go on stage and do your
thing. Love you guys. Thanks for popping in.
Awesome. Thank you so much to Mary Joyce for
joining us. Mary Joyce is the thing behind the
whole board. It was amazing for AdFest. She works
365 days a year to make this happen. For my show,
seriously, Mary Joyce, big shouts out. This is
hard work. Troy Aubrey, Aubrey Entertainment,
putting in tons of effort and work. If it wasn't
for these guys and the help, I wouldn't have
my own show now the third year in a row. It was
awesome. Can't wait. I'm still feeling it. I
just want to tell y 'all who I'm really excited
to see tonight. Yeah, you tell me. The Arcs are
playing over at Normal Bar. Oh, nice. T. Hardy
Morris. Slightly famous somebody. All kinds of
amazing bands on the club crawl. We're going
to pass off the mic to the one and only Slayla.
Yo, my name's Cam. I'm the lead singer of a band
called Schmooze. We're like if Paramore was grunge.
We played here last night at midnight at Paloma
Park. Schmooze. S -C -H -M -O -O -Z -E. AthFest!
Dude, I actually follow you on Instagram. I've
actually, I've tried to book you a thousand times.
Oh my god, I'm sorry. You guys are always busy.
Yeah, dude, yeah. We got people, we got a bassist
in Atlanta, we got people here, I'm still in
school. This is my first AthFest ever playing
it, which is super cool. Now I'm walking around
shooting some bands. Did you already play? Yeah,
I played last night at midnight at Paloma. No,
dude, Athens is so sick. I love seeing like Athens
just has the greatest variety of people. It's
oh, it's so cool. So many cool people. I love
the community of it. All the vendors are so sick.
Oh, yeah. Music. Oh, my God. Music. Perfect.
Dude, speaking of the community, I had lost my
backpack. Oh, my God. And I went hunting. I think
I was gone for an hour and a half. Yeah. It was
in Lost and Found. Somebody had seen me drop
it. Yeah. Went and took it immediately to Lost
and Found and told them to. They were like, hey.
And so they were like, hey, we've been looking
for you, waiting for you. Awesome. Wonderful.
Wonderful group of collection of people. Barnhouse.
Barnhouse. From Athens, Georgia, about to rock
the main stage. Put your hands together for me
and Slayla. And then Barnhouse. Oh, my God. And
then Barnhouse. Talk about Barnhouse. Shout out,
Barnhouse. Oh, there they are. Everyone in the
band, after high school, we went our separate
ways, but we would still get together over the
summers. And I went to school with a guy named
Cecil Conley, James Madison University. He put
on a festival called Cecil Fest to celebrate
his birthday, and he booked us. So we went and...
A friend of ours, Caroline Pru, came and she
filmed it. And we watched it, and it was a pretty
good performance. And that's what encouraged
us to, maybe we should try this for real. So
we decided that it was after Andrew graduated,
we were going to move to Georgia. And that's
what we did. We were all in different places
when we signed the lease. With facts. Because
he was in, he went to Amherst, so he was in Massachusetts.
The drummer, Ian Worden, he was in Guam, and
I was in Harrisonburg, Virginia. And then we
made this decision based on a... The love of
music and that, basically that Cecil Fest performance.
And that was basically like a one -off reuniting
kind of thing that your friend got you to do.
It was, we were, we played. You still played
together some throughout, after high school?
Okay. But it was fun to, you know, we played
as much as we could, but we didn't really. It
sounds like you were, that was geographically
challenging. We would say the least. We would
play at. and Harrisonburg and other places during
the summer. But we didn't do a whole lot of real
traveling until we moved to Georgia. Gotcha.
Gotcha. What was it about Georgia that... Kevin
Kinney. That was what it was for me. When I went
to JMU, one of my best friends, Andrew Stitt,
was my roommate. And another musician... Amy
Dominguez, who's still active in the D .C. area.
She played with, I randomly saw her in Athens
one day. She was playing cello with Mary Timoney.
But I'm not sure what, I know she still plays.
I think she's very involved in classical music
and playing the cello de gambo. She does neat
stuff from what I see. Yeah, it sounds like it.
She brought over a copy of McDougal Blues. And
my roommate and I listened to it. It was probably
about three times in a row. Just absolutely loved
this record. And after the whole Cecil Fest thing
and we were trying to decide where to go, he
kept saying, Andy Stitt, that is, was like, you
should go to Athens, Georgia. He'd play the Athens,
Georgia Inside Out soundtrack all the time to
kind of encourage it. And then when I found out
that Kevin Kinney lived in Athens, I was like,
let's go check it out. So did you visit first?
Repeatedly? No, we came down once. You came down
once. Came down once and we went to see, we saw
Harvey Milk at the Atomic. And we saw a band
called Funkomatic at the 40 Watt Club. And I
think we had lunch. It was like five bucks going
in there on the beer. So we're like, yeah, this
will work. We actually didn't move into Athens
proper. We lived in Comer. Okay, okay. year and
a half something like that but you found it affordable
you found it to have the scene that you were
looking for and people that you admired and respected
oh yeah was there any other was anybody arguing
for any other city was there any other was there
debate about it or was it really i think we had
talked about maybe two or three cities ashville
i think was something that was considered but
i think athens was like let's go and check it
out and see what that's What was it like? What
was this entering a scene that's pretty well
established already? You know what? One of the
reasons we chose Athens was because it was 1996.
The Olympics were going on. So we figured all
the clubs would be packed. Instant fame, you
know what I'm saying? Yeah. International audience
coming to you. Yeah, exactly. So that was another
big reason why it was Athens. We didn't take
into account how difficult it was going to be
to rent. places then that's why we wound up in
Comer interesting yeah because they had a lot
of the a lot of the events here in in they I
think they had rhythmic gymnastics they had I
think soccer okay or at least women's soccer
because we were playing at a place called wishbones
when was it the women's team won it was a brandy
chastain whipped off the top a huge roar and
it was right as we finished the song we're all
like there's no way people here to make that
kind of sound for us but yeah so i bet it felt
good for a minute but it was rhythmic gymnastics
i think maybe kayaking or something weird there
were a few events here in town yeah yeah so after
the kind of the olympics blows over you're able
to move in Athens proper but what you were having
the realization of the Olympics when I asked
you this the first time but what what was it
like to move to a city as just like anything
it's a they're less mom -and -pop shops downtown
than they used to be I think of the spirit is
still pretty much the same I think that's true
but some of the geography and obviously the people
have changed but it's Athens is still a great
place to be as far as I'm concerned yeah I think
it's been shielded from a lot of the you've seen
there's definitely been some gentrification here
and corporate corporations moving in just like
everywhere else but I do think that it has been
somewhat shielded from a lot of the shit that
has really screwed up a lot of the other cities
in America There's still a real, I think, a true
love of music and the arts here in town. Yeah.
There's still a real, I think, a true love of
music and the arts here in town. Yeah. It's a
real priority in a way that I don't see in other
cities that they claim they love the arts and
do support the arts in some ways, but it's not
their passion. Yeah. Pat Moswalt has a famous
bit about being in Athens and the way things
were. In the grand scheme, a lot of it's true.
I think that's pretty supportive. So, yeah, it's
changed, but a lot of it's still, in a way, still
the same. Yeah, you just did soundcheck for AthFest.
Yeah. Have you all ever played AthFest before?
No. We played the Heathens thing. We played over
at the Flickr for Matt's dial -back showcase.
That's the last time we were in Athens, so we're
very excited to be back for AthFest. What do
you think is unique about Athens versus other
cities? We started, I was a huge REM fan in college.
And when I came here, it was like Mecca. It was
like going to see REM's house. And I love the
B -52s too. It's just such a cool experimental
scene where a lot of art students like to grab
guitars and make funky, crazy, outrageous music.
Athens has always just created the coolest, unique
music. And I don't know why. I don't know if
it's Georgia. It's close to Atlanta. But there's
just something here about the college and artists.
It's like the art school creates the best music
in town. Not the music school. It's the art school.
Because everybody's crazy. And they're wearing
crazy haircuts and crazy clothes. And you get
bands like Love Tractor and Guadalcanal Diary.
And then it all went on to Drive -By Truckers.
And to this day, there's still these super creative
bands coming out of Athens. We're looking forward
to seeing some of them for AthFest. It's like
you look at the AthFest lineup and you're like,
these are all new guys. And you know they're
going to be good because they're coming from
Athens. And it's a proving ground for really
cool art rock. So that's why I love it. Troy
Aubrey, who puts on AthFest, I think he was conscious
of when he knew, he was involved in the scheduling,
because he knew I played in all three of those
bands. And it worked. We were in high school,
and Kevin, we met this guy, our friend Bob, in
high school, and we were in a marching band together,
all three of us, and just met him, and he was
interested in playing too, and he played a little
guitar. We just started that up. And that was,
we literally would, Bob's dad had a trailer out
on Lake Seminole, about 20 miles outside of Denver.
And he didn't live there full time, so we just
had access to this trailer. We just went out
there almost every day and just played. And it's
kind of the same thing. It was just like, we'd
invite friends out there. sometimes and but yeah
there wasn't there was there's nowhere to play
we just we didn't really play out anywhere other
than like we'd do little parties and stuff like
that and so you moved to Evans because you wanted
places to play music pretty much yeah by that
point we had we really started getting a little
serious about it and Kevin was writing a bunch
more songs and Bob was writing songs too and
yeah we just wanted to to go for it, and Athens
was not too far away. Yeah. Yeah, we did. And
it had a reputation, too, obviously, for everything.
Yeah, for sure. And the cost of living was, I
think, really killer back then. I think back
on it, the first house we found was on Willow
Run, which is a normal town, and we think it
was $500 a month for all three of us. I think
back on that now. That's crazy. Unbelievable,
like, how much more expensive things are now.
Like, we were just able to come up here with
nothing, really. Find little jobs and make enough
money to pay the rent and the bills and be able
to play music and just play it out as much as
we could. And previously, they didn't have an
official photographer. They had interns do it.
And Mary Joyce, who's the executive director
of AFES Educates, and one of the things that
she wanted was to have an official photographer
and an official video, just because that was
something that they didn't have. So when the
idea of having an official photographer came
up, she thought of me. kept in touch over the
years. And so she reached out and asked me if
I was interested. She's like, well, you're already
doing it. Thanks so much for coming out.