JOHN MAC KAH - Rapid River Magazine
JOHN MAC KAH - Rapid River Magazine
JOHN MAC KAH - Rapid River Magazine
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
R A P I D R I V E R A R T S & C U L T U R E M A G A Z I N E<br />
what’s happening<br />
The Archers of Loaf<br />
BY JAMES CASSARA<br />
uring the halcyon days of the Indy 1980s and 90s Chapel Hill<br />
was squarely at the epicenter of the movement. Along with Superchunk,<br />
Polvo, and, a bit later, The Mayflies, the town more<br />
Dthan earned its title as the Seattle of the South.<br />
No band more fully symbolized<br />
the era than did the Archers of Loaf,<br />
whose off-kilter yet edgy sound perfectly<br />
captured the zeitgeist of the day. Formed<br />
in 1991, when all four members were attending<br />
the University of North Carolina<br />
,all four members had a connection that<br />
went far deeper than a shared love of<br />
music and similar class schedules. All had<br />
grown up in Asheville, but, by virtue of<br />
having attended different schools, didn’t<br />
really know one another.<br />
Singer/guitarist Eric Bachmann,<br />
guitarist Eric Johnson, bassist Matt<br />
Gentling, and drummer Mark Price<br />
initially cut an independently released<br />
single, “Wrong,” that helped them land a<br />
contract with the California-based indie<br />
label Alias. Alias Records, also home to<br />
such bands as American Music Club and<br />
Yo La Tengo, were an ideal fit for the<br />
Archers. The follow up single, “Web in<br />
Front,” became a substantial hit on college<br />
radio, creating a strong buzz for the<br />
group’s full-length debut.<br />
Icky Mettle arrived in late 1993 to<br />
highly positive reviews and more alternative<br />
radio airplay. It was a time in which<br />
labels, each one searching for the next<br />
Nirvana or Sonic Youth, were willing to<br />
take risks with relatively unknown bands.<br />
The Archers certainly fit that bill (not<br />
to mention being enormously talented)<br />
and supported the release with an<br />
extensive national tour. After a<br />
five-song concept EP, the Archers<br />
found themselves at the center of a<br />
bidding war, with a number of suitors,<br />
including Madonna’s Maverick<br />
label, vying for their services.<br />
Amid the fervor the band<br />
wisely elected to continue developing<br />
where they were, accepting the<br />
lower commercial stakes that might<br />
result, and soon delivered their<br />
second album, 1995’s rawer and noisier Vee<br />
Vee. Thanks in part to the single, “Harnessed<br />
in Slums,” the album climbed the<br />
independent charts while getting attention<br />
from the more mainstream press.<br />
In its wake Eric Bachmann began a<br />
series of side projects, including the all<br />
instrumental Barry Black ensemble, but the<br />
Archers largely carried on as before, releasing<br />
a raft of non-LP indie singles, B-sides,<br />
alternate takes, and in concert cuts for 1996’s<br />
The Speed of Cattle. Their third album, All<br />
the Nation’s Airports, arrived later that year.<br />
It evidenced a band moving into quieter,<br />
more layered territory while becoming more<br />
serious about their musicianship and craft.<br />
The live EP Vitus Tinnitus preceded<br />
the band’s next album, 1998’s White Trash<br />
Heroes. But while the band’s fortunes<br />
seemed to be ever expanded there was trouble<br />
in paradise. For all their critical and even<br />
Catch the Archers of Loaf at the Grey Eagle on Saturday, May 21.<br />
commercial success, coupled with relentless<br />
touring, none of the four members were<br />
making any real money. A combination of<br />
poor contracts, questionable tactics on the<br />
part of management (big surprise there),<br />
and bad luck added to the group’s inability<br />
to create a sustainable income. In 1998 they<br />
finally called it quits. Bachmann remained<br />
the most visible, playing steadily and eventually<br />
forming the successful band Crooked<br />
Fingers, while the other three more or less<br />
went underground.<br />
But all that is history. A year of so<br />
back, when details of the band’s reunion<br />
began emerging, most of the press was<br />
skeptical. But here they are, some thirteen<br />
years later, ready to again reach for that<br />
elusive brass ring. The trek begins Saturday,<br />
May 21 when they hit Asheville’s Grey<br />
Eagle, after which it’s on to the west coast<br />
where they’ll play this year’s Sasquatch<br />
Music Festival. Then it is<br />
on to a pair of dates in Los<br />
Angeles before trekking<br />
south for shows in Austin<br />
and Dallas, multi-night<br />
stops in New York, Chicago,<br />
and Atlanta before<br />
wrapping up the first leg<br />
of their travels with shows<br />
in Washington, DC, and<br />
Philadelphia, PA. It’s then<br />
back to Chapel Hill before<br />
capping it all of with two<br />
nights in San Francisco in<br />
early September.<br />
Given the excitement<br />
surrounding this tour,<br />
and the number of open dates between<br />
gigs, it’s safe to assume other shows will<br />
be added. But why wait? In the spirit of<br />
bringing it all back home the Archers of<br />
Loaf are indeed going back to where it all<br />
began, opening the tour at the Grey Eagle<br />
on Saturday, May 21. By the time you<br />
read this, tickets will have been on sale<br />
for a week, so don’t procrastinate. This is<br />
a show that is guaranteed to sell out, and<br />
one that is equally likely to be remembered<br />
for years to come.<br />
IF<br />
YOU<br />
GO<br />
Archers of Loaf at the Grey<br />
Eagle on Saturday, May 21 at<br />
9 p.m. Tickets are priced at<br />
$20 advance / $25 day of show for<br />
this standing room only performance.<br />
Advance tickets available at www.<br />
thegreyeagle.com and at our local outlets.<br />
‘CD’s’ continued from page 10<br />
offering for those who might have missed<br />
the band first time around, for the rest of us<br />
it’s a painful reminder of his absence.<br />
If its arrival brings to Frame a few more<br />
followers (not to mention dollars) that<br />
would be great. If it stirs him to again write<br />
songs this joyful and engaging it would be<br />
even greater. ****<br />
Miles and company at<br />
their most abstract, edgy,<br />
dark, and ambitious.<br />
preceded the release of the album by nine<br />
months) and six recorded at the 1970 Isle of<br />
Wight Festival, four months after Bitches<br />
Brew<br />
landed in stores.<br />
The three cuts from Newport, “Miles<br />
Runs the Voodoo Down,” “Sanctuary,” and<br />
“It’s About That Time/The Theme,” are<br />
previously unreleased, while the remaining<br />
tracks were included in the massive box set<br />
Complete Columbia Albums. As such this<br />
makes Bitches Brew Live a welcome addition<br />
for the cost conscious, those that want<br />
to hear early (and often electrified) versions<br />
of “Directions” and “Spanish Key” without<br />
having to refinance the house. The band on<br />
these tracks, including Davis, Chick Corea,<br />
Dave Holland, and Jack DeJohnette, is quite<br />
possibly the finest he ever assembled.<br />
From start to finish Miles is at the top<br />
of his creative game. Corea’s piano work<br />
walks a beautiful line between physicality<br />
and atmosphere harmonic, while the interplay<br />
between Holland and DeJohnette is<br />
simply amazing. The expanded Isle of Wight<br />
lineup includes saxophonist Gary Bartz,<br />
Keith Jarrett on organ, and percussionist<br />
Airto Moreira.<br />
The riveting thing about this band was<br />
its intensity and ambition, how gleefully<br />
they moved to the edge of chaos without<br />
ever losing their nerve. It’s Miles and<br />
company at their most abstract, edgy, dark,<br />
and ambitious as can be. Which means it is<br />
among the most dazzling music ever made,<br />
despite being culled from two very different<br />
gigs with wildly differing audiences.<br />
Bitches Brew Live is seamless, inspiring, and<br />
essential. *****<br />
Double CD Release Party<br />
Miles Davis<br />
Bitches Brew<br />
Live<br />
Sony/Legacy<br />
This solid<br />
mix of material is<br />
culled from a pair<br />
of performances,<br />
including three tracks taken from the port Jazz Festival in July of 1969<br />
New-<br />
(which<br />
Dehlia Low<br />
and Underhill<br />
Rose, two of<br />
Asheville’s<br />
best-loved<br />
female-fronted<br />
bands,<br />
release CD’s<br />
Underhill Rose<br />
on Friday,<br />
May 27. Expect an evening of alloriginal<br />
bluegrass, country and folk<br />
sounds from these musicians who,<br />
over the past decade, have helped<br />
to define Asheville as a veritable<br />
mecca for roots music.<br />
IF YOU GO: Friday, May 27 at the<br />
Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Avenue in<br />
Asheville. Tickets are $8 advance/$10<br />
door. Show starts at 9 p.m. Find out<br />
more at www.thegreyeagle.com.<br />
Vol. 14, No. 9 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — May 2011 11