Post by Fuggle on Jun 25, 2006 9:07:48 GMT -5
Grass Gone Wild
Thursday, June 15, 2006
By Lisa O'Donnell
JOURNAL REPORTER
You see the instruments - guitar, banjo and stand-up bass - and think "Traditional." Kill that thought.
The Avett Brothers do pick a little and sing beautiful three-part harmony. But they also flail, scream, curse and thrash.
They love Doc Watson and Charlie Poole. Johnny Rotten and Jimmy Page.
And it shows. The Avetts are not afraid to be too punk for old-time audiences or too old-time for punk audiences.
The result is an exciting and original sound that defies classification, although plenty of writers and critics have tried.
"The Violent Femmes gone bluegrass."
"Robert E. Lee singing for the Ramones."
"Pre-Civil War modern rock."
Here's another - imagine Ernest T. Bass taking over front-man duties for The Darlings.
Scott Avett laughs at the comparisons. The Violent Femmes reference, at least, makes sense.
"I heard their first record in the ninth grade in the '90s and the record came out in what? 1980," said Avett, 29. "And it sounded, as far as I knew, brand new. You can't deny the timeless nature of it. It's no question that it's rock. But is it? Is it country? There's no genre it can be thrown in.
"I hope we can stand alone."
Since forming in the 2002, the Avett Brothers have steadily inched toward nationwide acclaim. Stories about them have appeared in such magazines as No Depression, Harp and Paste. They have also been featured on national radio shows such as Mountain Stage and World Cafe.
The Avetts are known for delivering high-octane live shows that have earned them flocks of fans in every corner of the country.
On Friday, they will perform at the Shiner Bock Twin City RibFest.
A few days after RibFest, the Avetts will play at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. The four-day concert will also include Radiohead and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
And in July, the band will headline a show at the famed Bowery Ballroom in New York.
Scott (banjo, vocals) and his brother, Seth (guitar, vocals) grew up in Concord in a home filled with music. Their dad played guitar and wrote songs, most of them in the vein of Bob Dylan and Neil Young.
Each boy took piano lessons while absorbing the music that was being played in the house - Commodores, Dylan, Three Dog Night and Hall and Oates, a band that Scott Avett adores.
"That was my super group when I was 7 or 8. Daryl Hall was the top of the mountain. I still think he's amazing," he said.
The brothers picked up electric guitars in middle school. Scott's musical taste shifted toward Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Jimi Hendrix.
Seth, who is four years younger than Scott, liked the hard stuff, too, but he also grew enamored with Doc Watson, whom he met through a mutual friend as a young boy.
"He'd say things like, 'I'm not into this old-timer music, but Doc Watson - these songs are really great.' I would say, 'Yeah, yeah. I'll never be into that stuff.' But the songs just shone through," Scott Avett said.
He went to college at East Carolina University and formed Nemo, a rock group, with his brother. But he also picked up the banjo and learned how to play it from a man who was more interested in melody than how fast his fingers could move up and down the fret board.
"The ironic thing in my mind was to go from hardcore and metal and punk to picking up a banjo," Avett said. "In actuality, it's not ironic at all. We all know they are parallel."
As a side project, he and some friends started getting together on Tuesday nights to drink liquor and pick old folk tunes. Seth joined the circle, and soon, the two brothers were writing songs that blended their love of old-time and bluegrass music with punk and classic rock.
In 2001, the Avetts, excited by their new sound, drove across the country in a station wagon packed with instruments and sleeping bags. They stood on street corners in Little Rock, Ark., Santa Fe, N.M. and Sacramento, Cal., and played to crowds. They also entertained tourists at an impromptu gig in the Grand Canyon.
Back home in Concord, they added Bob Crawford on stand-up bass and began making records (Country Was in 2002, A Carolina Jubilee in 2003 and Mignonette in 2004). Earlier this year, the band released Four Thieves Gone, which was recorded while the band was holed up in a house in Robbinsville.
The songs on this recording take unexpected twists without losing their sense of melody.
"Two years ago, after Mignonette, we thought 'We have something we want to do that we know is our own. We didn't know how to get it with our first record. With Mignonette we got closer, and with Four Thieves, it's a step toward it. We definitely feel like it's relevant and that we have something going and deserve to be heard," Avett said.
He has heard people call the band "the hottest new thing." He laughs at such comments.
"Well, we have been together since 2002.... But that is pretty common (to hear)," he said.
But don't think the Avetts are getting 'bove their raisin.'
Just the other day, Avett bought a concert DVD of Hall and Oates.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
By Lisa O'Donnell
JOURNAL REPORTER
You see the instruments - guitar, banjo and stand-up bass - and think "Traditional." Kill that thought.
The Avett Brothers do pick a little and sing beautiful three-part harmony. But they also flail, scream, curse and thrash.
They love Doc Watson and Charlie Poole. Johnny Rotten and Jimmy Page.
And it shows. The Avetts are not afraid to be too punk for old-time audiences or too old-time for punk audiences.
The result is an exciting and original sound that defies classification, although plenty of writers and critics have tried.
"The Violent Femmes gone bluegrass."
"Robert E. Lee singing for the Ramones."
"Pre-Civil War modern rock."
Here's another - imagine Ernest T. Bass taking over front-man duties for The Darlings.
Scott Avett laughs at the comparisons. The Violent Femmes reference, at least, makes sense.
"I heard their first record in the ninth grade in the '90s and the record came out in what? 1980," said Avett, 29. "And it sounded, as far as I knew, brand new. You can't deny the timeless nature of it. It's no question that it's rock. But is it? Is it country? There's no genre it can be thrown in.
"I hope we can stand alone."
Since forming in the 2002, the Avett Brothers have steadily inched toward nationwide acclaim. Stories about them have appeared in such magazines as No Depression, Harp and Paste. They have also been featured on national radio shows such as Mountain Stage and World Cafe.
The Avetts are known for delivering high-octane live shows that have earned them flocks of fans in every corner of the country.
On Friday, they will perform at the Shiner Bock Twin City RibFest.
A few days after RibFest, the Avetts will play at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. The four-day concert will also include Radiohead and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
And in July, the band will headline a show at the famed Bowery Ballroom in New York.
Scott (banjo, vocals) and his brother, Seth (guitar, vocals) grew up in Concord in a home filled with music. Their dad played guitar and wrote songs, most of them in the vein of Bob Dylan and Neil Young.
Each boy took piano lessons while absorbing the music that was being played in the house - Commodores, Dylan, Three Dog Night and Hall and Oates, a band that Scott Avett adores.
"That was my super group when I was 7 or 8. Daryl Hall was the top of the mountain. I still think he's amazing," he said.
The brothers picked up electric guitars in middle school. Scott's musical taste shifted toward Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Jimi Hendrix.
Seth, who is four years younger than Scott, liked the hard stuff, too, but he also grew enamored with Doc Watson, whom he met through a mutual friend as a young boy.
"He'd say things like, 'I'm not into this old-timer music, but Doc Watson - these songs are really great.' I would say, 'Yeah, yeah. I'll never be into that stuff.' But the songs just shone through," Scott Avett said.
He went to college at East Carolina University and formed Nemo, a rock group, with his brother. But he also picked up the banjo and learned how to play it from a man who was more interested in melody than how fast his fingers could move up and down the fret board.
"The ironic thing in my mind was to go from hardcore and metal and punk to picking up a banjo," Avett said. "In actuality, it's not ironic at all. We all know they are parallel."
As a side project, he and some friends started getting together on Tuesday nights to drink liquor and pick old folk tunes. Seth joined the circle, and soon, the two brothers were writing songs that blended their love of old-time and bluegrass music with punk and classic rock.
In 2001, the Avetts, excited by their new sound, drove across the country in a station wagon packed with instruments and sleeping bags. They stood on street corners in Little Rock, Ark., Santa Fe, N.M. and Sacramento, Cal., and played to crowds. They also entertained tourists at an impromptu gig in the Grand Canyon.
Back home in Concord, they added Bob Crawford on stand-up bass and began making records (Country Was in 2002, A Carolina Jubilee in 2003 and Mignonette in 2004). Earlier this year, the band released Four Thieves Gone, which was recorded while the band was holed up in a house in Robbinsville.
The songs on this recording take unexpected twists without losing their sense of melody.
"Two years ago, after Mignonette, we thought 'We have something we want to do that we know is our own. We didn't know how to get it with our first record. With Mignonette we got closer, and with Four Thieves, it's a step toward it. We definitely feel like it's relevant and that we have something going and deserve to be heard," Avett said.
He has heard people call the band "the hottest new thing." He laughs at such comments.
"Well, we have been together since 2002.... But that is pretty common (to hear)," he said.
But don't think the Avetts are getting 'bove their raisin.'
Just the other day, Avett bought a concert DVD of Hall and Oates.