Night on the Quad: One Year Later

Ah, springtime! One of my very favorite things about this time of year, besides the gorgeous weather, is the music. All of the little-known local bands and established favorites emerge from their winter hibernation ready to take on the world. Music festivals and events surround us!

Case in point: yesterday's Night on the Quad gave us a delicious list of bands to fill our hungry ears! Just about a year ago, this event gave me one of my earliest tastes of Athens' sound. This time around, I was happily surprised to find that I'd enjoyed three of the bands' tunes before and that one of the members of the first band I saw was no stranger either. Wow, what a difference a year makes!

I arrived on UGA's Myers Quad just in time to catch Koji Kondo's first song. Purely wonderful! This was the one band I hadn't seen before, and I'm quite happy to say, I got there just in time to delight in their tunes. But, wait a second! There was something so very familiar about the singer/violinist. Was it... Yes, it was! Hannah Samet, former member of Pholksinger Josh, was there to fill our ears with her sweet voice and violin's soft melodies. She and the rest of the band mixed traditional-sounding tunes with the rock style of the electric guitar to create a sound like no other. To put it simply, I loved it!

The last three bands were all ones I was incredibly delighted to see again. Groove Tangent was up next with a generous helping of their awesome covers. These guys truly have the best sense of fun! This time, Bad Romance was their Lady Gaga song of choice, and they rocked it most hilariously. I'm definitely going to have to keep seeing these guys whenever I can. After their shows, I can hardly keep the smile off of my face. Who would have ever thought I'd love hearing a cover band this much?

Then it was Carolina Ridge's turn. Having played this event three years running, Josh and Andy knew just how to give us the right mix of lyrical rhythm and folk melodies. And, for old time's sake, they even brought Hannah up to sing for two of the songs on the set list. Pholksinger Josh reunion! Best of all, they ended with the song I fell in love with all those many months ago, 18th Summer (April to August). Joy!

Last up was Bigfoot, the newest incarnation of Night on the Quad 2009's band Cyrnaca. Their set was a short one this time with a curious reading of some mysterious piece of paper to start things off. Interesting. Then they gave us a few minutes of their crazy rock sound before it was time to say goodbye to Night on the Quad 2010.

Man, I wish every Sunday was like this one!

The Man in Dreads Speaks the Truth

Pholksinger Josh on the Myers Quad
(The band played a grand total of five instruments at once. Wow!)

The whip cream on top of this musically delightful weekend occurred at HPSC's Night on the Quad right in front of Myers Hall on the UGA campus. We were treated to a banquet of several bands, each uniquely delicious. Excellent!

Having caught only half of Pholksinger Josh's show on the twentieth, I was eager to see him perform again. Luckily, I managed to obtain my free t-shirt and food in just enough time to leap to the front of the audience and claim my spot before he began. I've checked out his songs on MySpace several times, but truly, I think that they need to be experienced live. There's a certain energy and passion that exist in his live show, particularly when he's singing about failed relationships, that draws you into the songs and makes you want to sing along. Also, the combination of his talents and those of his bandmates Andrew and Hannah is inspired. Although the three of them won't be playing together after this, I certainly wish them luck in their future (sure to be plentiful) musical endeavors.

Honestly, it's quite difficult to describe Pholksinger Josh's sound. He calls his genre "gangsta folk", but I feel that the music, at times, definitely has a bit of a hard rock edge as well. I'm generally not a huge fan of folk music, but his sound is so wonderfully unique that to class it in just any one genre would be an insult to his creativity. Most specifically, his songs Imperfection and 18th Summer (April to August) caught my fancy. He truly has a way with the lyrical word!

The bands that followed Pholksinger Josh were certainly worth listening to as well. Jam Manual, a rather loud hard rock group, performed quite an excellent cover of a Muse song. Later, Stone Irvin, a talented lone guitar player, sang an amazing original tune entitled Spiderweb. Then the female vocalist of the freshman band, Quiet Hours, finished off the night by sharing her beautiful voice with all of us.

However, one band that performed in the middle of the show, Cyrnaca, particularly captured my interest. I'll be honest. It's awfully hard for me to be truly impressed by bands that I have no previous knowlege of, but Cyrnaca managed to completely break through my skeptical wall. Their musical style was ground-vibrating hard rock, very intense. I was shocked when they said that they've only been together for six months! They were rather awesome.

Altogether, this weekend gave me an exquisite sampling of some of the more established acts as well as some of the fresher ones that the Ath-town has to offer. Thirteen bands in just three days! All of this joy never ceases to blow my mind. Tuesday night's Venice is Sinking show at Cine at 10 pm certainly has a lot to live up to, but I'm sure it won't disappoint.