Tag: Athens Music
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UGA MBUS Student Ritika Sharma Forges Her Own Pathway
At ten years old, Ritika Sharma learned how to play the guitar—but upside down. Her father, who was left-handed, refused to buy her the instrument because she often struggled with sustaining a hobby.
“After a week, I’d be like, ‘I’m bored.’ He didn’t believe that I would stick with it. So, I learned the guitar upside down,” Sharma said.
Now, Sharma carries a dedicated spirit, with her seventh song “Love You Have Left” being released in late March. Even though she started writing songs at ten years old, she has wanted to pursue a career in music since she was 14—not giving up on her musical journey.
Sharma describes her music as “textured.” She doesn’t like to label or confine it to a particular genre, having learned rock from her father, talking heavy metal with a former boss, and being classically trained all the while.
Instead, she often asks herself what mood she wants to create, letting the lyrics stand for themselves in the absence of production, and vice versa.
“If you took the lyrics away, the production would shine, it would tell a story. And, if we took the production away, the lyrics still tell a story—that’s a test I do with all my songs,” Sharma said.
As a student in the University of Georgia Music Business program, Sharma says she’s learned that she can forge her own pathway, with each musician’s route to success being different. She currently has a mix of singles and an EP released. Vinyl Magazine met with her to discuss some of the lore behind each.
For The Fish
I think [with] the oceanic-like ambiance, I wanted it to feel like two fish were singing to each other. I think I kind of accomplished that. It was my first fully produced song. So, it’s definitely a learning process. I don’t think it’s a perfect song, but it’s really cool to see my progress.
Arabella
I wrote this about a friend I had in high school who was going through a rough time. She would always be like, ‘Oh I’m trauma dumping.’ And, I’ll just be like ‘Girl, you’re my friend, I want to hear about everything that’s going on in your life.’ … I don’t talk to that person anymore. But it’s weird because people are in and out of your life, but songs can just stay with you. And I think about that person a lot. So, I think that song just means a lot to me because it was about a special person.
Water Fights
That one’s about a relationship that just changed and shifted, it wasn’t the same as when it first started. I think that was just about youth and friendships. I think we have a lot of these friendships early on that just changed. It’s folk-inspired, and I just really liked the guitar melody.
14
That song was about middle school. I think growing up, I was in a very racist county. I’d get angry, my natural expression initially was anger. … But, my dad had a very kind expression, he thinks they don’t mean it like that—we have a different outlook on what people mean and why they do things. … That song was about [how] we’ll never be on the same page about how we want to react to things, how we want to treat other people… you can love people and them not think the way you do.
The Bear
The Bear was the first song I technically posted on TikTok and got me thinking about putting songs out publicly. … I wrote that about [how] it’s like the grass is greener on the other side—you have this bear that’s outside of a cave and a man who’s in a cave, and one wants to leave and one wants to be in the cave. There [are] positives and negatives to both sides. … I think it’s some of my best lyrics.
Sweet Bitter
It was the first time I was genuinely amazed by [the] stuff I created. … Usually, I would write, and then what my rough draft was was also my final draft. But, this was the first time I was like, ‘How can we edit this? How can we make it better?’ … So it started folk, turned R&B at one point. We meshed them, so the third section has R&B melodies if you really listen to it. It’s like four completely different sections that kind of signify the healing process. I think it perfectly takes you through you going insane and feeling not healed to being healed by a person who may have affected you. And it’s that sweet bitter feeling—you love them, but it’s time to move on. And, you also hate them.
Love You Have Left
I did it for an MBUS class. I had to do it so quickly… I had like multiple people, my friends who were trusted sources, who said ‘This one had some sauce to it, put this out.’ It was more [of a] pop sound. I didn’t want to go back to folk, I was like ‘Let me keep it pop.’ The hardest part was the ending, and I think I achieved a good ending. And again, texture [and] ambiance was really big to me. I think it’s some of my best lyrics, the melody is really catchy.
New Artist Spotlight: Wim Tapley
After making the move from Virginia only a few months ago, singer-songwriter Wim Tapley has started making a name for himself here in Athens. He wasted no time once he started attending the University of Georgia in the fall, as he was already playing gigs around town within his first month in the state.
Wim’s music can be considered folk/rock with his own twist that incorporates Americana and pop that fits his raw, real and confident voice. He is a talented multi-instrumentalist with his own creative direction in every aspect of his music career. He produces his own music including his recent EP The Woodlands, which is impressively played, recorded, and produced all by himself. In this EP, Wim uses elements of fuzzed-out guitars, pianos, horns, and his unique vocals to take on the genre of folk-pop while using inspiration from musicians such as Bill Withers, Chris Stapleton, and Ed Sheeran.
Not only is Wim’s music strikingly inspiring and unique, but he is also a new, bright light in the Athen’s music scene. He loves to attend other band’s shows in support, and he is always trying to make new connections around town and play as often as he can. He has already built an impressive fanbase and draws a crowd at every location he plays, including the 40 Watt Club. His self-generated motivation shows through his discography, his lively performances, and his continued effort to create new things and express himself and his love for various genres of music.
Wim’s last solo gig for the foreseeable future is at Akademia Brewing Co. on Thursday, November 11th. He will still be performing around Athens, but as a band under the name of Wim Tapley & The Cannons who will start playing shows in late November. Wim is definitely an artist to watch coming out of Athens, as he has already taken the city by storm in the short amount of time he’s lived here. With a drive and talent like his, he is surely to rise quickly to the top of the music scene here in Athens and beyond.
Check out Wim on his website here, and keep with him on social media: Instagram // Twitter // Facebook // Youtube // Spotify
Jameson Tank Plays Paloma Park
This past Saturday, directly after the Dawgs secured yet another win, Jameson Tank took the stage at Paloma Park. Let me preface this review with a disclaimer: I turned 21 last Sunday, so this was my first game day where I could legally drink. How that influenced my experience of the show is up to you to decide.
With that out of the way, the show was fucking awesome. You knew they were either gonna be amazing or the worst thing you have ever heard from the moment they came on stage. The band’s eponymous frontman Jameson Tank (full name Jameson Tankersley), indistinguishable from the sea of frat boys in his Georgia jersey and athletic shorts, but for his shoulder-length straight hair, reminiscent of Gregg Allman during the Allman Brothers Band’s heyday, was front and center. Next came lead guitarist Bryce Burnette. Before I give you this man’s description, I want to tell you that I had just started drinking when I saw him and am confident my description is fair and accurate. That being said, this man looked like a Guitar Hero avatar come to life: red, cheetah-print motorcycle jacket, a mess of curly hair so long it obscured everything but his mouth, and a cigarette that I’m sure he smoked purely for aesthetic purposes. In contrast to Burnette is the band’s drummer, Conner Ankerich, who I can only describe as looking kind. He seemed like the golden retriever kind of frat boy rather than the rapey kind. Rounding out the foursome was Javier Solozardo on bass. He looked like a man who watched a lot of TikTok during quarantine and took note of what girls liked. Fluffy hair that seemed to float when he moved, painted nails, a patterned, short-sleeve button-up shirt, well-groomed beard, and a single gold earring for good measure.
Before Jameson Tank played a single note, I could tell Tankersley was well versed in how to work a crowd. He looked at the mass of day drunk UGA fans and instantly saw the best way to get them on his side: Call home the dawgs. The familiar chant, with its closing bark, instantly connected the crowd to him and set the basis for an amazing performance.
They kicked off their set with some classic rock with Queen’s “Fat Bottom Girls” and Ozzy Ozborne’s “Crazy Train” before starting their run of early 2000s tunes with a cover of The Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Scar Tissue” that has every white male in a golf shirt (which made up well over half the crowd) eating out of their palms. Throughout the night they covered a wide range of songs from SmashMouth’s “Allstar” to Olivia Rodrigo’s “good 4 u.” What all these songs had in common was that almost everyone knew the lyrics and could sing along.
They were also sure to intersperse two or three original songs throughout their set. I’ll be honest that man could have been reciting the Declaration of Independence into the microphone, and I would not have known. The combination of guitar, drums, bass, and Georgia fans ranging from tipsy to blackout effectively ended any chance I had at making out a word he was singing. However, I am optimistic it was catchy as hell because the music was amazing. It evoked a sense of the vinyl-era classic rock they’d been covering all night with a dash of early 00’s pop-punk that helped the song pack the extra punch needed to get the crowd jumping up and down to a song they’ve never heard, and if they’re anything like me, don’t know the name of.
I think the show was so enjoyable because every one of those boys knew what live music is about more than just the music. It is about how an artist can engage, excite, and energize the audience, and Jameson Tank was able to do just that. I started the show sitting at a table with a good view of the stage; four hours later (and yes, they played for four hours straight), my calves were sore from jumping up and down for the past 3 ½ hours with my voice strained and raspy from singing along. The group, particularly Tankersley, lacked the awkwardness I’ve found inherent in a lot of newer artists’ live performances. He was able to transition the band and the crowd from one song to the next without awkward pauses and, in doing so, kept the audience growing until I was being pushed by those trying to get closer (and to be honest doing a bit of light shoving myself). Overall, I had an absolute blast, which is exactly what I wanted from the show.
Listen to Jameson Tanks’ original music on Spotify or Apple Music, and be sure to catch them playing Warehouse on November 12.
Side note: Towards the end of their set Solozardo, who had only sung a song or two, provided lead vocals to the band’s cover of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” that literally caused my jaw to drop. I swear to god, the ghost, the very essence of Brian Johnson (who is very much alive) entered Solozardo while the rest of us chanted “thunder.” It was unreal. I feel we may have been bamboozled, and Solozardo was doing some very convincing lip-synching while Tankersley worked a boombox. That is the most logical explanation for what I heard. Well, that and that I had my first long island iced tea about thirty minutes prior.
Track-By-Track: CLOUDLAND Talks Debut ‘Where We Meet’
Athens, GA-based CLOUDLAND has released their debut album Where We Meet, a multi-faceted exploration of the commonalities of the human experience. Written over the past year and a half, Where We Meet reassures listeners they are not alone.
The four-piece rock outfit composed of Zach King, Karmen Smith, Aidan Hill, and Hogan Heim has been releasing music steadily since 2017, but this album breaks the group’s typical record and release pattern. Where We Meet is the consequence of a year and a half of careful cultivation.
We asked CLOUDLAND to take us through each track on the album and give us further insight into the inspiration and writing process behind them.
Check out their track-by-track rundown below, and be sure to queue up the album to listen along.
Sunday Afternoon
As the album’s first track, “Sunday Afternoon” immediately offers longtime CLOUDLAND fans something different according to Heim. This track is truly autobiographical, telling the story of an actual Sunday afternoon call. “There was a two-week period in which my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer and my uncle sold both our family’s condominiums in Florida where my family had been going for 22 years. We spent most holidays here” says King. He recounts the difficulty the group had matching lyrics to the existing melody that would become “Sunday Afternoon”.
“I ended up just writing down everything that had happened: the line about the painting references an actual painting my uncle sent me that had hung in the condo for fifteen years. The phone call is the actual phone call in which I was told my grandfather was in pretty severe shape with colon cancer. It was this moment of balancing living in the present, but also acknowledging the importance of the past. You want to have those precious memories, but you can’t hold on to the past forever without losing the present. I don’t think the song has any resolution, I think it is more just a statement on life.” says King.
Overthinking
“We had the idea to write a song about overthinking a relationship for a while. The general concept was there and we all took a stab at it, yet the lyrics weren’t coming to us. Eventually, Zach was able to take the pieces that we had and performed some skilled mad libs to put it together,” says Heim. King remembers that “as a band, we were able to write the bones of the track. I went back and fiddled with the lyrics until we liked where it was at.”
“It’s a really straightforward song,” according to King. “There is no real personal experience behind it, rather it speaks to the universal experience of overthinking the complex nature of relationships.”
Where We Meet
The album’s eponymous track was written before the band had even decided to make an album according to Smith. “We wrote that at a church late at night and that was like the first official single. It was kind of a desperate night in terms of writing because we were just very frustrated with the ideas that had fallen flat. At the end of the night, we just decided to leave it to Zach’s vocals and Hogan’s guitar. In the past, all of our singles have just been really energetic and loud which is cool, but we wanted to do something different” says Smith.
“I struggle to open up unless it’s through my writing or I’m at rock-bottom. So this song was an opportunity for me to do that,” says King. “It was also about collectively realizing ‘okay you gotta fight for something.’ Just looking at love from a deeper standpoint than ‘oh I love this person’ or ‘you make me feel good.’ Because it’s not always like that, there’s some pain and some hardship involved. Commitment is worth fighting for and promising things even in the midst of hardship. The song was my way of telling my wife that I am committed to her and that I’ll fight for her.”
St. Elmo
“St. Elmo” is about bass player Aidan’s relationship with his significant other and him really opening up about what she means to him in this song,” says King on behalf of his missing band member. “They had just been on a trip to Chattanooga, and it is a really special place to them. We titled the track St. Elmo, a town just outside of Chattanooga, to honor the significance of that place in their relationship.”
“The funny thing is when we were trying to write one our first draft was just way too heavy. Karmen, Aiden, and I were just sitting there looking at it and we concluded that it was just way too much. We didn’t feel a listener could digest it despite the simplicity of the song. So we ended up scrapping it and wrote another song that night with completely different lyrics. Aiden just opened up about how he felt that she is the person who can hold him together. It is desperately saying that there are times when you are the only person in the world that can make me feel like I’m sane or loved and cared for.”
Lights
King recalls ‘Lights’ being a much lighter song than the latter. “When we finished that one we wanted it to be the kind of song people could just kind of sing along to. You don’t have to think about it nearly as much as say, digesting a personal struggle. In my mind, the song is meant to capture the feeling of driving with somebody by your side looking to have some fun.”
King also credits Heim for elevating the song musically: “I had this chord progression and then I brought it over to Hogan. He recommended doing the verses in 7/4 and the chorus in 4/4 to add this layer of complexity to it. Singing it is still hard. To this day I have a hard time singing the verses, which I like.”
King summarizes the song as one he “never gets tired of playing live. It’s an opportunity for anyone to sing along and embrace spending time with the people you love.”
Sunday Evening (Interlude)
Smith says “We went to our friend Tommy’s house and stayed up until 2 a.m. working on the interlude. We always go into a writing session with an idea, but somehow it always crumbles. The initial track was too much, and we simplified the whole thing because we didn’t want it to be too busy. Hogan and Tommy experimented with some weird guitar stuff and I played on their baby grand piano It ended up meshing together.”
Heim elaborates on the purpose of Sunday Evening believing it “set the tone for the rest of the album — particularly the following track, “Walking Away”. We wanted to use “Sunday Evening” to frame and seamlessly transition into “Walking Away”. We wrote it after the last four tracks were written, so we were able to compose with intention rather than trying to fit it back in.”
Walking Away
Heim had just gotten his second amp and a flanger pedal when he started writing “Walking Away”. With additional inspiration from The Police‘s records, Heim composed the beginning of the track before eagerly texting King to hear what he had.
King remembers Heim sending him a voice message with the chord progression and “just like that it was my favorite beginning to any song we’ve ever made. Just tonally, in the way it sounds.”
King clearly had fond memories of recording the track; recalling how things “just kind of fell into place. We really didn’t have to work for that one. The funny thing is we worked with artist Alec Stanley here in Athens. From a recording standpoint, it was the first time I’ve felt that experimentation pushed outside our comfort zone. The track has some tighter guitar and drum tones that really elevated what was possible… we really owe that to him.”
“The music thankfully steps in and says more than we could,” says Smith. We didn’t write a bridge because we felt we had said everything already.”
Coming Back
“We didn’t even have lyrics to the song when we started discussing track placement. We just felt the progression sounded similar to “Walking Away”, but not in a bad way. Because of this, we decided to call it “Coming Back” in answer to “Walking Away”. The lyrics don’t contain the words “coming back” and I never fully understood the track until it was put into the context of the album. With “Walking Away” preceding it, the track fit thematically within the rest of the album,” says Heim.
King remembers the Nashville recording sessions. “I would procrastinate writing until the day of recording but found that working under pressure breathed some freshness into the writing. Particularly because a lot of these song meanings change for me when I’m in the studio versus when we are rehearsing together. It’s funny because I wrote the song about my relationship with God. I was at a point where I was genuinely wondering what I was doing, who I am, why I even believe in a creator, and that he is supposed to love me. Like these really heavy things. Only a week prior I had been sitting on my couch at 3 am and felt like I knew all those answers. I had known that I was loved and valued, yet completely shrugged it off. For me, that’s what “Coming Back” is about. It’s a recommitment to who I am and what I believe. But for a lot of people, it is a song about relationships — whether with a significant other, a relative, or even a friend.”
“A lot of people thought it was about my wife and me when I realized I do that with her too. I shrug something off or I won’t open up. Listeners drawing their own meaning from the track makes it something truly special.”
Restless
“We actually wrote “Restless” around two years ago and came back to it last Summer. Hogan essentially wrote the whole song and then we added the bridge. Essentially, the song had no lyrics for almost two years.”
Heim agrees adding that “A cool thing about “Restless” to me is that musically it was only the second song we had tried to write shortly after Aidan had joined the band. At that time, the band was firing on all cylinders, with Aidan rounding the rest of the band out. He really refined track into a state where the point gets across to listeners.”
King speaks to the lyrics saying “we were stuck until Hogan mentioned how cool it would be to swap perspectives between the verses and the chorus. So I just kind of ran with that. The perspective of the verse is young me and the chorus is me now telling my younger self what to do. But for anyone, it can be a reminder to slow down when you’re in the midst of existential concern.”
“The restlessness in the song speaks to this overarching idea of not being content with where you are,” King surmises.
Perfect Timing
Smith recalls the recording of “Perfect Timing” as “one of the most fun times recording and writing we’ve ever had.” He says the band “went up to Nashville to record as a snowstorm was approaching. So there was this looming feeling that we might get stuck there, which added excitement to the air. We were working with these two guys Ethan Standard and Blake Tallent; Blake’s an old friend of ours but we had never recorded with him. The lyrics were pretty cool because Zach wrote them sitting on the couch while we were busy doing drum and guitar takes… it just felt very natural.”
Heim agrees, “It was a super fun one because it was the first time I got to really flesh out all my ideas on the guitar with Blake, and Karmen did a similar thing on the drums. We all decided to give it what we got individually and see how it goes together without as much hands-on editing.”
“This song really helped us recognize how much trust we had in one another and how comfortable we became with trying out new things. This was a really fun song because our parts were separate but able to come together in a really cool way,” added King.
Hiding Places, Out of Hiding: “Homework”
Hiding Places are one of many bands emerging through the bustling post-pandemic creative scene, escaping from an isolation that long limited the ignition of projects in-the-making. Though most of us spent apocalypse-times contemplating survival, it’s quite refreshing to remember how isolation drove many to cultivate time and energy towards their art. I saw this vitality at work amongst musical friends, and more-so those that spend their free time playing around in elaborately concocted home-studios—a fateful reality for the making of Hiding Places. Embracing the gradual return to live music with the release of a new single and mini-tour announcement, Hiding Places are just starting out with already a whole lot to offer, ever-present in the impressions of “Homework.”
The indie four-piece release their debut song today, only a few days after a fun first show at Flicker Bar in Athens on Wednesday. The single showcases their music as a blend of classic indie rock and psych dreampop, drawing upon the melodic affinities of Soccer Mommy, Snail Mail, and Japanese Breakfast. Originating between the creative hotspots of Athens, GA and Asheville, NC, the group are reflective of their influences, yet organic in their delivery of nostalgic indie. The single was mixed and produced by guitarist Nicholas Byrne, whose range of talent is evident between his present band and experimental solo project, Arts + Crafts—a diverse collection of vibrant electronica that is also available on all streaming platforms (check it out!).
Although the band self-identifies their sound as “indie alt-country”, what “Homework” translates to is a slow-build of meditative, entrancing vocals matched by waves of floaty instrumentation. Harmonious layers of swirling guitar surround the space of the single, with a presence so immense and dominating it supersedes the chorus. Serving as a transitory daze between verses, the guitar & echoing ooh’s quickly effect the song into what feels like a psychedelic whirlwind (a comforting familiarity). The serene coordination between the two invokes a feeling both uplifting and reflective. Cyclical drums and bass shy in the background, complimenting the vocals/guitar and helping to cast you adrift the song’s contemplative dreamscape.
“Homework” is one of those songs whose instrumentals alone intuitively drive the volume up, and with such a pacifying voice, the varied potential of the band is eminent. Although hardly “alt-country”, the song invites an emotive yet heavy sound—similar in feeling to that of Melody’s Echo Chamber—a style the band has already proven to naturally embody. Between this and their future releases, which may dabble more in the realms of alt folk and country, I’m personally loving the psychedelic nature of “Homework” and am super stoked to hear how their music evolves from it. If you too are impressed by the band’s first release, you’ll be happy to know that they’ve recently finished recording a full-length album here in Athens, and plan to release the record both digitally and on pressed vinyl this fall.
Check out their bandcamp, & to stay tuned into their upcoming shows + new music announcements, do hit up @hidingplacesband on instagram!
Review: CLOUDLAND: ‘Where We Meet’
As the clock strikes midnight, CLOUDLAND, based out of Athens, Georgia, celebrates the release their debut album, Where We Meet. The four-piece rock group is made up of members: vocalist Zach King, Karmen Smith on drums, guitarist Aidan Hill and Hogan Heim on bass.
The ten-track album was written over the last year and a half, handing us the means to cope with the solitude we have all felt recently but also the relationships we have curated and reinforced, stronger than ever before.
“Sunday Afternoon” eases us into this significant milestone of CLOUDLAND’s —acoustic guitars extend their reach to greet us, vocal harmonies enticing us to stay. Truly depicting of a Sunday afternoon with a hint of what’s to come in the week. And just like a Monday, “Overthinking” wakes us up from our breezy, Sunday haze. “Thinking straight is something I can’t do… while my mind’s on you.” This track stuck out the most to me with a chorus that you just have to loudly sing along to in the car, and the sweet innocence of being absolutely enthralled by another is something that should be cherished. This came out to be one of my favorite tracks from the album; it offered enough in the instrumentals — the punchy guitars, the drums backing up the energy of the song, and the catchy vocals. Personally and a little surprisingly, I found the titular track, “Where We Meet”, to be one of the lesser hits off the freshman album. It reminded me a bit too much of my own youth group days, but that’s trauma to unpack another time.
Next up is the recently released single, “St. Elmo” — the band writes, “It’s about having someone by your side that can take all the confusion of self doubt away by just holding your hand.” Along with track two, “Overthinking,” this is an automatic add to any roadtrip playlist, from Chattanooga to St. Elmo to North Shore. “Lights” is next, a track that gives me hints of nostalgia for the nights I never lived, the memories I haven’t yet created, within in the coming-of-age film I never will star in. Midway, the album is struck by what seems like the tail end of an alien invasion dream, the piano keys of “Sunday Evening” waking you up from your feverish illusion. Continuing on, a track that hit a little too close to home is “Walking Away.” King asks, “Did a dream just die?” A question we might never get the answer if we quit pursuing. But, as a response, “Coming Back,” the moody guitars and instrumentals echo the lyrics, the two deep in conversation. Taking a different approach, “Restless” shows a much more emotionally vulnerable and softer side of the band featuring higher pitched vocals, an entrancing guitar progression, and soft drumming. “I am restless inside of myself. I’m always trying to be something else.” “Perfect Timing” brings it home with bursts of energy we almost forgot existed, closing the album out with a lulling trickle of shoegazy guitar and whispers of harmonies.
Where We Meet is available for listen on all streaming platforms, and Georgia fans, keep an eye out for CLOUDLAND’s show dates in Atlanta and Athens.
Recommended for fans of Moon Taxi, Bad Suns, and Hippo Campus.
Tracklist:
- Sunday Morning
- Overthinking
- Where We Meet
- St. Elmo
- Lights
- Sunday Evening
- Walking Away
- Coming Back
- Restless
- Perfect Timing
Track-By-Track: Humble Plum Talks Debut ‘Seventeen Hours’
Athens, GA-based Humble Plum’s debut album, Seventeen Hours, out now. Humble Plum is composed of Daniel Hardin John Ilardi and Josh Johnston. Ilardi and Johnston are students in UGA’s music business program, affectionately monikered as MBUS, and Hardin graduated the program in 2020. Childhood friends Hardin and Ilardi reconnected at UGA and brought Johnston into their fold.
The album title, Seventeen hours, refers to the 17 hours in which the group wrote, recorded, mixed, and mastered the album. When Hardin first suggested the idea Johnston kindly told him to get some sleep. The next morning, still adamant, Hardin quickly got Johnston and Ilardi on board. “We just wanted to see if we could do it,” said Johnston.
The rules were simple: The album had to be completed in one day and absolutely no thought or planning could take place prior to the day the group had set aside to make this album. The group “didn’t think anyone would listen” to Seventeen Hours, they just made it for the fun of creating music together. The result is joyful chaos. The album feels raw and personal in a completely new way.
We asked Humble Plum to take us through each track on the album and give us further insight into the making of Seventeen Hours.
Check out their track-by-track rundown below, and be sure to queue up the album stream below.
Johnny
Starting with a guitar riff, Hardin penned some lyrics about his friend and bandmate John who “has a really nice car and is always down to jam.” The first song on the album, “Johnny” was written and recorded between 7 a.m and 9 a.m and then forgotten until putting the final album together.
Hey Jere!
Johnston really wanted to make a Jere Morehead diss track and a punk track. Both wishes were met with “Hey Jere!” The track gave current students Ilardi and Johnston an opportunity to air their grievances with the president of UGA on the university’s handling of COVID-19. Lyrics include gems like “I can’t go to the beach, but I can go to a game? Why don’t you learn to spell your own name?”
Is That A Bee?
In a jarring transition from “Hey Jere!”, “Is That A Bee” is a mellow reggae track that questions Jerry Seinfield on why he ended Seinfield and made the Bee Movie. The track’s composition started with an off-beat guitar and reggae drums inspired by Sting’s “Englishman In New York.” Hardin wrote the lyrics in 10 minutes “on pure instinct.”
Rest in P-Bass
A somber addition to the album, “Rest in P-Bass” was a collaborative effort about a bass guitar Johnston sold and missed dearly. The song utilizes a mandocello, which is a baritone mandolin that adds to the tracks depth. The humor in writing a song about a bass with the same level of sincerity as a break-up ballad is not lost on the trio. “There is definitely an element of funny in the sad,” said Johnston. “It’s overly dramatic for sure.”
Intermissionary Funk
“Intermissionary Funk” forgoes lyrics to let the track’s instrumentals shine. The first of two instrumental tracks on the album, “Intermissionary Funk” harkens back to the funk-rock backings popular in the early ’70s. While Hardin’s drums and Johnston’s bass ground the track, the guitar is what makes the track noteworthy. In a unique approach, Hardin, Johnston, and Ilardi took turns playing guitar adding the slightest variety to the tracks uniting riff.
Mother Russia
Johnston lived in Bulgaria for five years, which has become quite the joke among the friends and was the impetus for Johnston to write “Mother Russia.” The instrumentals for the song are “basically the Tetris song” according to Johnston. Interestingly, the theme to Nintendo’s 1989 video game actually started its life as a 19th century Russian folk song “Korobeiniki.” The song was recorded using a 1969 Soviet Union microphone. “It sounds like you’re yelling in a bread line,” says Hardin. Ilardi describes the mics effect as “aggressive” which is why they also used it on the track “Hey Jere!” The song was recorded in one take with Ilardi holding the mic up to Johnston, turning red with suppressed laughter. Hardin calls the track “a glorious tune.”
2nd Best Friend
“We all have that friend we like, but also find them annoying,” said Ilardi when asked about the concept of “2nd Best Friend.” It’s about your back-up friend. The song was inspired by Flight of The Conchords “Most Beautiful Girl in the Room” taking the song’s concept of calling someone “the most beautiful girl,” but qualifying it with “in the room. Humble Plum does something similar by qualifying “best friend” with “2nd” making the track kind of mean, but very relatable.
Thank You Caledonia
“It’s the sad one on the album,” said Hardin in reference to “Thank You Caledonia” Humble Plum’s ode to the iconic Athens music venue. Ironically enough, when the group decided to write about Caledonia, they thought they were going to make another funny song. It is when the group started actually writing the song and reflecting on what the loss of Caledonia meant to them that the song turned into the heart wrenching goodbye heard on the album.
Siri
The guitar for “Siri” was written at 7 a.m and put aside for about 12 hours when the band started building the rest of the song. Hardin developed the drums taking inspiration from Cloudland drummer Karmen Smith. “We wanted a song people could jump to,” said Ilardi, and “Siri” is just that. The track’s title comes from the lyrics which the group wrote using predictive type making the song completely incomprehensible.
The Mighty Oconee
The second instrumental track and final album track is “The Mighty Oconee” a joke because as Johnston explains “the Oconee is anything but mighty.” The track has an Americana vibe produced by the layering of various string instruments including banjo, mandolin, and mandocello.
Street Style Profile: Powerkompany
Marie Davon and Andrew Heaton are the magic behind Athens based band Powerkompany. Scientists by day, musicians by night, this dynamic duo also happens to be the perfect subject for this weeks edition of Vinyl Mag’s Street Style Profile—seeing as they are each other’s Valentines! Though Powerkompany is currently on tour and enjoying Fashion Week in the Big Apple, they were happy to share a little with us about how they approach style and what influences their music making. Also click here for a link to their awe-inspiring music, and be sure to scroll down for a very special Valentines-day inspired playlist—chosen just for you by Powerkompany.
Can you tell us a little about how you started making music together, or how Powerkompany was born?
I started playing my songs around the house, and Andrew would hear them and start playing guitar or violin along. Then we started recording them, just for fun and the production evolved organically over time.
What are your musical or artistic influences?
That’s such a tough question, because nearly every single person, place, thing, sound, smell, experience influences us.
Does your scientific background affect or influence your music making? If so, how?
We approach everything like it’s an experiment.
Tell us about how your personal styles influence each other; what is your favorite thing about how the other approaches dress- who styles who?
[Marie] I’m the main stylist of Pk, meaning that I choose the themes and colors. I usually get dressed first, and once that’s chosen, Andrew can usually come up with a really creative and great complimentary outfit from the basic guidelines I set. We both appreciate comfort expressed with beautiful little details, which is how we dress… or at least try. We also love working with up and coming designers and picking favorite pieces to incorporate in our everyday life, like what we did with Lindsey Simunec and our album outfits. We wear some and all of the pieces she made for that shoot.
What is your position on Valentine’s Day – yay or nay?
Meh…we’re everyday lovers.
Which of your songs has the best backstory?
The best personal backstory, I guess would be for “Another One Born in New York,” based on a beautiful girl in NY that Andrew and I grew close to and had strong feelings for. Love can show up in unexpected ways sometimes…
But who can beat the story of the Little Mermaid? Our song “Mermaid” is based on that story.
*Don’t forget to check out Powerkompany’s Valentine’s playlist below!
Powerkompany Valentine’s Playlist:
Street Style Profile: Kristine Leschper
On a recent snowy day in Athens (I’m sure those of you in town remember it well), we met with local musician and art student, Kristine Leschper. Kristine is the irreverent and mysterious vocalist behind Mothers, and she’s just as interesting as her music. For this weeks street style review, we asked Kristine to wear an outfit with a story:
The Jacket:
“The jacket was my grandmothers in the 1940’s/50’s. I was at her house a few years ago looking through her incredible collections of clothing, art, and trinkets that she had gathered over the years. I told her how incredible the leather coat was, and she said, ‘take it – looks better on you!'”
The Ring:
“When I was eighteen my father gave me this ring, because he wanted to be the first boy to give me a diamond. “
I have to admit, I almost teared up a little when Kristine told the ring story…but I held it together for a short conversation to find out a little more about Kristine’s style and inspiration:
Vinyl Mag: First, what are a few of your favorite things?
Kristine Leschper: Bones, ivy plants, teeth, and winged insects.
VM: What/who influences your style, or what kind of things inspire the way you dress?
KL: I joke that I dress like a teenage boy in the 90’s. This outfit is pretty put together for me – I usually end up wearing a lot of corduroy shirts and denim jackets.
VM: What are you currently listening to?
KL: Angel Olsen’s “Tiny Desk Concert” on NPR… over and over.
VM: Are there any shows you’re excited to go see in the near future? (local or otherwise)
KL: I’m really stoked about Real Estate in March, and Daniel Rossen in April.
VM: Lastly (and most importantly), If you could pick a superpower what would it be?
KL: Invisibility!
If you haven’t had a chance to check out Kristine’s music or amazing prints, follow the links below!
Thanks for visiting Vinyl Mag for this weeks Street Style Profile.