Greenville Scene

Nile

by: Keith Groover

If you haven’t checked out part one of this series, you can find it here. Lots of rap in this one, very little of it good. The two highest ranked ones (Coste y Dre and Double Ace Squad) are in Spanish. Much of the rap from the others is well produced, just not very creative. On the other side, a lot of the rock is creative and well written, but not very well produced. It would be interesting to see some of the rock acts go to some of the local rap acts for production and collaboration; I think some great stuff could come out of that.

Again, here’s the rough key of my grading system:

10 - Perfect.
9 - Excellent. I strongly recommend, even to people who don’t like the genre.
8 - Really good, with excellent production, songwriting, and performance. Definitely check these guys out.
7 - Solid, stuff that I liked, but not quite as good as the eights
6 - Well done, but with some untapped potential
5 - Decent, but on the high side of amateur
4 - Possibilities exist to be good, but they aren’t readily apparent
3 - Nothing much going on
2 - Bad
1 - Bad, but worse

Feel free to leave a comment here or in the forum if you think I’ve treated a band unfairly (or maybe too generously.) I only reviewed one song per band, so if that particular song doesn’t demonstrate the band’s abilities, let me know and I’ll re-review it.

Here It Is…

MySpace Challenge Pt. II

The Ten Mile MySpace Challenge
by: Keith Groover

This is what I did: I went to this page on Myspace and did a search for any band within ten miles of my zip code, which is 29607. You’ll notice that there are ten bands per page, and 100 pages listed. That’s 1000 bands. So, I took 100 or so bands, listened to the first song they had listed, and put them into my Excel spreadsheet. These are not exhaustive reviews of an entire band’s work, they’re based off of listening to one song. I always listened to the entire song, and tried to keep an open mind. As a big surprise to me, my highest rated musician in this first batch is a white Christian rapper. However, his songs really hit me in a way that no one else’s quite did. On the opposite end are some high school kids with no discernible talent. In between are some really great bands (Lecherous Noctourne), some niche bands (Infiltrados), and then there’s Claudia. Yikes.

Here’s sort of a rough key of how I rated the bands:

10 - Perfect.
9 - Excellent. I strongly recommend, even to people who don’t like the genre.
8 - Really good, with excellent production, songwriting, and performance. Definitely check these guys out.
7 - Solid, stuff that I liked, but not quite as good as the eights
6 - Well done, but with some untapped potential
5 - Decent, but on the high side of amateur
4 - Possibilities exist to be good, but they aren’t readily apparent
3 - Nothing much going on
2 - Bad
1 - Bad, but worse

Here are the first fifty. Enjoy!

by: Tiffany Heuser

In recent months, the folks in the Christian music scene have decided to make their stamp on Greenville a little bit bigger. From one teeny coffee shop below ground level have emerged two new Christian venues: The Unknown Venue and The Channel Venue. Each venue is an improvement over their previous home and they boast more impressive surroundings and professional sound systems. Not to mention the capacity to host more popular bands. These venues also have more than just live music in mind.

In a newly renovated building right off Haywood road is The Channel Venue. The Channel have partnered together with Carpenter’s Cellar and One Chord Ministries to be more than just a place for concerts but also Greenville’s first performing arts studio. The Channel provides the live concerts with the Carpenter’s Cellar doing what they did before in providing coffee drinks and light fare. One Chord Ministries is open Monday through Saturday offering classes in dance, drama, and sign language to name a few.

Just two blocks from Main Street is the Unknown Venue. You enter the building through glass doors beneath a bright blue NCAA awning but hanging outside on the painted brick wall is a black and white banner advertising the building’s actual use. While The Unknown Venue may be less impressive at first glance, the music and atmosphere certainly is not. Hosted by The Alternative and run by DJ TMAQ, the main focus is Christian hardcore and hip-hop music. Other happenings will include events such as a Guitar Hero contest and Doomsday, a Halo 2 competition. Furthermore, The Alternative offers weekly band coaching lessons for those up-and-comers that want to improve their sound.

Both venues have full schedules for the upcoming months including concerts, competitions, and classes. Be sure to check out their respective MySpace profiles for more information on Greenville’s new Christian venues.

http://www.myspace.com/thealternativeconcerts

http://www.myspace.com/thechannelvenue

Caledonia Lounge
256 Clayton Street
Athens, GA 30601
Contact Kaya
booking@caledonialounge.com
www.caledonialounge.com

{right: The Winter Sounds play Caledonia lounge. Photo: Mike White}

Caledonia is a small, one room rock venue hidden in a secret location in downtown Athens. This club is in many ways at the heart of the underground Athens rock and roll scene and is a great place to play if you are indie rock or thereby related.

The club has a small outdoor patio, partially covered by a tin roof and populated with chairs and tables. This is a popular hangout spot for people to listen to the bands inside and still have a conversation at normal talking level. There is an elevated platform with a picnic table that has a straight shot view into the door of the venue. Smoking inside buildings in Athens is illegal, making this patio one of the bar’s strong points.

When you walk inside, you see a small bar to your left and a stage dead ahead, about twenty yards away. The room is a nice size (probably 150 capacity) with a gorgeous ceiling (two large sky lights and visible wood beams). The focus at Caledonia is on the stage. The stage is about three feet high, fifteen feet wide, and ten feet deep (just an estimate). It is rather small, but manageable. The Winter Sounds are a five piece band and we fit onto the stage somehow. The sound system could use a face lift, but works for rock and roll.

This is one of our favorite places to play in the country. The Caledonia has a great reputation for finding bad a** bands before anyone else does. We recommend that you take a look at their concert calender and research the bands that are playing there. Find bands that you like and contact them to work out a show swap. Show them a good time in Greenville and they will show you a good time in Athens.

Free drinks for musicians? In a venue staffed with bad a** musicians, you KNOW they are going to treat you right. Yes, yes, and yes.

Comparable venues? Gypsy G’s, but smaller

Built in crowd? Not really

Who will not hang out here? The fraternity/sorority set usually veer away from here. Jam bands should not waste their time trying to book a show here.