Southern Gothic Festival

I spent last weekend in Athens, Georgia at the 2nd annual Southern Gothic Festival, where I saw ten bands in two nights. They sure were late nights for me. I'm still recovering from not getting enough sleep. But the bands were great!

Friday night's lineup was

• Vincas
• Panic Priest
• House of Harm
• The March Violets
• Korine
• Tears for the Dying

Saturday's was

• Miss Cherry Delight
• Deceits
• The Chameleons
• Vision Video

The rest of Saturday night was DJ'd by Dusty Gannon and Dan Geller.

My short descriptions are:

Vincas is a local Athens band with a swamp-rock psychedelic sound. They were alright, but not inspiring. I confess I like hearing the lyrics, and they seemed to be all drone.

Panic Priest is a post-punk darkwave synth-pop project of Jack Armondo, and was really excellent. He has a great sound, and a good stage presence.

I hadn't heard much House of Harm before the festival, but they are a Boston-based post-punk/synth-pop group. They seemed to want to play in darkness, yeah, it's goth, but still, really? I liked their sound, and I bought a CD.

The March Violets are one of the two reasons I went to the festival. They are a post-punk gothic rock band from the northern UK (Leeds). They started in 1981, and have taken some breaks. They used to be a four person band, and now they are three, but at least my favorite two original members are still with the band. Tom Ashton is an amazing guitarist. I spent a certain amount of their set just watching him play. Rosie Garland is a great singer, songwriter, and performer. She really commands the crowd when she's performing. And the new bass player, Mat Thorpe, was fun to watch, too, as he cranked out the bass along with delivering backing vocals.

I had a little chat after with Rosie, and we found we both like some of the same British electric folk. I mentioned Steeleye Span, and she mentioned June Tabor. We are of similar ages, and so have some similar musical influences. But the March Violets are my favorite Gothic Rock band.

Korine is an interesting electronic pop band. They were playing their guitars onstage, which was probably more visually interesting than playing their synths. I'd heard some of their music before, but hadn't really listened. They were good, and I bought a CD.

Tears for the Dying was the other reason I went to the festival. They are an Athens-based deathrock band, and I have really liked their sound for awhile. They don't tour that far from Athens, so when else was I going to see them? Adria, the singer and songwriter, is writing some of the best political deathrock today, especially focused on LGBTQ experience, and the current political climate.

Miss Cherry Delight is a shock rocker from New York. I'd seen some video and heard some music, so I wasn't shocked. I'll just say she's good at what she does, and she's not to my taste.

I'd heard of Deceits before, but hadn't listened to them. I really, really liked their instrumental sound, which is a very '80s style gothic sound, but was less fond of the lead's singing style. The lyrics were good, but he tends to deliver a line, play a bit, deliver the next line, play a bit, etc. Nothing wrong with that, and I suppose it might grow on me. Other things have, such as drum machines, which I used to hate.

The Chameleons are a post-punk band from the northern UK (Manchester). They delivered a great performance, and had the crowd in their hands. I wasn't going to buy vinyl and try to get it back home, but they had "Strange Times" on CD, and we bought one.

Vision Video played last, and they are the local big goth band. I've seen them several times when they've come through my area, and they're great people as well as being great musicians. Dusty is one of the few goth musicians writing current protest music, and he does it very well. Emily knocks out solid synth, and great backing vocals, and I always like it when she sings lead, whether on her song "Comfort in the Grave", or a cover.

We were pretty tired after two late nights, so we didn't stay long after Vision Video's set.

It was fun. I met a lot of people. I would consider going again!