College Times Hollow Review

CALENDAR

Concerts

UPCOMING CONCERTS CONTINUED ...

Gettin’ Whiggy with it

Graveyard BBQ w/Ghengis Con Jon, Hole Hog, Hollywood Alley, May 23, 8 p.m., $5 Souless w/69 Sins, Split the Enemy, Kill Me Courageous, Santorum, Anatomy of Suffering, The Sets, May 23, 6:30 p.m., $11 The Police w/Elvis Costello and the Imposters, Cricket, May 24, 7 p.m., $40-$225 The Medic Droid w/A Cursive Memory, Chronic Future, Breathe Carolina, Brickhouse, May 24, 7 p.m., $10 Johnny Rawls, Rhythm Room, May 24, 8 p.m., $8 Brodie Hubbard w/Page the Village Idiot, Hands on Fire, Young Mother, Mark the Righteous, Modified, May 24, 6:30 p.m., $7 J Holiday, Celebrity Theatre, May 24, 8 p.m., $35 The Rocketz w/Grave Danger, The Faraway Boys, Hollywood Alley, May 24, 8 p.m., $5

The Kills w/Child Ballads, Brickhouse, May 22, 7:30 p.m., $12 adv, $14 dos Sistah Blue, Rhythm Room, May 22, 7 p.m., $15 Black Carl, The Loft, May 22, 8 p.m., $5 Monadnoc w/Paper Box, Florescent Pastries, Trunk Space, May 22, 8 p.m., $6 God Forbid w/Death Angel, Soilent Green, Light This City, Howitzer, Foul Mouth, The Sets, May 22, 6 p.m., $15 adv, $17 dos The Brother Unconnected, Modified, May 23, 7 p.m., $10 Dresden Dolls w/Smoosh, Marquee Theatre, May 23, 6:30 p.m., $21 adv, $22 dos Tracy Lawrence, Celebrity Theatre, May 23, 8 p.m., $40 Big Nick & The Gila Monsters, Rhythm Room, May 23, 8 p.m., $7 Foot Village w/Soft Shoulder, Trunk Space, May 23, 8 p.m., TBA

Courtesy Big Hassle PR

Local Spotlight

Georgia garage rockers hit the road in support of new album

Kole at Rising Crest Photography

Anthony Smith’s Trunk Fulla Funk CD release, Rhythm Room, May 15, 8 p.m., $6 (show only), $10 (includes CD) Kinch, The Loft, May 15, 8 p.m., $5 Tramps & Thieves, Last Exit, May 15, 9 p.m., $5 Al Jarreau and Sinbad w/Everette Harp, Celebrity Theatre, May 16, 8 p.m., $56-$101 The Soldiers Ball feat. Ivory, Realizm, Span Phly, The Sets, May 16, 7:30 p.m., $10 Inkult CD release w/(sic)monic, Lurid State, Jason Society, Detox, Sins Reflection, Marquee Theatre, May 16, 6:30 p.m., $10 adv, $12 dos The Hard Lessons, Rhythm Room, May 16, 6 p.m., $8 Fight the Quiet w/Out of Reverie, Sleepwalk a Robot, The Phix, May 16, 7:30 p.m., TBA Rhythm Room All-Stars, Rhythm Room, May 16 & 17, 8 p.m., $7 Jesse Cook w/Sahnas Brothers, Celebrity Theatre, May 17, 8 p.m., $55-$100 The Cave Singers, Modified, May 17, 7 p.m., $10 Billy Currington w/Nick Nicholson, Venue of Scottsdale, May 17, 7 p.m., $25 Where Eagles Dare w/Heroes Dead And Gone, Vineland, Run With The Hunted, Antietem, Brickhouse, May 17, 5 p.m., $5 Amo Joy w/Cardiac Party, Trunk Space, May 17, 8 p.m., $6 Bomb Threat w/80-D, XIII Black, The Fed-Ups, Hollywood Alley, May 17, 8 p.m., $5 The Spider Hole w/Astari Night, Swell Chemistry, Nachash, The Sets, May 17, 7:30 p.m., $12 Mojo Farmers CD release, Last Exit, May 17, 9 p.m., TBA Eisley w/The Myriad, Vedera, Bickhouse, May 18, 7 p.m., $13 adv, $15 dos Destroyer w/Devon Williams, Vine Land, Rhythm Room, May 18, 8 p.m., $11 adv, $12 dos Harptallica, Hollywood Alley, May 18, 8 p.m., $5 The Dirtbombs w/Dan Sartain, Terrible Twos, Rhythm Room, May 19, 8 p.m., $10 adv, $12 dos Fall Of Troy w/The Dear Hunter, Foxy Shazam, Tera Melos, Clubhouse, May 19, 7 p.m., $12 Fleas And Lice w/Mouth Sewn Shut, Doomsday Hour, The Prosthetics, Modified, May 19, 7 p.m., $10 Mount Righteous w/Dangerville, Hello Mind Control, Hooves, Trunk Space, May 19, 8 p.m., $7 The Phenomenauts w/The A.K.A.s, Maldroid, Brickhouse, May 20, 7 p.m., $10 CPC Gangbangs w/Tokyo Electron, The Vivian Girls, Subvacuum of Nothing, The Tightholes, Modified, May 20, 7 p.m., $8 Too Slim & The Taildraggers, Rhythm Room, May 20, 7 p.m., $10 adv, $12 dos Blake/e/e/e w/Hell-Kite, Vine Land, Tungsten Lights Up, Trunk Space, May 20, 8 p.m., $6 Mindless Self Indulgence w/The Birthday Massacre, London After Midnight, Marquee Theatre, May 21, 6:30 p.m., $20 adv, $25 dos Murder By Death w/Dios Malos, Gasoline Hearts, Clubhouse, May 21, 7 p.m., $12 BLVD w/MC Souleye, DJ Seduce, Rhythm Room, May 21, 8 p.m., $7 Floater, Hollywood Alley, May 21 & 22, 8 p.m., $5 Megadeth w/In Flames, Children of Bodom, Job For a Cowboy, High On Fire, Mesa Amphitheatre, May 22, 5:30 p.m., $39 adv, $42 dos

By Mike R. Meyer • College Times

DIGITAL SUMMER Hollow (Self-released)

GRADE

B

For the follow-up to their 2007 debut, Cause and Effect, local hard rockers Digital Summer decided to go several different directions at once. The band’s new release, Hollow, is a twodisc CD/DVD combo that presents the band in several different lights. The first four songs on the CD are billed as “acoustic,” although terms like “unplugged” or “stripped down” don’t really apply to the textured production of these songs. Digital Summer might’ve traded in their electric guitars for acoustics on these songs, but they’re still a far cry from coffee shop fare. The band reworks a pair of songs from their debut, “Whatever it Takes” and “Suffocate,” and throws in a pair of new songs, “Use Me” and Sweet Misery,” for good measure. The sound is mellower than their debut, but the band’s signature wall of sound remains intact with drums, layered vocals and multiple guitars. The CD’s last two tracks, “Rescue Me” and “Worth the Pain,” are new songs that more closely resemble the band’s prior work. The songs probably veer a little too close to Nickelback territory to connect with hardcore metalheads, but there’s no denying Digital Summer’s knack for writing catchy hooks. The DVD features a video for “Rescue Me” that might seem a little corny if you weren’t aware of the band’s firefighting background, a live video of “Disconnect” from their debut and behind the scenes footage from the video shoot. All in all, Hollow is a comprehensive, if somewhat schizophrenic, overview of Digital Summer’s many sides. Digital Summer w/One Last Peace, Vistalance, Signs of Betrayal, Denial Method, Giantkiller, 32 Leaves, Asperity, Versed in Grey, Venue of Scottsdale, May 9, 7 p.m., $10 adv, $12 dos

The Whigs have come a long way in a short period of time. After recording their 2005 debut album in an empty frat house in their hometown of Athens, Georgia, the group caught the ear of ATO Records, who signed the band in 2006. Their sophomore effort, Mission Control, was recorded in slightly more professional conditions at Sunset Sound in LA and was released earlier this year. College Times recently spoke with The Whigs’ drummer Julian Dorio about the album, touring and being good role models by staying in school. College Times: You guys have spent a big part of the last three years on the road. Do you ever get tired of touring? Dorio: We really enjoy it. For us, it’s kind of the point of being in a band. To get to play live all the time and play different towns in front of different people is sort of what we love. It can be exhausting and we try to get home every once in a while to kind of rejuvenate ourselves. You were all students when you started. Did you finish school or just put it on the backburner to pursue music for a while? We all went to the University of Georgia and have since graduated and hope to make (music) a thing that we can do full time. Really, we had finished that record, the first one, and still had some school left … so we kind of juggled the two. We tried to tour as much as we could but also finish up school. We were pretty close, so it seemed like it was worth our time to get the degrees out of the way. The moment we were done with school, we’ve been pretty much touring ever since.

The album has a pretty wide array of sounds. Was there a conscious decision to make a really diverse album or did it just kind of turn out that way? I don’t think we tried. It wasn’t contrived that way. I think even from the beginning, we’ve always been a band that’s always written different types of songs. The moment that we write one type of song, it might inspire us to write something a little different than that one and then continue to push ourselves and tackle different types of songs and ideas and sounds. So it ends up that our albums have sort of this variety. I like that. I hope that would mean that you have to listen to the record more than once, take some time to sort of get all these different things. Cities like New York, LA and Austin seem to get the lion’s share of media attention, but Athens has a strong musical history of its own. What was it like starting out there as a local band? There are an amazing amount of bands for such a small town, a lot of great bands and a lot of bands that we’re definitely fans of. I think the competition is healthy. It’s a very supportive community. We definitely like being from here and coming home here. You can go out any night and see shows and there’s a lot of great venues. It kind of keeps you on your toes, because I think a lot of people around here (who) go out to shows, if they don’t love your band, you’re not the only band in town. They’ve got a lot of things to choose from. The Whigs w/What Made Milwaukee Famous, The Dead Trees, Modified Arts, 407 E. Roosevelt, Phoenix, 602.462.5516, May 13, 7 p.m., $10

WWW.ECOLLEGETIMES.COM

• COLLEGE TIMES • MAY 8, 2008

47