Mr. Lollapalooza himself, Perry Farrell, once said of STS9, "STS9's music speaks in the future tense." The more I think about that statement, the more I think it's true. In a world full of knobs and auto-tune, these unsung heroes of the electronic world have carved a serious niche for themselves.
If you know anything at all about me, you know that this band right here is my shit. Hailing from ATL (Stone Mountain, GA to be exact), the entirely instrumental band consists of Hunter Brown (Guitar), David Murphy (Bass), David Phipps (Keyboards), Jeffree Lerner (Percussion), and last but not least, Zack Velmer (Drums). The band came up playing small bars in all of the southeastern college towns beginning in the late '90s, and considered Athens, GA, their second home. Ever since I stumbled into that late night tent at Bonnaroo '03 to see 5 lean musicians pumping out these otherworldly sounds and textures with live instruments, no less, I was hooked. They played for the better part of about 3 hours which culminated with an impromptu jam encore with Mike Gordon of Phish, who had no idea who they were 30 minutes prior to asking them if he could jump in. This performance absolutely ruined me for the rest of the weekend. I still had fun, but I felt like my musical appreciation had reached a whole new level that would not be surpassed throughout the rest of my time there.
Following the band over the next 6 years would take me to places like the Tabernacle for Halloween with fire dancers, the Georgia Theatre for a homebase throwdown, Colorado for their first headline at Red Rocks, and box seats at the House of Blues in Chicago. The band used to have a more fluid, organic, jammy feel, in songs like "Crystal Instrument," "Ramone and Emiglio," and "Water Song," but have since shortened their jams to include more electronic oriented club bangers such as "1103," "Hi-Key," and "Economic Hitman." Personally I prefer the older groovy STS9, but remember we're speaking in the future tense, right? While they may not have power crystals, the Myan calender, and live paintings at each show anymore, the new stuff has some potential, but I think it still has a way to go. Their latest album Peaceblaster is proof of this as it exhibits less of that trademark flow that has been showcased on 2005's Artifact or 2000's Offered Schematics Suggesting Peace. Still, I think that this is the best band going and are creating something truly original.
This year at Lolla, their biggest competition is Ben Folds at 4:00 on Friday, so it's a safe bet I will be posted up watching the band that has amazed me for years and hopefully will continue to in years to come.
Peaceblaster.com- This is a blog that is maintained by Hunter, the band's guitarist.
I ended up going to see the Funky Meters at the 2003 Bonnaroo instead of STS9. I have no regrets because the Meters were unbelievable, but I kind of wish I had caught some of STS9's set after reading your description.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry buddy, your chance is coming up quick.
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