Page 4
The Blue Banner
Decembers, 1996
Southern rock grunge band from Ohio
releases self-titled album
Jay Malinoski
Staff Writer
The latest self-titled LP from Columbus,
Ohio’s very own Haynes Boys gives us some of
the freshest sounds to come out recently, com
bining the thunderous percussion and bass of
drummer Jovan Karcic and bassist Aaron Rice
with both acoustic and electric riffs courtesy of
lead singer/ songwriter Timothy Easton and
Freddie Free.
The album screams of blues and southern
rock. And, oh my, the slides they use in their
songs. They could do Skynyrd proud.
The only way I can think of to describe the
band is bluesy southern rock grunge with tal
ent. So many musical influences are present in
this album that it’snear impossible to name
one that you can relate the band’s sound to,
which is good in the long run.
The stylistic changes within the music vary
from song to song, giving the LP a sense of
spontaneous continuity. It’s really kinda cool
and does nothing if not keep your attention.
The songs themselves speak for the band. If
Elvis had been born in Seattle, then he would
have belted out “The New Franklin County
Woman.” The obvious blues-rock influence
could only be matched by the distortion cranked
up on the chords. But on the other side of the
same coin you have “Hell On Earth,” which
could only be paralleled with James Taylor.
This album is not only replete with musical
influences, it is also a CD of one-liners. Some
of the songs have the most riveting lyrics I’ve
heard out of anything lately. In “Bitters Past,”
Easton sings “I don’t want to grow old just
drinkin’, but I want to grow old drinkin’ with
you.”
Take this line from “Jackie”: “Jackie, I really
want to have you, but your boyfriend drives a
tow truck.” That line in itself should speak
volumes for the content of the album. That
entire song is dedicated to a car that got repoed
by the DMV. That’s originality that brings a
tear to the eye.
“It’s a country-folk-blues-garage-rock thing
with heart,” said Easton about the band’s sound
in a press release. “People have a hard time
classifying our music. Ifyou’re a good band it’s
hard for people to deny you,” he added.
The Haynes Boys formed in 1994. Inheriting
their name from a clan of infamous Columbus
hooligans, they opened the following year for
artists like the Jayhawks and Freedy Johnston.
Recorded in Nashville, their self-titled LP
was produced by Robin Eaton and Brad Jones
with a little mixing help from Fred Maher, who
has worked with Lou Reed and Matthew Sweet.
The band will perform at the Mercury The
ater in Knoxville, Tn. on Dec. 7, at Be Here
Now in downtown Asheville on Dec. 8 and at
Rockafella’s in Columbia, S.C. on Dec. 9.
Take advantage, people. The Haynes Boys
ar£ one of the more original bands I’ve heard so
far this year, with an unpredictability and sense
of originality that seems to be lacking in today’s
music industry. Any band that writes a song
about a car being taken by the DMV can’t be
all bad, can they?
The Haynes Boys'
Photo courtesy of SPI Management
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UNCA Visiting Assistant
Professor of Literature
Tom Hubbard will read
from his works at 7 p.m.
on Dec. 11 at Urthona
Gallery, 91 Patton Av
enue in downtown
Asheville.
Last Chance!
Tapes of each lecture are
available at the
UNCA Bookstore
while supplies last
$4 individually $20 for all six
Looking for a fresh selection of music?
Check out these web pages on the htemet.
Rafrica Adams
Staff Writer
The Internet is one of the biggest, most
easily accessible sources of information avail
able today. It’s as fast as your computer, it’s
cheap, and in some cases, it’s even free. Al
though it is extremely useful for finding people,
looking up research topics, and other simi
larly important things, its business value can
not be denied. This is no more evident than
in the music field.
Here in the hills of Western North Carolina,
the access it gives to businesses that cater to
musicians and music lovers alike is unparal
leled. In Asheville, it is difficult to find music
by most artists that are not Billboard items at
the larger stores; you usually have to travel
outside the city.
If you are looking for something on a format
other than cassette or CD, like a minidisc or
vinyl record (yes, they still make those) then
you can just about forget it. Although local
stores such as Karmasonics, Almost Blue,
Green Eggs and Jam, and Sounds Familiar
stock vinyl titles regularly, the selection is
severely limited and never in other alternate
formats. There is also a problem with being
introduced to new artists who aren’t local.
The Internet offers a fresh solution to those
with a taste beyond the ordinary. Here are a
few musically-related web pages that cater to
those with such tastes.
The Internet Underground Music Archive
(http: //www. iuma. com)
There is no better place on the Internet to get
introduced to new, unknown bands. The
page is full of band pictures, profiles and
samples from all over the country, and in
every musical format imaginable. The reason
that this is possible is that the creators of
IUMA created it as a place where any band can
be heard. For a small fee, a band can send a
sample of their work there and have it put on
the page for people across the world to listen
to. Using the service (as a listener) is free, and
the audio samples are in high-quality, stereo
MPEG format.
Streetsound Magazine Online (http://
www.streetsound.com)
This is the online version of Streetsound Maga
zine, which is available at Downtown Books
and News on Lexington Avenue. There are
reviews of all kinds of music here, including
rock, techno, house, bhangra, blues, acid jazz
and jungle.
It has top ten charts from different DJs from
all over the world, and the reviews all feature
an easy-to-follow rating system. They don’t
rate everything well, either; if something is
garbage, they’ll say so.
Firefly (http://www.ffly.com)
You’ll have to become a member of this
online community before you can take full
advantage of its assets, but membership is free
so that shouldn’t be a problem. Once you’re
in, you’ll have a hard time leaving. Not only
does this page have music and movie reviews,
samples, and ratings, it also becomes a kind of
mini “America Online.”
There are chat rooms, member profiles, an
online magazine called “Flypaper” that the
members contribute to, groups dedicated to
specific films, bands, or topics, and much,
much more.
The music and movie reviews are different
from most other places. Here, the members
rate various groups and films, and the rating
is the average of all the members’ ratings.
Although this can lead to problems with people
rating music outside of their preferred genre,
there are plenty of music samples and links to
additional information on most groups so
you’ll be able to form your own opinion on
groups you’ve never heard of.
Occasionally, they’ll have a live chat session
with a celebrity. On other occasions, they’ll
even have live, internet-broadcast concerts.
It’s very addictive, and worth a visit. Tell
them “Ashabanapal” sent you, and send him
a message...
Pentagon Online Music Store (http://
www.pentagon.net)
This is one of the most comprehensive online
music stores on the Internet. Nearly every
thing is available from this store. Prices are
reasonable, rendering those CD and cassette
clubs useless. Throw in overnight shipping,
and it’s a really sweet deal.
Upstairs Records (http://www.upstairs-
records.com)
Straight out of Brooklyn, New York, this
store caters mostly to the DJ. Not only can
you get popular 12” vinyl singles, cd,s and
cassettes of most artists before they’re even
released here, some of the stuff they sell is so
underground that you will never see it in this
region of the country, ever.
They also feature a record pool, which is a
service that distributes DJ-exclusive promo
tional material, that any DJ can join, regard
less of his employment history or status. They
also deal in high-end equipment, handling
everything from samplers to turntables to
mixers to lights. It’s a one-stop club-shop.
DJTRAXX (http://www.djtraxx.com)
Another club-oriented web site, this one fea
tures a different selection of samples from
various 12” singles every week. They special
ize in house and techno music, and any song
that you see on there that you like you can
instantly order from John Alex up at Panic
Records in Hartford, Connecticut. It also
features a trading post, chart listings from
various DJs, and various links to places that
are closely related.
There are many more musically-oriented web
sites available, including a lot of private home
pages that people use just to tell their thoughts
about different artists. The best way to find
more information specially tailored to an in
dividual taste is to use one of the many good
internet search engines, such as webcrawler
(http://www.webcrawler.com) or yahoo
(http://www.yahoo.com).
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