. 8 I The Blue Banner I 3.28.2012
Arts & Features
Experimental music finds home in Asheville scene
Local musicians keep
music scene fresh
Emily Kendrick
Photo by Alex Person -Courtesy of This is ART
This is ART performed at The One Stop along with Push/Pull and Peripheral. All three artists combine live
instruments with electronic influences to create an experimental vibe.
ekendric@unca.edu - Staff Writer
Three artists, This is ART, Push/Pull and Pe
ripheral, performed last Thursday night at The
One Stop and showcased some of the innova
tive music the area has to offer.
Michael McBride, also known as Periph
eral, said Asheville is a community where
people want to support each other, which helps
breed the creativity of the area.
“Asheville has a very experimental vibe to it
to me,” McBride said. “People are always try
ing different ways to do dance music.”
Push/Pull and Peripheral both call Asheville
their home, while This is ART brought his tal
ent from Nashville, Tenn. All three artists com
bine live instruments and electronic production
to make very unique sounds.
McBride lived in Asheville for a while then
moved to Washington, D.C. He said the music
scene there was much more limited, and it was
hard to find people who wanted to play music.
“Everybody was either into heavy metal or
heavy rap and I never really found anybody
who was into music for the music,” McBride
said. “I remembered being in Asheville and
there was always music going on. There was
always somebody who was wanting to play and
all different kinds of musicians. I started really
missing that.”
Luckily, McBride moved back to Asheville
and began collaborating with other musicians.
He now belongs to the band Sonmi, as well as
creating music through his solo project.
Periodically joining the artists on stage was
guitarist Andrew Kirk, junior business man
agement student at UNC Asheville and gui
tarist for Agobi Project, a local live electronic
duo.
Kirk said he moved to Asheville in 2007 be
cause the local music scene was so diverse and
interesting.
Other local musicians like Kirk supple
mented the artists with their instruments. Miles
Cramer joined This is ART on drums. Carter
Magee joined Push/Pull on drums and David
Mathes joined Peripheral on drums.
Kirk said part of the reason for the evolution
of music in Asheville is the support from audi
ences.
He said there’s a reciprocation between the
artists and the show-goers keeping the music
scene alive.
Kirk said Asheville residents have respect for
music in general, and that’s part of what makes
the music scene interesting.
“I fell in love with the respect for art and mu
sic here, and I felt like I could contribute since
I’ve played music all my life,” Kirk said.