Wednesday, November 11, 2009
{The Blue Banner}
Page 12
UNCA musicians thrive on house show environment
By Sam Hunt
Arts & Features Editor
SCHUNT@UNCA.EDU
220 Broadway is more than just a re
hearsal space for UNC Asheville seniors
Sijal Nasralla and Lance Lathrop, who
started a drums-and-bass band called No
Shoulders last year.
Since the two moved into adjacent
homes on Broadway last summer. No
Shoulders hosted several house shows,
which feature live performances from
student bands, locals and touring acts.
“It is important for there to be alterna
tive spaces for music to happen,” Nas
ralla said. “It’s really about taking music
away from the hegemony of the bar that
has its standards, criteria and overrated
sound gear.”
Part of a house show’s appeal is its
authenticity, according to Nasralla, who
favors spontaneity over the typical re
hearsed live set.
“A house show is an authentic music
experience that draws people out,” Nas
ralla said. “Also, I think there is a feeling
that anything can happen. There aren’t
the boundaries or required behaviors that
people feel in bars. It’s loose and open-
ended.”
Noah Ben Barratt, who plays with
Nasralla and Lathrop in a band called
Amazing Face, said house shows have
an economical advantage over down
town venues.
“I prefer house shows over venues.
It’s homier and without the smells of
a bar. There’s no cover charge, so all
money donated goes straight to the mu
sicians,” Barratt said. “Fve seen great
performances at houses that could never
happen in a venue, like Shane Perlowin
of Ahleuchatistas improvising for a few
people sitting around a living room.
Plus, there is something magical about
very loud rock music in a dirty base
ment.”
In 2007, Nasralla founded a UNCA
club called “decomposition of sound,”
abbreviated as “decomp,” in which
members explored the power of im
provisation with unconventional, often
handmade instruments.
“Decomp had a huge impact on my
music making. Our meetings were basi
cally 2 1/2 hours of free improvisation,
just us making soimds in a room,” Bar
ratt said. “I think we all grew as musi-
lan Hayes - Staff Photographer
Drummer Lance Lathrop and bassist Sijal Nasralla have turned their
band’s practice space into a regular performance space for local
bands, sfudent bands and national touring acts.
“Money, images, music theory,
pretensions, competition and creative
anxieties are beginning to evaporate. ”
- Sijal Nasralla
UNCA anthropology student
dans. Tm pretty self-critical about my
music, so it was encouraging to be a part
of a group where any sound you make is
the right note. If not for decomp and the
friends I met through it, I would prob
ably hide my songs in a drawer.”
Lathrop, a creative writing student,
received his first drum kit at age 15,
but never took any formal lessons. His
self-taught drumming affected his style
for No Shoulders more than decomp, he
said.
“With decomp, there was rarely, if
ever, a complete drum set to play on.
Percussion came from found objects
mostly, resulting in a more industrial, yet
organic sound,” Lathrop said. “I can’t
say that I’ve brought that salne idea to
No Shoulders. Decomp is one room. No
Shoulders is another.”
No Shoulders takes a minimalist ap
proach to the rock genre, incorporating
nothing more than Lathrop’s drum kit
and Nasralla’s bass guitar rig.
Decomp allowed Nasralla and Lathrop
to network with other UNCA experi
mentalists.
“I would not have gotten to know
Lance if it weren’t for decomp,” Nasralla
said. “It brought a lot of people together
and got music started among them. I pro
posed the band to Lance under the strict
notion of a drum-and-bass band. I really
wanted to work in that tradition. We like
the aesthetic this way.”
Although decomp no longer exists as
an official club, several of its members
now pursue their own ambitions, keep
ing in contact with each other and find
ing new venues to promote their music,
according to Nasralla.
“I know some people like myself,
Lance, Zach Smith, Sam Witherspoon,
Noah Ben Barratt, Daniel Kairoff, Mat-
see no shoulders Page 15j