In 1991, the townie scene in Athens baffled me. I didn’t fit in. I mean, I still don’t. I never did. It wasn’t until I moved away that I realized that many (not all) of them were maladjusted assholes. Of course, I’m guessing that’s what made them the cool kids. Ironically, as time went on, I’d be considered the maladjusted asshole. But regardless, and inarguably, these townies made up some great fucking bands.
Six String Fever was a fantastic band that only put out two tracks on a local compilation that can probably be found quite easily in Athens’ dollar bins. Led by Ted Hafer (RIP), the rhythm section was Harvey Milk’s Steven Tanner (bass) and Creston Spiers (drums). SSF weren’t really much of a band for very long. I remember seeing them at Hoyt Street, the 40 Watt and Club Fred all around late ’92/early ’93. Ted was still quite known for being in Porn Orchard and SSF, to be frank, were really a really underrated group.
Fortunately for me, Dave Barbe brought them up to me when I was in at his studio mixing Patton Oswalt’s new album back in March. Of course, I knew that Dave recorded them, but he offered up a CD-R of their unreleased album. And man, I’ve been playing it pretty constantly since he gave it to me. I’m offering up 2 of the 7 tracks here.
The other band of the era that had Steven Tanner was Seersucker from Atlanta. Although Tanner was an Athens townie by early ’93, he still was in this band. Good god, were they great. Seersucker was fronted by Chris Lopez (Rock*A*Teens, Tenement Halls) and were definitely a scuzzier, more brusque approach to his songwriting that’d get far more delicate and operatic as years went on. Again, I got to see them a couple times in Athens. In fact, I have a board tape of them performing at Club Fred (which is now a strip club over on Baxter) to about 20 people opening for Magnapop. Ah, those were the days, huh?
It wasn’t until my good buddy Shannon Mulvaney (from Magnapop, Anna Kramer & The Lost Cause, The Lugosis, International Hits, etc. etc.) asked if I’d transfer a stack of VHS tapes that I had seen video footage of Six String Fever live. I finally got around to uploading it to youtube and you’re seeing it here for the first time ever. Sorry the Seersucker audio is blown out, but hey, cut Shannon some slack fer Pete’s sake!
Six String Fever – track 1
Six String Fever – track 2
Seersucker – Tough Ass Knives (Mercyland cover)
Seersucker – Smokestack
Seersucker – Rodney + Starlet