2003 Atlantis Music Conference Showcase Schedule

Thurs., July 31
?9 Lives Saloon
?8 p.m. Shamgod — A tirelessly self-promoting machine of ’80s-influenced pop music and ’60s-inspired pop-art gig posters, Shamgod should fit right in with the Atlantis aesthetic. Unlike many of the hyped-up acts on the conference’s slate, Mary Byrne and company are a fine-tuned and tastefully hard rocking, Pretenders-like unit. (Smith)?
?9 p.m. Hot Lava Monster?
?10 p.m. United?
?11 p.m. Mighty Fine Machine?
?midnight Ether Seeds?
?1 a.m. Something Left After Misfortune

10 High
?8 p.m. Homeroom — Goofy, good-natured geek rock that actually rocks. Their debut album It’s Not Me, It’s You is a low-fi statement of how witty and wacky powerpop can be. The unassuming combo take nothing seriously, resulting in mindless fun. (Smith) ?
?9 p.m. Swagger?
?10 p.m. Runaway Cab?
?11 p.m. Left Front Tire — See article, p. 98. (Moreau)?
?midnight Tripwire?
?1 a.m. Eliot James and the Snakes

Apache Cafe
10 p.m. Crop Circle?
?10:45 p.m. Herb and Skills?
?11:30 p.m. The Firemen?
?12:15 p.m. Mojo 99%
%%Charlie & Barnie’s
8 p.m. SonicDrag?
?9 p.m. M80?
?10 p.m. Gordon Vaughan?
?11 p.m. SPY?
?midnight Over October?
?1 a.m. Travis Steele

Eleven50
9 p.m. HOT 107.9 Mixer?
?10:05 p.m. Rico Love?
?10:15 p.m. Copywrite?
?10:25 p.m. Ruffa?
?10:35 p.m. Apostle?
?10:45 p.m. Spokken?
?10:55 p.m. HOD?
?11:05 p.m. Lil’ Ma?
?11:15 p.m. The Ill Relatives?
?11:25 p.m. Big Nod and Caskit?
?11:35 p.m. Bone Crusher — Hip-hop’s newest incredible hulk is still riding high on the success of the Excedrin-proof single “Never Scared.” Crusher’s unapologetic brand of crunk (as heard on the rapper’s Arista debut AttenCHUN!) is all good fun, but one hopes executive producer Jermaine Dupri isn’t putting all his eggs in this one-note basket. (Moreau)

Masquerade — Heaven
7 p.m. Tinker’s Punishment?
?8 p.m. Biv?
?9 p.m. Three Days Grace?
?10 p.m. Smile Empty Soul?
?11 p.m. Trapt

Riviera
8:20 p.m. Jovan?
?8:40 p.m. D.R.E.S. tha Beatnik — See article, p. 92. (Radford)?
?9 p.m. Algebra?
?9:20 p.m. Tehran?
?9:40 p.m. Tori Alamaze?
?10 p.m. Kerisha?
?10:20 p.m. Jonz?
?10:40 p.m. Myshel?
?11 p.m. Tony Rich — See article, p. 91. (Penrice)?
?11:25 p.m. Joi — See article, p. 91. (Penrice)

Smith’s Olde Bar - downstairs
9 p.m. Pete Schmidt?
?10 p.m. Mission 19?
?11 p.m. Gareth Asher?
?midnight Jason Salzer

Smith’s Olde Bar - upstairs
8 p.m. Ryan McDougall?
?9 p.m. The Wrights ?
?10 p.m. Sugarland — See article, p. 95. (Smith)?
?11 p.m. Y-O-U — Skillfully blending the best elements of ’80s new wave with hooky ’70s AM radio gold, Y-O-U defy strict classification. Offering nutty theme shows and matching outfits while soulfully crooning heartfelt soul-tinged ballads, you never quite know what to expect from these alternately nutty and seriously prolific mirth-makers. (Smith) ?
?midnight Luna Halo?
?1 a.m. DROPSONIC — This hard-rocking outfit plays by the loud, fast rules of testosterone-fueled classic rock, and it’s clear the aim is to bend those regulations to the breaking point. At its best, Dropsonic stomps thunderously through a field of Led Zeppelin and AC/DC comparisons while also recalling The Bends-era Radiohead. (Moreau)

Velvet Underground
8 p.m. The Abdomen?
?9 p.m. Joy?
?10 p.m. Justincase?
?11 p.m. Cameron Connerty?
?midnight Pacifico?
?1 a.m. Favorite

Vinyl
8 p.m. The Brian Bonds Theory?
?9 p.m. Revelation Darling?
?10 p.m. Pageant?
?11 p.m. Evoka?
?midnight Copper?
?1 a.m. Crash into June

Fri., Aug. 1?
?9 Lives Saloon
8 p.m. Miseryhead?
?9 p.m. Grout?
?10 p.m. Mimic?
?11 p.m. Gargantua?
?midnight Asphalt Blaster?
?1 a.m. Ill Mic

10 High
8 p.m. Sunday Munich?
?9 p.m. David Roland?
?10 p.m. CAFU?
?11 p.m. Trances Arc?
?midnight Lights Out?
?1 a.m. Supafuzz

Apache Cafe
8 p.m. Womackk?
?8:25 p.m. Red Lights?
?8:40 p.m. kia star?
?9:05 p.m. Farrago?
?9:30 p.m. Baby Jane?
?9:55 p.m. Slick & Rose — Atlanta-based songbirds Slick & Rose refuse to dumb themselves down for mainstream approval and flip hip-hop stylings into soulful ear candy in a way that has won them a multicultural fan base. (Garnes)?
?10:30 p.m. Lauren?
?10:55 p.m. Julie Dexter — Elton John is not the only British singer taking up residence in Atlanta. He is joined by the Jamaican-rooted, Birmingham, England born-and-raised Julie Dexter. Internationally, Dexter’s soulfully funky and jazzy voice has been critically acclaimed. Here, in the States, her audience is still largely underground but growing. (Penrice)?
?11:25 p.m. Divinity?
?11:55 p.m. Dionne Farris

Charlie & Barney’s
9 p.m. Taryn Murphy?
?10 p.m. Charm School?
?11 p.m. Brandy Rich?
?midnight Melanie Denard?
?1 a.m. Waterproof Feat

Dailey’s Downstairs
9 p.m. Jabari Grover?
?10 p.m. Rachael Sage — The Cliffs Notes buzz on singer/songwriter Sage is that like Ani DiFranco (who gets credit for “discovering” her), she’s a female performer succeeding at the grassroots, no-major-label thing. But Sage’s real accomplishment is in her winsome (if sometimes slight) music, a pop-jazzy strain of neo-folk with an ethereal fairy-dust vibe: Tori Amos as a folk-punk grrl. (Moreau)?
?11 p.m. Gwen Hughes — Local chanteuse Hughes makes good use of her one-time aspiration to be a rock singer, discarding the affected croon of most jazz singers in pursuit of a jazz-pop hybrid sired by Frank Sinatra and Nancy Wilson. Her prowess as an emotive siren of swing has earned her Grammy nods and mention in This Joint is Jumpin’, a study of the genre. (Moreau)?
?midnight tee-m — Short for Tariq Mirza, tee-m is visiting Atlantis from Santa Monica where he is a local scenster. He brings with him folked-up dream-pop and lyrics sung in both English and his native Urdu. (Swaminathan)?
?1 a.m. The Katie Todd Band

Masquerade - Heaven
8 p.m. Rise?
?9 p.m. Groove Stain?
?10 p.m. eLeMeN.O.P?
?11 p.m. Phunk Junkeez?
?midnight Kottonmouth Kings

Masquerade - Hell
8:30 p.m. eNTERTAINME.nt?
?9:30 p.m. Salome’s Wish?
?10:30 p.m. The Last Dance?
?11:30 p.m. Bella Morte?
?12:30 a.m. slowEarth

Masquerade - Purgatory
8 p.m. Refill?
?9 p.m. Royal 7 - Energetic and maddeningly hook-laden, Royal 7 avoid Green Day cliches, managing to create their own Southern-fried take on the ol’ tired power pop genre. The 7 stuff their songs with rock, pop, Americana and delightfully unpretentious hip-hop ingredients. The result is royally raucous. (Smith)?
?10 p.m. LZO?
?11 p.m. American Motherload?
?midnight Ed Zachary?
?1 a.m. Masque

Red Light Cafe
8 p.m. Sam Smithwick?
?9 p.m. Beale Street?
?10 p.m. Taffether?
?11 p.m. Glen Phillips — Since the late-’90s dissolution of Toad the Wet Sprocket, ringleader Phillips has toned down his trademark earnest modern-rock balladry on solo efforts Abulum and Live at Largo. On his own, Phillips has yet to regain Toad’s chart success, but the tradeoff — a subtler, more mature songwriting approach — is no doubt a welcome one. (Moreau)?
?midnight Paul Christianson

Riviera
8 p.m. Mad Margritt?
?9 p.m. Valor?
?10 p.m. To Whom It Concerns?
?11 p.m. Slangbanger?
?midnight Johnny Socko?
?1 a.m. E.X. Vortex

Smith’s Olde Bar - downstairs
8 p.m. Clay Cook — Yes, he used to play with John Mayer in the Lo-Fi Masters and in the Marshall Tucker Band. Yes, he’s in the country supergroup Sugarland. But don’t let his “star” connections overshadow his solo material. Cook is a skilled singer/songwriter who offers vividly observational character sketches, presented in hauntingly astute vignettes. (Smith)?
?9 p.m. Justin Beckler?
?10 p.m. Jen Porter?
?11 p.m. Lee Hackney?
?midnight Six Strings & Vynl?
?1 a.m. Winslow Willard & Lunarleaf

Smith’s Olde Bar - upstairs
8 p.m. Shurman?
?9 p.m. Big Sky?
?10 p.m. Caddle?
?11 p.m. Five Star Iris?
?midnight Three5Human — Like a soul-dripping love child of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Mother’s Finest, Three5Human pours out steaming buckets of molten guitar rock featuring Trina Meade’s frenzied vocals. Far from mindless rawk, the Humanistic approach includes a liberal dose of politics and hard looks at domestic issues. Session vet Tomi Martin (Madonna, Michael Jackson) handles guitar duties. (Smith).?
?1 a.m. Maktub

Velvet Underground
9 p.m. ATL Giants?
?9:10 p.m. ETERNAL WARRIORS — Atlanta-based teen hip-hop has come a long way since Kris Kross. Rappers Da’kulprit, Malice and Nemesis sound self-assured on the trio’s debut, A Warrior’s Anthem, midwifed by a laundry list of local production and engineering talent. Given the right attention, these Warriors could easily enjoy an artistic growth from boys to men. (Moreau)?
?9:20 p.m. Life?
?9:30 p.m. Hedonis?
?9:40 p.m. Whip?
?9:50 p.m. Lil’ Scrappy--On the strength of his single “Headbusters,” which caused a stir on Atlanta’s underground, resulting in some radio play, Lil’ Scrappy, along with his Trillville crew (“Get On My Level”) recently signed to Warner Bros. via crunk king Lil Jon’s BME label. (Penrice)?
?10 p.m. Scratch Track?
?10:10 p.m. Ax — You may recognize Ax, whose moniker stands for Artist Extraordinaire, from few rap hooks such as “Let It Burn” by Playa Poncho, David Banner’s “Fast Life” and his own track “Dream Eyes,” featuring Killer Mike. (Penrice)?
?10:20 p.m. Rising Son?
?10:30 p.m. Yli Mayfia?
?10:40 p.m. Ramona?
?11 p.m. Sleepy?
?11:30 p.m. Bigg Gipp — See article, p. 91. (Penrice)

Vinyl
8 p.m. Strain Busy Sky?
?9 p.m. Connor?
?10 p.m. Kelly Andrews?
?11 p.m. 3rd Degree --Miss the Marvelous 3? You may be interested in adopting this Brooklyn-based 3rd Degree as your second-coming (hell, Butch Walker even produced their latest EP). Hooks, sweet and sarcastic lyrics, and that crunchy chorded guitar sound are all in there. (Swaminathan)?
?midnight Bachelor Red?
?1 a.m. Red Letter Agent

Sat., Aug. 2
7 Stages
7:50 p.m. PRAISE Youth Choir?
?8 p.m. Tim Solomon?
?8:15 p.m. 2for1?
?8:30 p.m. Kam?
?8:45 p.m. K’tav?
?9 p.m. TWB?
?9:15 p.m. Ayanna?
?9:45 p.m. Dezzie?
?10:05 p.m. Two Edge?
?10:30 p.m. Canton Jones

9 lives Saloon
8 p.m. The deadRight?
?9 p.m. Fashion Bomb?
?10 p.m. Gush?
?11 p.m. Scullsoup?
?midnight Artimus Pyledriver?
?1 a.m. JaD

10 High
8 p.m. Blush?
?9 p.m. endochine?
?10 p.m. Uncrowned?
?11 p.m. Evenout?
?midnight Union Drag?
?1 a.m. Trucker

Apache Cafe
9 p.m. Allison?
?9:15 p.m. Temika Moore?
?9:30 p.m. Envy?
?9:45 p.m. North Ave.?
?10 p.m. Raysean?
?10:15 p.m. EeDe?
?10:30 p.m. Sera Hill?
?10:45 p.m. Jae?
?11:15 p.m. Inobe?
?11:50 p.m. Chiedza — The introspective and soulful singer/songwriter’s name means “bearer of light” and his songs usually bear testimony to the lightness of (his) being. The charming performer can hush a noisy room with his spiritually ripe anthems and earthy rhythms while raising the roof with glorious and Godly testimony. (Smith) ?
?12:25 a.m. MD?
?1 a.m. Paul Mortin

Charlie & Barney’s
8 p.m. Angeles Drake?
?9 p.m. Bridge?
?10 p.m. The Accusations?
?11 p.m. The Mike Johnson Band?
?midnight Obsession Day

Cotton Club
8 p.m. Devil May Care?
?9 p.m. Suffrajett?
?10 p.m. Alastor — See article, p. 97. (Smith)?
?11 p.m. Field Day?
?midnight minus.driver?
?1 a.m. Confliction

Dailey’s Downstairs
9 p.m. Brian Webb?
?10 p.m. Kyler?
?11 p.m. Jon Harris?
?midnight Dolly Rappaport?
?1 a.m. Granian

Masquerade - Heaven
8 p.m. Killing Faith?
?9 p.m. Releese?
?10 p.m. American Devils?
?11 p.m. Muudha?
?midnight Slavemachine?
?1 a.m. Witches’ Brew

Masquerade - Hell
8 p.m. Elcodrive — An unapologetically bland, commercial rock band outta Boston, Elcodrive is as non-offensive (read: accessible) as it gets. (Stewart)?
?9 p.m. Punchline?
?10 p.m. The Unsatisfied?
?11 p.m. The Mooney Suzuki — The Mooney Suzuki has spent the better part of time since releasing 2002’s Electric Sweat picking up where the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion left off, as the most self-congratulatory (admittedly deservingly) purveyors of primal garage groove, fuzz scuzz and squawking blue-eyed soul. Of the new millennium’s revivalists, nobody else attempting the Mooney Suzuki’s Detroit-style swing rarely sounds more seedy, sweaty or swaggerin’. (Ware)?
?midnight Nuclear Saturday?
?1 a.m. dc-3%
%%Masquerade - Purgatory
8 p.m. Metal Militia?
?9 p.m. Straight Line Stitch?
?10 p.m. Drill 187?
?11 p.m. Compound F?
?midnight Social Outcast u.b.?
?1 a.m. Armani Death Machine

Red Light Cafe
8 p.m. Zac Brown?
?9 p.m. Penny Jones?
?10 p.m. weaklazyliar?
?11 p.m. Nicole McKenna?
?midnight Brian Wiltsey?
?1 a.m. Zac Brown

Smith’s Olde Bar - Downstairs
9 p.m. Nadine Goellner?
?10 p.m. Jason LeVasseur?
?11 p.m. Arlington Priest?
?midnight Naked & Shameless

Smith’s Olde Bar - Upstairs
8 p.m. Zach Carr?
?9 p.m. Two Shades of Blue?
?10 p.m. Lithp?
?11 p.m. Bain Mattox — Multi-instrumentalist Mattox, whether alone or backed by his gang of like-minded folk-rockers, creates disarmingly simple “sensitive poet” lyrics, evoking the deities of Dylan and Mitchell without pandering or plagiarism. His up-tempo tunes roll with a dark Springsteen-esque confidence. (Smith).?
?midnight Aerial — Four years down the road, and Atlanta’s own conduit of breakbeat expression have transformed from merely spirited to spiritual. From elastically rolling to gently lulling, the Aerial quintet’s combination of atmospheric drum ‘n’ bass to tribal trip-hop with jacked to jazzy overtones has allowed many an audience to ascend alongside the band to an elevated consciousness even if just for one show. (Ware)?
?1 a.m. The Goodies — Goofy and operatic, The Goodies try hard to please all. The over-the-top showmanship and occasionally freaky falsetto of loony frontman Holiday Childress is supported by his medicine-show guitar prowess. They are one of the few (probably the only) bands to cover both Barry Manilow and the Charlie Daniels Band in the same set. (Smith)

Velvet Underground
8 p.m. RS3?
?9 p.m. Barney’s Jive Band?
?10 p.m. Heather Grrrl and the Hungover — This fiery redhead’s crowd-pleasing blues and rock recall Bonnie Raitt but with a bit more of an “alternative” edge. Do not let her punkish look and butterfly tattoo-covered body fool you, Heather Grrrl (aka Heather Luttrell) and her seasoned players are definitely not slackers. (Smith)?
?11 p.m. Pull?
?midnight Defriender?
?1 a.m. Transmission

Vinyl
8 p.m. Jenaphoria?
?9 p.m. The Spins?
?10 p.m. Donna Hopkins — The blues label doesn’t fit the diversely talented Hopkins, who blends blues, funky jazz and a little country/folk feel with a pronounced ’70s rock edge. As she demonstrates on her recent indie CD, Free to Go, Hopkins packs a wallop as a vocalist, and is an effective guitarist to boot. (Powell) ?
?11 p.m. Athenaeum?
?midnight Fusebox?
?1 a.m. Agent Cooper