Randy Castello

If you want edgy, talk to Randy Castello. He’s earned a rep for nurturing emergent sounds and scenes as the talent buyer for Drunken Unicorn and the man behind Tight Bros Network promotions company. When he announced his split from Drunken Unicorn last week (due to undisclosed, irreconcilable differences), it sounded like the perfect time to talk to him about his evolution and how he has, in turn, affected Atlanta’s.

“I started booking at the old Eyedrum in late ‘99 ‘cause I really wanted to start kicking some ass and getting the scene on.

“I remember when I was a kid seeing Smoke and a lot of that post-Destroy All Music scene was kinda still lingering. And then it just seems like it just died one day. There was no place facilitating it.... It just seemed like everything got lost and there really was no cohesive scene going on. And the local bands that were getting the local press from Creative Loafing were kinda shitty. You know, like these shitty pop-punk bands.

“I think putting on good shows gets people excited to go out and form a band or form a group. Towards the latter part of my tenure at Drunken Unicorn with all those hip-hop shows, I could see it on all those kids’ faces like, ‘Man, I wanna be up there. I can do that.’ And that’s all it takes is that little spark to ignite someone to jump in the studio or jump on the stage and kill it.”

Castello will mark his return to booking shows at Eyedrum on July 4, when he hosts Two Live Crew. www.tightbros.net.