By Paul Mauceri
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Dead Confederate |
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In spite of all its members hailing from Augusta, Georgia and their name connoting a Southern sensibility, the Athens, Georgia based indie rock quintet Dead Confederate does not sound like your average Southern rock band.
HardyMorris (guitar, vocals), Brantley Senn (bass),Walker Howle (guitar), John Watkins (keyboards), and Jason Scarboro (drums) all met in the late nineties, bonding over a shared love of Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath. Calling themselves Redbelly, and later the Redbelly Band, they originally adopted a jam-band type of approach to their music, more akin to their Southern rock forebears. Over time, however, their sound evolved into a haunting hybrid of spacey psychedelia a la Pink Floyd, buzz-saw grunge distortion reminiscent of Bleach-era Nirvana, with lead singer Hardy Morris's raspy snarl often being compared to that of Kurt Cobain, and the gritty expansiveness of Neil Young and Crazy Horse and My Morning Jacket. The band ties all these influences together to full passionate, angst-ridden effect on their latest release Wrecking Ball (Razor & Tie), produced by Mike McCarthy (Spoon,…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead), on songs like the single "The Rat," "Heavy Petting," "Goner," "Start Me Laughing" and the title track. Live, Dead Confederate has the reputation for delivering a no frills, brutally honest, dark and brooding, high-intensity sonic assault. They have shared stages with other established acts such as R.E.M., Drive By Truckers, The Black Keys, and grunge avatars Dinosaur Jr., and were a recent musical guest on Late Night With Conan O'Brien . As Dead Confederate's buzz continues to get louder and louder, there is no question that we have not heard or seen the last from them.
