Gem Club

What if they put on a concert and a party broke out?

Rocktober continueth, Rocktober being my imaginary early-autumn music festival that consists of going to as many concerts in Atlanta as possible in and around the month of October without going to the same venue twice.  I've already checked off the obvious, like Variety Playhouse, The Tabernacle, Center Stage, The Drunken Unicorn, the redoubtable Earl, and the accursed Masquerade, as well as the less obvious, like the East Atlanta Strut and Music Midtown.  I'm starting to run low on venues that play music I like.

Saturday night, I was about to break my own arbitrary rule and re-visit The Earl to see '70s German synthesizer legend Rodelius, when I saw that Gem Club was performing at someplace called The Cottage.

Gem Club is the Somerville, Massachusetts duo of keyboardist Christoper Barnes and cellist Kristen Drymala.  A few songs of theirs have managed to surface on my iPod, and I like their moody, almost ambient music, and I was still so enthralled by last Thursday's performance by Other Lives that I decided that seeing another cello-driven band would be preferable to back-tracking to The Earl.  I didn't know anything about The Cottage, and the address was in a largely residential neighborhood,  but I elected to keep the Rocktober tradition alive and visit yet another venue.

Now, based on the picture above of the opening act, Atlanta's Vocabulary, the usually solo project of Cameron Allen, you might think that "The Cottage" was just some guy's garage.  

You'd be right:

As it turns out, that was part of what made it such a great night.  The weather and temperature were perfect for hanging out around an open garage and listening to some terrific bands, the host stocked a refrigerator full of $2 beers, and absolutely everybody was as friendly as could be.  Since there was no "backstage" in the traditional sense, it gave the audience and the bands a chance to hang out, chat, and get to know each other a little bit.  Not to name drop, but as Aaron Hodges of Holy Spirits told me, this kind of D.I.Y. gig is not at all unusual in his native Brooklyn. 

But I'm already ahead of myself.  Before they finish playing, let me repeat that the name of this band is Vocabulary, with Mr. Allen backed for the evening by musician Nico Giarrano.  They started the evening off well, with a set of Atlas Sound-style sonic soundscapes.     

Next up were Mr. Hodges and Michael Barron, who perform as Holy Spirits.  The band is touring with Gem Club and were a discovery for me.  Their music reminded me a lot of some of the quieter passage of fellow Brooklynites Antlers, i.e., the parts I like the most. They're on tour with Gem Club, and with apologies again for the name dropping, Ms. Drymala of Gem Club told me that I'd probably like their music a lot, and she was absolutely right.

Ms Drymala provided back-up vocals on one of their songs.

Gem Club took over the garage a little after 11:00.

Here's a sample of their dark, bittersweet music.  For those of you interested in such things, the bells heard at the 1:37 mark are struck by Ms. Drymala using her feet as she plays the cello.

Holy Spirits backed up Gem Club for their closing song.

In a perfect world (perfect for me, at least), Holy Spirits and Gem Club would have opened for Other Lives at the Drunken Unicorn the other night, and Chicago's outstanding Yawn and party-band Mates of State would have joined Vocabulary and Places at this party.  Or maybe not - the evening was perfect as it was, and why mess with perfection?  What I'm trying to say is that Gem Club and Other Lives are musically compatible and should play together sometime.

Messrs. Allen and Giarrano took the stage again to close out the evening with their band Places (not to be confused with Portland's The Places).  They played a great set of songs, according to Mr. Giarrano's introduction, "from the past, present, and future."   Note the drummer's dog on stage - it doesn't get too much more down-home, down South than that.

So, I'll admit to a little surprise at first when I found myself hanging out at somebody's garage for the evening, listening to interesting bands and chatting with some very talented musicians.  But that's part of what's so great about Rocktober - anything can happen, and I urge you to make up and enjoy your own imaginary festival.  It could be about anything, say "Workapalooza," a week-long festival of going to work every day (if you're fortunate enough to still have a job to go to), or "ZenFest," a celebration of service to the sangha.  

Enjoy yourself and enjoy life.  Celebrate your life.  It's all you've got and it has everything you'll ever need.