Blast From SC Music Past: Antischism

Stumbled across a newly posted video today from the legendary Columbia punk band Antischism, which reminded me of how insane their live shows were. Not for the fainthearted, most of the band’s songs make the more contemporary ‘screamo’ bands sound like wimps.

Antischism were an important band in some circles, especially the noise-punk scene. More notably, they also spawned bands such as Guyana Punchline, In/Humanity, and Thank God.

Their Wikipedia entry is as follows:
Antischism was an American crust punk band from Columbia, South Carolina. They are widely popular within the crust and anarcho-punk subcultures. For most of their existence, the band consisted of:

* Scott Cooper (drums, vocals, lyrics)
* Lyz (vocals)
* Kevin Byrd (guitar)
* Matt (bass)

An additional male vocalist named Brent sang on the Still Life LP. Antischism broke up and then reformed in Austin, TX, as Initial State. After Initial State, Kevin went on to play in .Fuckingcom (with Lyz) and Guyana Punch Line, he currently performs in Thank God. Scott moved to Savannah, GA, and played in Damad, IN/Humanity, and Karst, and now plays in Chronicle A/D.

The band’s entire discography was reissued on Selfless Records in 1995 and then reissued on Prank Records later in the decade.[1]

For more, check out these two videos from a show in Ontario, Canada.

Happy Birthday to Music That Matters

Three years ago this week (September 24th, 2007, to be exact), I started this blog with the following post:

Music matters around here

and hopefully it matters to you, too, or you wouldn’t be reading this. In the posts that follow this initial foray into the blogosphere, I’ll be deconstructing the music scene as I experience it, from a local standpoint and into the effects of national and international trends. From the business of making music to those doing it just for the sheer enjoyment of the sounds they create, it’s all fair game.

I still feel the same way, and thanks for reading/listening/watching/seeking out good music, wherever you find it.

Darius Rucker’s “Comeback Song” Video Spotlights Charleston, SC

Still from video shoot courtesy Downtown Charleston Facebook page

The band Darius Rucker came to prominence fronting in the 90′s, Hootie and the Blowfish, was from Columbia, South Carolina and they were great ambassadors for their home base, both the city and the state, during their successful run on the pop charts. Rucker grew up in Charleston, however, and so the video for the new single “Comeback Song” was shot in his hometown, with lots of footage of Rucker walking around the historic district:
“Comeback Song” on CMT.com

The alley used extensively in the video is called Philadelphia Alley, for a historical connection to that Pennsylvania city, which assisted in reconstructing the street after a major fire destroyed much of the surrounding structures in the 1800s. The bricks under his feet may still look hundreds of years old but they were actually replaced and the alley restored again about five years ago. Here’s a tourist video with a nighttime shot of the same alley in Rucker’s video:

Rucker’s new album, Charleston SC 1966, is due out October 12th. As reported on ABC News’ site a few days ago, the title is a tribute to Radney Foster’s 1992 album Del Rio TX 1959, which had a big influence on Rucker wanting to someday do country music himself. Here’s a great clip of Foster’s “Just Call Me Lonesome” from that album:

Rucker will be returning to Columbia, South Carolina next month as one of the concerts at the State Fair, and his old band Hootie and the Blowfish are getting a big granite monument unveiled later this month in their old late night stomping grounds of Five Points. All four members are supposed to be there for the dedication of the monument and a number of Hootie-era bands are slated to play the event, surely a Hootie set will break out at some point during the festivities…

Play Me I’m Yours Puts Pianos in the Street

Montage by Luke Jerram

Since 2008, artist Luke Jerram has been touring a unique bit of installation art called “Play Me I’m Yours.” The concept is simple–take a bunch of festively decorated upright pianos and place them in various public locations in major cities, where people can play them. Each city chosen has their own website that branches off of a main site for the overall project, and those who participate are encouraged to upload pictures and video of themselves at the pianos–the montage above includes several examples of these pictures.

Once the project’s time is up in each city, the pianos are donated to various schools and community groups, a great idea that promotes music that will continue long after the pianos have left the public spaces.

Play Me I’m Yours Website

Currently the artwork/installation/public art project is in Cincinnati, San Jose, and Pecs, Hungary. New York City was one of the locations this past summer, and resident indie-pop band The Spring Standards, a favorite of this blog, took advantage of the project to shoot some video themselves–here’s a new one they’ve just posted of them at the Prospect Park piano playing their song “Queen of the Lot” from their latest album Would Things Be Different: