Hang the DJ

You might have to find a new place to hear Modest Mouse and Sleater-Kinney when all of WUTK New Rock 90's nonstudent DJs leave at the end of the summer. The Department of Communications lists insurance liabilities and pressure from the UT Police as reasons to enforce this written-but-not-always-enforced rule. Some DJs will take a single class to stay eligible, but many others will have to find some other place to spin. The loss of many of the station's more music-savvy veterans is liable to bring about a more mainstream play list as inexperienced students have to fill the holes.

"They see the station as a lab" and are "not as concerned with how the station sounds," assistant music director Brian McKendry says of the overseeing heavies. The fate of popular shows like Club 90 and Captain Jim is still up in the air pending decisions about whether or not to fork over tuition money to stay on the air.

Meanwhile, Col. Bacchus, perhaps the station's best-known (and longest-running) nonstudent jock, says it's likely he will hang up his headphones by the August deadline. Bacchus, planner of some of the station's wildest musical excursions, returned to host his crazed, musically schizophrenic Wednesday night program after a brief sojourn on commercial modern rock radio.

"I might make a last-ditch effort to go to school, but probably not," says the ever laid-back Col. "I may just retire [from UTK] for good."

Country Comes Home

Mark June 12 down as a special day in Knoxville music history—and not just because country guitar legend Chet Atkins will headline a show at the Tennessee Theatre. During breaks between acts (the concert will also feature local legends Charlie Louvin and Charles Whitstein), the East Tennessee Historical Society plans to unveil a series of commemorative plaques that will become the backbone of a downtown walking tour of the city's old country music hotspots.

Titled the "Cradle of Country Music" tour, the project was aided and inspired by Metro Pulse's own secret historian Jack Neely, who has long contended that Knoxville's role as the original home of country music has been criminally overlooked. The tour will include nearly 20 plaques, including special commemorations for Roy Acuff, West High School grads the Everly Brothers, Sevierville native Dolly Parton, Bulls Gap favorite son Archie Campbell, and, of course, Atkins himself, who spent more than his fair share in these parts back in the day.

Local CD Review
Synge
One with the Sun

This is the third and most ambitious of three Synge releases (the other two being a pair of locally-distributed cassettes) that have passed across Zippy's cluttered desk in the last year so; it's also by far the best of the lot. Whereas previous efforts saw the local four-piece pounding out plodding, standard-issue post-metal alternative (post-alt. metal?), One with the Sun sees the band recast itself in the aggro-funk mold, a la 311, Rage Against the Machine, etc. Given the genre's periodic reemergence (it seems that every time we're set to declare it passé, we're swamped by a fresh wave of bass-thumpin' moshers), it's not a bad gig—if you can do it convincingly.

And Synge, to their credit, does it fairly convincingly. Singer David Downs belts out sturdy vox with a Mike Patton-ish flavor, albeit without the same versatility as the former Faith No More frontman. Bassist Kenner Rawdin also stands out with some heavy-thumbed thumping that turbo-charges cuts like the opening "Nobody Gets Burned" without hijacking the grooves. And guitarist Chris Matlock plays churning, burning, mosh-worthy vamps that lend even the disc's weakest tunes a certain visceral appeal; on stronger cuts like "Poetry in Motion" and "Dazed," his axe resonates with so much rumbling low-end fury that his strings must surely have been scraping the ground.

On the down side, Synge shows a propensity to pen some intermittently childish lyrics, such as on "#91," an ode to basketball renegade Dennis Rodman ("Dennis Rodman is his name/Playing basketball is his game"). Such moments are occasionally salvaged by Downs' sheer conviction and aggressive delivery; on "Amnesia," however, Downs affects an irritating nasal drone on the oft-repeated opening line ("I can't remember") that only serves to reinforce the silliness of the lyric.

And though all the songs are tight and well-played, they do slip into a certain numbing sameness after about six cuts. The band would do well to take a page from the Red Hots or the now-defunct Faith No More and leaven some of the bludgeon with lighter, funkier numbers. Quibbles aside, though, One with the Sun is a strong effort sure to find an appreciative audience among fans of the genre.

It's Never Too Late to Make Zippy Blush

Look what we found when we dipped into the mailbag! At least it wasn't ticking...

"We would like to thank Metro Pulse and its readers for the support over the past few years. Winning awards in the reader's poll is a great honor for us, especially given the talent of the local music scene. Thanks again and sorry if this is an issue or two late."

Jeff Bills
V-Roys

—Zippy "Just a Student of Life" McDuff