Metro Pulse/Music/Piedmont Charisma

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What:
Piedmont Charisma with ThePlansOff

When:
Saturday, Jan. 11, 10 p.m.

Where:
The Pilot Light

Cost:
$5

Asheville's Piedmont Charisma discover they're trendy

by John Sewell

These days, it seems like everything old is new again. Sure, it all comes down to marketing; but the constant recycling and recoupling of trends in the world of pop/rock music can sometimes yield some amusing and even amazing results. What's more, a new crop of younger musicians can always add a new spin.

The post-Strokes milieu is a world where "rock is back," where articles in the music press are rarely printed that don't mention the unholy four (The Strokes, The Hives, The White Stripes, and The Vines), and where any band of note features the article "the" in their name. In such a world, it seems all you have to do is (A.) be from Brooklyn and (B.) rehash a particular wrinkle of the post-punk sound circa '79-'81—and voila, you're going to "save rock 'n' roll." Well, I've got excellent news for the world. Rock never went away, never had to come back, and never needed a particular group of snotty, sassy, skinny, fashionable kids to save it. That said, some of these new kids really are pounding out some danged good jams.

Asheville, N.C.'s Piedmont Charisma has kind of latched onto the "new rock revival" bandwagon, whether or not they actually intended to. Nope, they're not from Brooklyn. But they are young, have attitude (and charisma, natch) to spare, and take their influences from an era of rock that was at its heyday around the time of Piedmont members' infancy.

The Piedmont Charisma (the band doesn't use the article on its album covers, but hey, neither did The Ramones) has, unwittingly or not, found itself lumped into the new wave of new wave niche, a classification that includes oh so trendy groups like The Faint, Hot Hot Heat, The Liars, et. al. And hey, Piedmont's keyboard-heavy self-titled debut album (Slave Records) really does conjure up audible images of early XTC, The Yachts, and maybe even the slightest dose of Cure.

"Lots of our reviews really have lumped us in with the retro thing, which isn't exactly what we're trying to do," says Piedmont guitarist Ben Ridings. "That's kind of weird because nobody in the band actually listens to that 'new' new wave stuff.

"Actually, the new wave connotation has turned out to be kind of a hindrance because people think we're trying to latch onto another gimmick," Ridings continues. "I mean, we really do listen to XTC, Squeeze, and Bowie. But that just happens to be what we all like: not that we're trying to be kitsch or latch onto some kind of trend."

Really, once you get beyond the surface level, Piedmont is indeed more than another trendy yet entertaining band. Lyrically, influences of emo, indie and (of course) punk rock are prevalent. And the obligatory coming of age angst is deeply infused, albeit chock full of tongue-in-cheek whimsy. And the guitars aren't buried so deeply in the keyboard barrage that they're inaudible.

"On our record the keyboards actually got turned up a little more than what comes across in the live show," Ridings says. "These days, we're trying to move away from the keyboard thing—at least insofar as electric keyboard sounds. We're using more of a piano sound (which is produced on electronic keyboards in the live setting) and, of course, the guitars are louder when we play out."

As to the name Piedmont Charisma, Ridings says that it's all about the band's geographic location (North Carolina's Piedmont region, duh) and a link to a previous band.

"Our band kind of rose from the ashes of an earlier group called The Great Southeast," Ridings says. "Our lead singer [Charles Corriher] came up with that name: and, since we're playing some of the songs from that earlier band, we wanted to have a similar name. We're all from the Piedmont area, but I can't really address how much charisma we may or may not have."

Modesty aside, Piedmont really does have what it takes to present an entertaining, danceable, and flat-out rockin' show. Then, you can head home with your own CD and delve into the deeper meanings of the band's quirky and artfully wrought tunes.

"Really, what we do is just rock music," says Ridings. "It's silly and it's funny. Sometimes people take rock music too seriously. There's really no defining genre to what we do, we just like it.

"We're definitely not indie rock. I repeat: we're not indie, we're not garage and we're not retro.

"We actually practice in a basement, and it's a nice one with paneling and carpet—more of a rumpus room. I guess you could say that we're a rumpus room band."