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What’s in a Name?
Last April, Jody Sparks and his band tossed a single dart at a wall plastered with potential names for their self-described “power groove” band. The dart punctured “Crome Molly,” and they’ve gone by the nomenclature ever since—even when they slapped their foreheads and noticed it was misspelled. Besides garnering a quick following—normally at least a 150 “good buddies” make it out to their shows—the band has had a noble start, announcing at its inaugural show last May that they’ll be donating 5 percent of their earnings for the next year to the Keep Music in Schools Foundation. Now, we know there’s something oxymoronic about a band that’s misspelled its name donating money to schools, but Metro Pulse ain’t complaining.
Sparks remembers his own childhood with both reverence and consternation. “I was a really poor kid and had to walk or hitchhike to my cousin’s house to be able to play guitar,” he says. “I want to make a difference for a kid like me.” He pauses and mumbles, “Well, I’m not a kid anymore. I’m 30,” though one gets the sense that Sparks is still something of a kid. “In today’s society you can’t let a kid walk somewhere far away to play music,” he says. “They’ll never come back.”
Though Crome Molly had originally planned to donate the proceeds to the Knoxville school with the least music education funding, the Knox County school board won’t reveal the funding discrepancies between schools. So Crome Molly has opted for the lottery system once again. When May rolls around, Sparks says the band will put the names of all area middle and high schools in a hat and draw one out. So far the band has raised $265, and has gotten the attention of several local businesses that have agreed to match their final numbers dollar for dollar.
Having recently added a new drummer and guitar player to the line up, Sparks is even more fired up about playing. “The band was chromed out before, but now it gleams,” he says. Crome Molly will be at the Electric Ballroom on Friday, Nov. 26 at 8:30 p.m. The cover is $5, and outright donations will be accepted for the cause.
Serene Scream Reunites
A six-year hiatus has done nothing to calm the intensity of Knoxville’s industrial metal stalwarts, Serene Scream. Following the Behind the Music path, the band had parted ways in 1998 due to, ahem, personal demons, sloth, the usual rock stuff... Well, as Saint Phil (that’s Mr. Lynott to you) said so eloquently, “The boys are back in town.”
“I moved back from Louisville, and we all started talking again,” says
‘Scream figurehead, auteur and guitar mangler, Jimmy Trent. “None of us were doing anything, so we decided to get together and give it a try.”
Serene Scream Mach II is a more disciplined outfit with a strictly defined work ethic. “The battle plan for the band is to make a new demo every month, send them to record companies, keep playing shows and see what happens,” says Trent. “Back in the day we were more worried about drinking and drugging. Now, we’re all clean and we’re in it for the music. Playing music is really all we know how to do.”
The band, which also features Derek Harvey on drums, Chris Green on bass and new guitarist Jason Badgett, will hit the stage this Friday night at Blue Cats, opening for stoner rock kings, Galaxy. Another band on the bill, Pick Up The Snake, features Serene Scream’s original lead guitarist, Nathan.
I’ve yet to hear Serene Scream’s newly released EP, Bad Time, but I have no doubt it will live up to or surpass the band’s earlier jackhammer sound, which was most reminiscent of Helmet or any of the more precise, aggro bands on the Amphetamine Reptile label, circa mid-‘90s. So if jagged, bludgeoning rhythms and power chords galore are your idea of a good time, head out to Blue Cats this Friday and check out the newly stripped-down and buffed-up ‘Scream.
Go.
Wednesday: Mellow out to the cheery, ‘grassy tunes of Jay Clark at Barley’s.
Thursday: Do not think about how you’re becoming more like your parents every day. Drown your fears in gravy.
Friday: Listen to Knoxville’s unofficial poet laureate R.B. Morris read from Sheets for Men Only at Bliss Home + Art at 7 p.m. Finish your holiday shopping, then head to Preservation Pub to get funkified by Dishwater Blonde. Not half enough bands emulate Prince and the Revolution.
Saturday: Buy a nice toy. (Barney is so 1993.)
Sunday: Take that toy to the Jazz for Tots benefit at the UT Music Hall.
Monday: Get blown away by Hurricane Wilson at Preservation Pub.
Tuesday: Enjoy martini specials and the intoxicating sounds of Jodie Manross at 4620.
Wednesday: God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.
—Ellen Mallernee, John Sewell, Paige M. Travis
November 24, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 48
© 2004 Metro Pulse
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