Show Preview: McBane, Five Foot Forward, Jim Warner
The Overhang / Saturday, April 26
By Marlena Scott, Features Editor
Five Foot Forward, an Athens-grown group, will be performing at the end of Court Street (or the beginning, depending on where you’re coming from) at The Overhang. The band will be complemented by Jim Warner and a debut performance from McBane.
Five Foot Forward, or F3, considers themselves a “Rock and/or Roll” band, with a classic sound dedicated to simply rocking out.
Ron Forrest, one of two guitarists that make up the five-piece, comes from a variety of musical backgrounds and contributes a significant sound to the group. He is the gear junkie of the posse. Gear that enhances the sound of his signature instrument is what he prefers. Forrest owns many pedals, but doesn't consider himself a huge fan of them.
“I try to get my sound and tone from the amps I play,” Forrest said. His pedals are for special effects, his favorite being a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah, a piece of equipment valued at around $230. The pedal has many different features but is mostly dedicated to producing the original Clyde sound from the 1960s and ‘70s, that of funky R&B riffs and classic Hendrix notions. Forrest’s own favorite band is The Darkness, a quirky British rock band that plays up the classic rock and roll sound, look and stage antics.
Forrest is originally from and currently resides in Logan, Ohio, about 30 minutes away from Ohio University. He joined the band in 2009. “They had some members leave and I wasn’t playing with a band at the time, so here we are,” he said. He’s played in a variety of different bands over time, but Five Foot Forward has stuck. It’s not his only interest, though.
Pedal steel guitar occupies the rest of Forrest’s time as well as a sound company which he owns and operates himself. He also has a recording studio to play around in in his free time.
The band’s logo was designed by Heather Eubanks, a graphic designer from the Athens area. She is responsible for about 99% of the designs seen on F3’s promotional material. If the logo looks familiar to you, Forrest is pretty certain the design was inspired by that Rock Band game we all played with our buddies at one point in time.
Five Foot Forward is looking for people to sing along at The Overhang this Saturday, and if not, they’re certain they’ll be fun to drink to.
McBane--or at least its Facebook page--was formed in October of 2013. This is its debut in Athens and has already gained 136 Internet fans. The time spent not playing in Athens is assumed to be spent practicing, so it will most likely be a very tight performance.
The show starts at 10 p.m. and is of no cost to you.
