Preview: DANA, The D-Rays, Weird Science, Dead Hand of Man / March 5 / Casa
By Garrett Bower, Copy Editor
Casa Nueva / Thursday, March 5, 2015
Casa welcomes in curious Columbus newcomers DANA this Thursday night for its first stint in Athens. Joining DANA will be The D-Rays, Weird Science and Dead Hand of Man; a bill that is all local, all the time. On top of this magical blend of music so good it’ll make your eyes pop out and dance on their own optic tendrils, the whole shebang is free, though high fives are likely still accepted.
DANA comes riding to Athens with 200 Facebook likes in its pocket, an impressive feat in their mere month-and-a-half activity, and the residual high from having played with the incredible Shilpa Ray in Columbus earlier this week, milestones in the band’s relative youth.
“We were thinking about boys’ names and neutral gendered names,” vocalist and thereminist Madeline Jackson said. “Names that are so common that if you say them over and over again out of context, they stop turning into a person and more like just an entity.”
That entity became DANA; the schitzo, post-punk project founded by Jackson after she became fed up with the “musicians proverb” of always wanting to start playing but never coming together. Jackson sought out guitarist bobb hat who she felt would share her creative language. The pair then reached out to drummer Andy Moreheart and bassist Albert Gray. With DANA, the group was able to cut the shit and function as a more direct force, working in a language all their own.
“It’s a weird sort of syncopation. Trying definitely not to sound pretentious to one another but speaking in somewhat abstracts and then trying to create that sound,” Jackson said.
Meanwhile, The D-Rays are an Athens staple that everyone in town should catch. Boasting spacious, fleshed-out surf licks, the band is always blistering and tons of fun.
Weird Science stays true to its name. The band is the mad scientist concoction of acid-scorched guitar strings and oozing chemical fuzz. Zach Fuller’s vocal work rests simmering underneath with darker intonations and biting intensity that fill the cracks within the fuzz.
The show will also be one of Weird Science’s first back in Athens since returning from a small Midwestern tour earlier this winter.
Dead Hand of Man boasts the unrelenting speed of punk infused with the groovy jaunts of no-holds barred rock 'n' roll. The band will be celebrating their recent announcement that it'll be at this year’s Nelsonville Music Festival as well as social media hintings at some new recordings, so attendees should keep their ears peeled for new jams.
Casa will have it all Thursday night, so if you’re in Athens, you best be at the show. Have a Bloody Mary (they’re pretty great virgin-style too), let your face ooze off your skull, dance on your head, boil your brain, have a ball. Music starts at 10 p.m.
