Preview: Druid, Dweeb, Slut Castle / April 11 / The Smiling Skull Saloon
By Abbie Doyle, Editorial Director
The Smiling Skull Saloon / Saturday, April 11, 2015
This Saturday at the Skull, your mom can have the night she’s always dreamed of: guzzling Skull Ale, fraternizing with locals and appreciating local musicians. The lineup consists of Druid, Dweeb and Slut Castle, all Athens’ locals with a penchant for heavy tunes and high decibels.
Dweeb describes itself as “transgenre” and Slut Castle refers to its style as “slut punk.” Forming in early 2013, Dweeb is just slightly older than Slut Castle and Druid is the youngest of them all. ACRN Media spent a few minutes with the boys from Druid to talk about their experience as a fledgling band in Athens’ music scene.
“Playing in Athens is definitely really fun. Even though figuring out where to play can be hard sometimes, once you do, you can find a good crowd. Crowds in Athens are definitely cool... a lot of genuine support,” said Druid’s guitarist and vocalist Kaleb Shaffner.
"We've played six shows in Athens... One at a DIY venue, four at the Skull and one at Red Brick, but we don't talk about that," said Shaffner. "We got some cool pictures but other than that... not a great night."
Other than this hiccup, Druid has had a blast playing in Athens. "People tell us we have a good live act," said Max Schmitz, who provides bass and vocals to the band.
Druid quickly realized that utilizing online platforms to book shows makes the process much smoother. “Technology makes it so easy to do this stuff,” said Schmitz.
Sites like Bandcamp enable the young group to distribute its music to a wide audience that extends far beyond Athens, Ohio. “We’ve had Europeans buying our album [off Bandcamp],” began Schmitz. Shaffner continued, “We can’t even pronounce the names of people that buy our albums... but I’d rather see my friends buy it than some random Russian name.”
Regardless, every fan counts when a band is trying to become successful. That’s why Druid is always happy to book a lineup with older bands that have an established audience. “We’ve played with Slut Castle a couple time,” said Druid’s drummer Louis Eyerman. However, the band is more familiar with Dweeb. “We’ve been really good friends with them since the beginning,” said Schmitz.
To witness the camaraderie in action, head to the Skull this Saturday night with $3 in your pocket. Doors open at 9:30 and the experience will surely be one you--and your mom--won’t forget.
