Club Awesome

Artist Information

Biography

(Clapping is great. Singing along is great. Call-and-response vocals is great. Staccato dueling guitar chords is great. Counting (as in "1,2,3,4!", or even up to 14, the number of times to pump an air rifle) is great. Sad words for happy music is great. Disco drumbeats is great. But Shins-y country style also is great. Keyboards are always great. Dancing is great. Additionally, costume changes, sparklers, dry ice, large stage props, and light shows are great.)

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We started in 2004. We wanted to be a country-music Smiths cover band. We kind of sucked. Some people thought we were geek-rock, and some people thought we were punk, which was probably because we were doing it wrong. We threw out all our songs and wrote new ones. We put out a suggestion box at shows. "Stop standing around like fucking corpses." (Okay.) "More keyboard parts!" (Okay.) "Play 'Whyte Tygre' twice, because it's THAT GOOD." (Okay.) (Thanks.)

We started getting better. Now people were saying we sounded like Joe Jackson, which was probably just we were playing the notes right. We won a battle of the bands. We won studio time, which we forgot to use. Instead, we recorded an EP with our friend Brian Slusher from Slushco, which we forgot to release.

We opened for Asobi Seksu, The Paper Chase and Oppenheimer. Et cetera. Suddenly, we bought an aboveground pool and demanded that it go up when we played shows. Vainglorious, maybe, but it worked. We found Nev Walker to produce our first record, and at the same time found a use for one of our EP recordings, on a seven-inch shared with Tokyo Sex Destruction. We became magickal, and used our powers to fight evil.

Instrumentation

Errol Crane: vocals, guitar, keyboard, bass
Blair Gainous: bass, guitar, bkg vocals
Rick Kemp: guitar, keyboard
Lance Warner: drums

Discography

2006 "We Are A Great Band Called Club Awesome"
EP, Robot Tiger (self-release)
2007 "Tokyo Sex Destruction 'Modern Education'
b/w Club Awesome 'Whyte Tygre'"
7", Passive Aggressive Network
2007 [upcoming] "Feel It!"
LP, Robot Tiger (self-release)

Audio

• Trainwreck
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• Dolphins!
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• BBs Go Out Into The Night
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Lyrics

• Trainwreck
• Dolphins!
• BBs Go Out Into The Night

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Spotlight: Club Awesome [+ Show ]
  

  Beach balls and short shorts abound in the world that is Atlanta’s Club Awesome. As girls dance ar...Beach balls and short shorts abound in the world that is Atlanta’s Club Awesome. As girls dance around clad scantily in bikinis, guys swill beer and nod along to the poppy sounds of four musicians who, before 2005, were slinging biscuits, running with crowds picking fights with future bandmates and attending school at Georgia State University.
  
  
  Such scenes are bound to pop up again as summer comes into full bloom. Club Awesome began their beach parties last summer at the Drunken Unicorn, complete with an above-ground pool, the aforementioned bikini vixens and shirtless beach hipsters and the beginnings of great songs that are quickly filling the group’s canon.
  The group, made up of vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Errol Crane, bassist Blair Gainous, guitarist Rick Kemp and drummer Lance Warner, bears an unusual name, but never steers the music off course. The strange moniker came out of drunken jokes at the band’s early practices. “We really drank a good bit at our first few practices,” remembers Kemp. “Errol and I had never been in bands before and were kind of apprehensive at first.”
  
  
  “But the beers really helped after a bit,” chimes in Crane. The group often caught Warner telling people not to come to shows, possibly embarrassed about a name that lends itself to high expectations, to say the least. “The only awkward part was when we were not so awesome,” recalls Gainous. Warner remembers that sometimes it was more like Club Mediocre.
  
  
  Now, however, Club Awesome has become a live group made up of better-than-mediocre songs and an instrumental tightness that suggests recent practices feature less imbibing and more playing, at least more than at earlier rehearsals. The band has recently wrapped up a recording session at Dreamboat Studios in Marietta, Georgia with Nev Walker. For the group, working with Walker was a breath of fresh air. Club Awesome had been approached by others to record, but were met with situations that were “sleazy and full of red flaggy kind of deals,” explains Crane. With Walker, they were set at ease and were able to work out problems in the studio rather than throwing temper tantrums.
  
  
  Once the recording is mastered, the band hopes to self-release it by mid-summer. Aside from a 7-inch release on Passive Aggressive Records, this record will be the first full release for Club Awesome. After winning a recording session from a battle of the bands contest at Lenny’s, the group bailed out of the recording prize and opted to wait. The wait is looking to be worth it.
  
  
  The group owes a lot of their musical maturity to the suggestion box they brought to many of their initial shows. They would leave the box at the front of the stage with a pen and notepad. “In the beginning, we just got a lot of tampons and slices of pizza,” recollects Warner. “Eventually we got a lot of good suggestions like ‘Stop standing around like corpses.’” Crane continues, “I think it was a good idea in the beginning because your friends aren’t always able to be openly critical to you, but with the anonymity of the suggestion box, people really gave us some good feedback.”
  New stage antics, such as Crane’s tiger outfit created for the track “Whyte Tygre,” have added to the ever-more-confident live show. This summer, as the sun sets over the Atlanta skyline, Club Awesome will again be bringing the beach to the city.

• Club Awesome Pool Parties [+ Show ]
  

  Oh rock-n-roll, I love you so. The ATL has long been known for our hip-hop acts. Cee-Lo, Outkast, an...Oh rock-n-roll, I love you so. The ATL has long been known for our hip-hop acts. Cee-Lo, Outkast, and Usher all have their roots here. However, rock-n-roll is making a heady comeback. Snowden, Deerhunter, the Selminaires, and Gringo Star�have all scratched a notch on the headboard of the indie-rock scene in Atlanta. Recently, I found yet another band to add to that ever-growing list. Club Awesome likes to have pool parties. Their party was at the Earl�that�s right, a big pool in the small back room. When I walked in, Derrick was wearing water wings, and lying on a lounge float. Steven had on a speed-o (obviously stuffed) whilst sporting a green swim cap. Meanwhile, the crowd looked on in what I can only describe as disgust, and tried to watch the first band, Moorish Idols. Next up were the Orphins (sexy chick bassist), and finally Club Awesome. The lead singer sounds a bit like Joey Ramone and you can�t help but flail about to their music. Plus, if you feel like it, you can take a dip. Wet t-shirts + good music = Awesome.

• ASOBI SEKSU w/ Club Awesome and The Blue Hour [+ Show ]
  

  Up next was Club Awesome, another of the latest crop of Atlanta bands. They are a four-piece who pla...Up next was Club Awesome, another of the latest crop of Atlanta bands. They are a four-piece who play old fashioned angular post-punk with shouty, anthemic vocals. If you didn't like this style of music in the 80s or 90s, i would wager that Club Awesome won't really do anything for you. But for those of who have heard quite a lot of this stuff (reference points include Superchunk, The Housemartins, Hefner, and The Wedding Present), they do it surprisingly well. It's always a fun, energetic time, and i found myself really enjoying them as i bounced along happily to the tunes. I hope that they keep this up.

• Concert: Club Awesome w/ League of Evil [+ Show ]
  

  Being as I how I live in Atlanta, it's not all that unusual to get invited to a pool party. However,...Being as I how I live in Atlanta, it's not all that unusual to get invited to a pool party. However, in this case, Club Awesome, the band behind this evening, stated that they were having this pool party and show at local venue The Drunken Unicorn. Hmmm….The Drunken Unicorn is an indoor venue. And it doesn't normally have a pool. Now this could be…um…interesting.
  
  With that in mind, we headed over to the venue, where upon entering, the first thing that struck me was the vague smell of chlorine hanging in the air. The second thing was yes, indeed, there was a pool (maybe 3 foot deep) set up in the back. The final realization was that, if some largish number of people got into the pool, and left wet footprints all over, the floor was going to get slippery indeed. Luckily, I had shoes with good traction.
  
  ... After such a great opener, I was quite afraid that Club Awesome would be a disappointment, despite the pool and the fact that I liked them when I saw them previously. However, once they began, I was totally into their music. Another hard to describe combination, I think at the time I termed it "Nerd Pop." In retrospect, I’m not sure that does the band justice. Basically, the play lots of staccato chords, with an occasional synth and over powerful drumming. Singer Errol Crane vocally bops along, reminding me just a bit of some of the more quirky North Carolina bands like SNMNMN or Eyes to Space. In short, their set was bouncy and happy, and made me (as well as most of the other denizens of The Drunken Unicorn) want to dance. Towards the end of the evening, they played a fairly accurate cover of Fire from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Surprisingly, this choice suited Club Awesome's sound, and was one of the highlights of their set. Then, for the second time in the evening, when the band finished playing, I wanted to hear some more.
  
  All in all it was a great night of local music. Both League of Evil and Club Awesome are fully formed bands that play fun and interesting songs. And there was a pool! So what else can a local Indie Rocker ask for?

• ASOBI SEKSU, CLUB AWESOME, THE BLUE HOUR [+ Show ]
  

  Atlanta's Club Awesome crafts playful lo-fi pop melodies that fall somewhere between Joe Jackson and...Atlanta's Club Awesome crafts playful lo-fi pop melodies that fall somewhere between Joe Jackson and Joy Division.

• MIXEL PIXEL, RAHIM, CLUB AWESOME [+ Show ]
  

  Club Awesome kicks out the jams with twisted, lo-fi pop gems that rhyme Josef Stalin with Jackie Col...Club Awesome kicks out the jams with twisted, lo-fi pop gems that rhyme Josef Stalin with Jackie Collins ... and they've been known to wear Speedos on stage.

• THE JUPITER WATTS w/ Club Awesome and The Blue Hour [+ Show ]
  

  ... Afterwards, a band called Club Awesome set up. Looking at their relatively young age, I was imme...... Afterwards, a band called Club Awesome set up. Looking at their relatively young age, I was immediately afraid that perhaps the best thing about this four piece might be the name. But, when they began to play, I liked them. They have a post-Interpol sound, punctuated by some rather pretty, effected guitar work with the occasional 60s style keyboard. But the music and rhythm is carried primarily by the bass, which gives the band a hard edge. Sound-wise, they made an excellent lead-in for The Jupiter Watts, and I'd really like to see them again when they could play a longer set.

• A weekend full of big releases... [+ Show ]
  

  First to the stage was Club Awesome, who with that name has a lot to not only live up to but also ma...First to the stage was Club Awesome, who with that name has a lot to not only live up to but also make up for. The group had a solid Northwestern indie-pop thing going on, however, sounding parts Tullycraft and the Thermals.

• Live review: Club Awesome at The EARL [+ Show ]
  

  What makes geek rock? Is it the black-framed glasses or the corny jokes on stage? Is it the desire t...What makes geek rock? Is it the black-framed glasses or the corny jokes on stage? Is it the desire to be like Weezer or the song lyrics about robots? Whatever it is, it’s evident in the Atlanta four-piece Club Awesome.
  Errol Crane’s nerdy, almost whiny vocals distinguish the group and are accompanied by Blair Gainous on bass, Rick Kemp on guitar and keyboard and Lance Warner on drums.
  At some times sounding a bit like The Coral, Club Awesome had bouncy bass, rhythmically steady drums, catchy guitar licks, and they even added some synth keyboard on a few songs.
  It’s obvious that this is a jovial gang of four. At the show they advertised the “Embarrassing Photo Contest” currently running on their MySpace page and encouraged people to catch them at their worst. They’ve also turned many of their gigs into pool parties this past summer, bringing a three-foot pool and offering half off the door price for those dressed in proper swim attire.
  Although the band has yet to release a full-length album or official EP, after the show they gave away 4-track demo CDs recorded at Brian Slusher’s (from Slushco) Dreamboat Studios and featuring added keyboards by Slusher and extra vocals from Daniel Upton of The Orphins. Guitarist Rick Kemp provided the cover illustration. Frontman Errol Crane also dabbles into the visual arts with his art collective Golden Blizzard, verifying that Club Awesome are some artsy jokers that know how to show everyone a good time.
  
  -Alex Adan
  
  
  

Setlist

Josef Stalin
Dolphins!
Halving/Having
Supermagical
Whyte Tygre
Sensual Massage
2875
Something To Hold On To
Trainwreck
Feel It!
Give It All Up
BBs Go Out Into The Night

Covers:
Fire! (Crazy World of Arthur Brown)
Young Americans (Bowie)
Age of Consent (New Order)
The Yachting Type (The Yachts)

Sets run about 40 min - 1 hour.

Basic Requirements

Calendar