Allgood Asylum

Heavy rockin’ Allgood Asylum hammers Augusta with a fresh sound, the culmination of more than two decades of musical experience ****

BY DINO LULL

AUGUSTA, GA - Like a tightly knit family, Allgood Asylum gives off a feeling akin to coming home for Sunday dinner — that is, if your family dressed in black, made references to Dokken and vigorously ripped into each other.

Composed of Chuck Rocker on vocals, drummer Mike Allgood, Mike Ivey and Keith Rhindt on guitar, J.J. Talynn on bass and Diedra Perry on percussion, the Georgia band launches a creative blend of old-school and catchy nu metal from the Fort, their recording studio in Evans. The members have been in multiple local groups, playing regionally for nearly 20 years in such bands as Youth @ Risk, Crankshaft, Sixth Hour and Uncle Woody.

“We’re a hometown band,” longtime member Allgood says. “We want to turn Augusta on its ear.” As he puts it, a half-assed band can rock with a good sound system, but “lights, smoke, heavy rock ‘n’ roll” is what being in a band is all about.

“But we’re shooting for half-assed,” Ivey laughs.

This friendly jabbing is common for these friends. A strong vein of brotherhood runs through the band, making Allgood Asylum a remarkable group.

Talynn adds, “We want to be a spectacle.” Ivey reminds Talynn, with his curly dark hair held back by a Guitar Hero headband, that he is already a spectacle.

The music stands as the No. 1 reason Allgood Asylum has made waves locally. They create heavy, heart-pounding, well-crafted tunes.

Allgood Asylum’s recent show at the Playground was filled with tons of walk-ins, creating a packed gig where people were literally tripping over their equipment. Their sound pulled people in off the streets and kept them in the bar listening to the heavy rocking of Allgood Asylum.

And the crowd response? “Damn! Where’d you guys come from?” the fans wanted to know.

Lead singer Rocker has been in local bands for the past 20 years; Allgood and Rhindt admit they were hitting the music scene hard back in ’85. Allgood was also in Captain Tripps with Ivey back in the day, but might best be remembered for one of his more recent groups, Crankshaft. Tired of being “the Godsmack cover band,” Ivey and Allgood put a more unique sound together in the fall of 2003.

Two and a half years ago, Rocker joined the band as lead singer. Allgood Asylum dug through a couple of different singers before settling on the current lineup. Most of those efforts at singing were “pretty humorous,” Ivey recalls.

“I saw a lot of potential,” Rocker remembers about that first audition with the band.

Allgood says that when Rocker came back to the next practice, he already had songs written for the band. That cemented the deal.

Six months later, the band’s guitarist left and Rhindt was drawn into the fold. Rhindt had been hanging out since the inception of the band, Ivey says. “We were tired of him giving us the finger and wanted him to bring the guitar,” Allgood says.

The original sound of the band and the expert musicianship of veteran rockers are the two drawing points for the group. The sound of Allgood Asylum is a “fusion of funk-rock, heavy guitars and modern, raspy vocals,” Allgood says.

“I bring the cowbell,” percussionist Perry laughs.

Listening to a band that doesn’t play memorable originals is nothing more than grabbing a six-pack and cranking up the stereo, Talynn admonishes. That’s why he describes Allgood Asylum as “a work six years in the making.”

“If it sucks, it sucks, but at least we finished it,” Ivey says. And they’re doing it their way.

The measure of success for the band isn’t earning millions of dollars, but just making it as a band in the South. “We didn’t want to play out before we had a product,” Ivey, quite possibly the serious one in the band, says about their music.

But there came a time when they had to get out there and give the fans a taste. When they did, Allgood Asylum was rewarded. During their show at Big City Music’s Live on the Lawn concert in April, the only reason the band stopped playing was because they ran out of daylight. Even then, the fans wanted more.

A few months ago, their song “Circles” made it to No. 36 out of 36,000 tracks on Soundclick’s hard rock list. “Affliction” made it to No. 14. The real icing on the cake, Ivey remembers, is when he was working at a residence and the owner was playing “Circles” on his computer. “I’m standing there stunned,” he says. He proudly told the owner of the house, “That’s my band.”

Allgood Asylum plan to complete a self-titled 13-song album by late summer with artwork by Talynn. “It’s about marketing,” Allgood says, knowing they will have to work hard at pushing their CD but also understanding that the music speaks for itself. Until the album comes out, they will continue handing out demos at shows and reminding the fans they can download songs from Soundclick for 75 cents a tune.

Allgood Asylum - Metrospirit.com