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The Flowers of Evil, tunabunny
Friday, Sept. 12 @ Flicker Theatre and Bar
tunabunny
As I sauntered into Flicker late Friday night, I was aurally assaulted by a wall of feedback coming from the stage where some band named tunabunny (and yes, it's supposed to be all lowercase) was causing quite a stir. The four-piece consisted of three girls and one out of place looking dude playing your normal set of two guitars, bass and drums. However, the music they were making was nowhere close to normal. Waves of drone, distortion, tribal- sounding drums, wailing and atmospheric noise made up most of the set. I felt as though I was listening to the all-girl (and one boy) version of Six Organs of Admittance, only bouncier. It was experimental and exciting all at once, and despite looking as though any minute they might've thrown guitars into the audience, the band remained relatively on point. The energy on stage poured out into the crowd, and I noticed despite most of the music being arrhythmic, the sheer vitality of it got more than a few heads banging, including mine.
The Flowers of Evil
Less evil than its moniker implies and definitely more subdued than tunabunny, Flowers of Evil put on a wonderful show despite a couple of technical difficulties. What I assumed would be straightforward indie-folk show turned out to be a little deeper than that. Walking the line between melodic, plaintive indie rock and slightly experimental, slightly satirical folk, the four-piece played a smoothly engaging set. Musically, it was ace, despite one of the guitarist having the wrong guitar, and even the muddled-ness of the first two songs were overshadowed by the tight instrumentation and interesting arrangements. It was hard to tell if the music was being sweet or menacing or both, but if dulcet, dark alt-folk is a new genre, these kids are its forbearers! It was vaguely reminiscent of Russian Spy Camera mixed with some Morrissey, some Leonard Cohen and bit of Loudon Wainwright III's sense of humor. My only complaint was that the set went by too quickly, either for lack of time or songs, but regardless, it was worth the trip.
Charley Lee - Flagpole Magazine
he Flowers of Evil
Psychedelic/Doom-folk
Lineup
Trey Fowke, Mary Field, Spencer Rich and Ryan Matthews.
Shares members with
Wickets, Suspenser, Titans of Filth.
Influences
Leonard Cohen, Sun Records-era Elvis, Joy Division, "Twin Peaks," Dostoevsky.
Just like one-time Athenians The B-52s, The Flowers of Evil chose to make their debut on Valentine's Day at a house party. While this isn't necessarily the soundtrack for cuddling with your sweetie, fans of minimalist experimentation and edgy folk will certainly coo with affection. Fowke describes his band's sound as featuring "sweet baritone croons and groans from the bottomless, deep, railroad tracks pumping pistons headed directly into some unsuspecting hell's mouth, angels being violently stripped of their wings and bittersweet laments of lost love…" Like the band's name suggests, there are elements here of twisted beauty - like you left your favorite folk cassette in the car during a sweltering summer day and returned to find the tunes warbled, warped and yet strangely more compelling than before. Get twisted yourself over at www.myspace.com/theevilofflowers.
Next show: Saturday, July 5 at Flicker Theatre & Bar - Flagpole Magazine
Discography
Currently recording first EP... we'll keep you updated on the progress! Have had songs played on UGA college radio station WUOG.
Photos
Bio
A band called the Flowers of Evil took the stage Valentine's Day 2008 at one of Athens' legendary houseparties and first unleashed its brand of dark, atmospheric rock on the unsuspecting party-goers. They were entranced by the propulsive rhythms and enthralled by reverberating guitars, but most of all, they were caught off guard by the deep, ominous voice of the singer, Trey Fowke. He intoned his bleak, ironic melodrama in tones that at once recalled both Ian Curtis and Elvis Presley, sometimes spontaneously bursting force into tortured screams or lapsing into declarative enunciations.
The band became quickly became a fixture of Athens music spots like Flicker Theatre & Bar & The Go Bar & the Caledonia Lounge, and played with other up-and- coming Athens bands such as Creepy and Gift Horse at the famous Forty Watt Club.
In late 2008, the band replaced original drummer Spencer Rich with Davy Gibbs (Tracer Metula, Casper & The Cookies). His powerful yet catchy drumming invigorated the band, accenting the meter of the lyrics with an unforgiving yet supple rhythm and tightening up the band's fusion of rootsy swagger and postpunk venom. They discarded the Flowers of Evil moniker, became Night Nurses and amped up the intensity, putting on monster shows at Tasty World and Flicker, expanding their tentacles into Atlanta and Augusta and getting a promising start on recording their debut EP.
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