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I stumbled into a joint called Side Bar, and an Athens, Georgia showcase. The Dumps, a heavily bearded, heavily testosterone driven metal band that look like the confederate Metallica were ripping up the small stage inside, while 20 or so metalheads pumped their fists in approval. Athens is a long way from Tacoma, but if the Dumps ever make it to T-Town they're thunder will be appreciated.
- Spew
There’s something to be said about love lost. Few, however, tend to say it as loudly as The Dumps. Although the band is one of the few serious contenders in Athens' hard rock scene, it formed in a sad but somewhat hilarious manner. In the beginning of 2005, members Jason Richardson (drums) and Andy Hollingsworth (guitar) found themselves living the single life again after having both been dumped. During a heavy drinking session, Hollingsworth, who had been planning on playing music with Richardson for a while at that point, scribbled the name “The Dumps” on a napkin. Both agreed it was appropriate and funny. Another couple of dudes with female trouble found their way into the fold: Jeff Rapier (bass/ vocals) and Daniel Ray (guitar/ vocals).
To listen to The Dumps, though, is no easy walk down heartbreak lane. It’s a loud and punishing good time. As far as bands operating in this genre are concerned, The Dumps are somewhat incongruous. There’s nothing particularly scary or threatening about any of the members. Maybe that’s the secret: you don’t see them coming. Perhaps the thing that truly sets The Dumps apart is that they play music as if there were no calendar. They rock a tune that could have come out in 1984, not because they want to go back to 1984 via nostalgia - they're just playing what they like. Similarly, if they start into a crushing bass line, thunderous drums and searing guitar, it’s not because they want to impress you with badass skills. It’s no accident that The Dumps came around when they did. They just want to rock. And, in the end, isn’t that what we all want?
- FlagPole - Gordon Lamb
Let's kick off hard into Thursday, Oct. 27, at Tasty World as local four-piece masters of metal The Dumps open the show. The Dumps are a side project for members of local hard-rock outfits Donkey Punch and Chop Top. According to guitarist Andy Hollingsworth, the lads got together when a couple of the guys were dumped by their girlfriends. Like many, they decided to expel their demons through music, but like few, they chose the path of ultimate metal. The band engages with gut wrenching force - Satan couldn't come within a mile of this shit. The onslaught of alternating, dual screaming from Daniel Ray (guitar, vocals) and Jeff Rapier (bass, vocals) is a feat of guttural endurance, and the guitar work of the aforementioned Hollingsworth is a pure Euro-metal-fan's wet dream.
Just as you think that Ray's ball-tearing guitar work can't get any more in the zone, he leads the band in call-and-response hardcore metal, taking the whole box and dice to a new level. It's both a sight and sound to behold. Jason Richardson on drums holds down his end of the deal exceptionally well, and the band's finale leaves more than one member of the crowd screaming along with a two-fisted devil horn salute.
- Flagpole Magazine
Discography
We have just in last few months put the finishing touches on our debut EP produced by Phillip Cope of Kylesa. We hope for this to out after the being of the year(2008).
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It Ain’t Braggin’ If It’s True: An Introduction To The Dumps
Truth be told, Athens, GA has never been known for its hard rock bands. Even the odd ones that do make it out of the crab bucket (e.g. Jucifer) wind up eventually not even being associated very closely with Athens due to basically living on the road. Further, the golden-age of Athens hard rock, 1989-1994, was, in all honesty, so heavily populated with train-spotters, trend-seekers and other copy-cats that even the rose-colored lens of nostalgia can’t make it less-Seattle worshipping than it, in all actuality, was.
Over the past few years, heavy music has been on the rise on Athens due in no small part to a few faithful rock devotees eschewing introspective, thoughtful tenderness for a couple of cases of beer, a couple of Marshall stacks, a few Kiss and Sabbath records and a whole lot of post-adolescent angst. While few will rise above the sweaty practice rooms of the warehouses and dilapidated post-war housing in Athens, I would encourage those attentive to such things to pay some attention to The Dumps.
The fact that over two paragraphs were written on this page before the subject at hand was mentioned should alert the reader to the fact that The Dumps are a purely contextual band. That is, they really could have only come from Athens in the 21st century. While the entire downtown scene seems bent on recreating a 1980’s New Wave scene that that preceded the birth dates of most of the participants, The Dumps just want to rock. True, this isn’t germinal to the 21st century but such goofy honesty is certainly refreshing and not at all in step with either the MYSPACE marketing plans and hyper-fashion-consciousness of the current hardcore/metal scene or the doot-doot, bleep-bleep of the soon-to-be-forgotten keyboard-revival. Sure, The Dumps want to “make it” but why can’t rock-n-roll be sweaty and loud and non-narcissistic? In actuality, fact is, The Dumps don’t even really think about all this stuff, which is why I’m writing this and they’re not. But that’s the point of an outside observer. I can see things they can’t if only ‘cause they’re too close to it. You know, forest for the trees and all that.
So, look, The Dumps were formed after both Jason Richardson (Drums) and Andy Hollingsworth (Guitar) got dumped by their respective girlfriends in the beginning of 2005. Although both had been planning to do a heavy project this seemed like the perfect time. The band was christened thusly when a drunken Hollingsworth drew the name “The Dumps” on a napkin. As misery loves company, fate deigned that Jeff Rapier (Bass/Vocals) and Daniel Ray (Guitar/Vocals), who had also both had then-recent lady problems, would join the gang. Long story short: the band wrote songs, played out first in June of 2005, recorded in December 2005 and January 2006. Now, they want you to hear them.
Listening to The Dumps is the experience of having ones ears perk up at the first bass guitar rumble. It’s cracking a smile hearing the comforting thrash of old school hardcore and AOR metal. It’s realizing that you’re speakers aren’t lying. It’s knowing that you really, really want to see them play live. The member have a collective nine (!) bands already under their belts and in their past, each one leading inevitably toward the mountaintop The Dumps currently occupy. Yeah, that’s a lot of “rock journo” hyperbole but if this writing is over-the-top it’s only because The Dumps rock over-the-top. In the immortal words of Dizzy Dean (St. Louis Cardinals, 1934): “It ain’t braggin’ if you can back it up.”
Gordon Lamb
Athens, GA
April 2006
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