With more local venues now featuring live music in Auburn, the music scene has gained momentum—local bands are evolving and thriving, all the while maintaining the feeling of a tight-knit community.
Low June, Ellington Way, Teacup and the Monster, Adventure the Great, Elenowen and Lonely Wolves are just some of the local bands stepping onto the scene.
The Gnu’s Room, in particular, has given many of these bands a chance to play in front of a live audience, and has allowed students and others to revel in the excitement of live music.
“It’s a very intimate scene,” said Scott Waters of Low June and broadcast associate at WEGL 91.1. “As far as the music community, I think it’s the cornerstone of the arts and music scene here.”
Tommy Kratzert, lead guitarist of Teacup and the Monster, agreed.
“They’re such welcoming people,” he said. “That sort of atmosphere really just helps bands get started, and it’s not just limited to bands — I’ve heard people read poetry there or a short story; they’re just a really good catalyst for the arts.”
Recently, some of the bands in Auburn who have played at The Gnu’s Room put on the Gnu Fall Festival to raise money for the nonprofit bookstore. A Christmas album featuring one song each from 10 local bands is also in the works.
“It’s a good way for somebody to give back financially,” Waters said. “It was all local bands so it was a good way for those of us who got a start there or were given an opportunity to have our music heard to finally give back.”
Other local venues that welcome musicians include Bloodhound, The Railyard, The Overall Company, The Opelika Cultural Center and Standard Deluxe.
“Recently, I’ve noticed there’s been a lot of venues available in Auburn and the Opelika area,” Ashley Waters said. “It’s a college town, so it’s kind of primed for it, and I think local businesses are finally starting to take notice of all the music that’s available here.”
While the music scene at Auburn may never reach that of Athens, Ga., or Nashville, Tenn., it continues to grow more and more.
“Even since my freshman year, there was nothing that I knew of,” Kratzert said. “I think Adventure [the Great] kind of kicked it off. Chandler, the singer came here and really started something great, and when you hear a rocking band like that, people just want to follow it.”
Kratzert said people don’t necessarily travel to Auburn to hear live bands they would in other places such as Nashville or Austin, Texas, but that “it’s getting there.”
Jake Carnley, lead singer of Teacup and the Monster, agreed that the music scene is thriving more now than ever before.
“I was talking to this guy, Jason Crane, who just moved here and he got the sense that Auburn is about to move into this renaissance season where there’s just a lot of really good art, and really good music, poetry and creativity coming out of this place,” Carnley said. “And having been here for five years, I see it too — there’s a lot of local musicians and a lot of quality work being put out”
A strong sense of community can also be felt among the bands. Waters said he has had the chance to record many of the local bands in the WEGL studio.
“We’ve all been able to collaborate, share ideas and perform,” he said. “It feels like a pretty tight-knit community.”
Kratzert said the band that he and other members of Teacup and the Monster hang out with the most is Adventure the Great.
“It’s kind of funny because when we were starting out they were getting really popular,” he said. “And then we started hanging out with them and we were like ‘they’re such great people, we can’t hate them at all.’”
Kratzert said they know some of the people from Lonely Wolves, but that everyone in the local band community kind of knows everyone else.
And getting the chance to play music and perform never gets old. Kratzert said just having the privilege of playing music is what’s most important, regardless of who he’s playing with or where he’s playing.
“That’s just what I want to be doing, but Teacup [and the Monster] is especially great because I love the music we make,” he said.
Ashley of Low June said she and Scott plan to keep making and playing music for a while.
“We enjoy playing together and we enjoy playing out, so as long as we enjoy it, we’ll keep doing it,” she said. “Maybe we’ll have a family band one day.”
Teacup and the Monster recently performed with Elenowen and Chronic Blues on Cater Lawn as a benefit show for Chi Omega’s Wish Week 2012. Despite the cold chill in the air, the bands were still able to play.
“It went really well and it was just nice to play to a different community instead of just the crowd hanging out at The Gnu’s Room or Bloodhound,” Kratzert said. “The Greek scene doesn’t get to hear us much, so it was cool.”
Low June plans to play at The Gnu’s Room sometime toward the end of January, and is inviting a friend from Atlanta to come perform with them as well.
Ashley said they hadn’t been playing as much lately because it was hard to work around her busy schedule in graduate school.
“Hopefully now that things have settled down and I don’t have anymore classes left to take, we’ll be able to schedule more things out,” she said.
Teacup and the Monster also has a small gig coming up at Maestro’s.
“It’s kind of a swanky place; it’s not as much a show as it is we’re providing background music,” Kratzert said. “But the gigs stop there because we’re really anxious to put out our new EP just because our sound has changed so much since the last one, so we just want to get that out there.”
Teacup and the Monster’s next EP will release sometime next spring.
All photos by Caitlin Wagenseil.
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