Athenaeum
(originally appeared in NineVolt; photo courtesy of Athenaeum.net)
When speaking to Ninevolt, Mark Kano of Athenaeum was, if not actually in
the city itself, well on his way to Minneapolis, MN, to play a show at the 400
Bar with the Push Stars, their latest tour mates.
“We’d met (the Push Stars) before and been a fan of their music,”
he explained. “We have a mutual
acquaintance who hooked us up to tour together.”
The
line-up of the tour, as far as who’s opening and who’s headlining, tends to
flip-flop from region to region. “It’s
a little of both. Shows up north,
they headline, because they have a bigger audience there…although we did get
the show in Detroit (on September 23rd).
It’s once we hit the southeast where it starts to switch off; that’s
still where we have our biggest following.
But there are still scattered pockets of Athenaeum fans out there…like
that show in Detroit. That was
probably the best show we’ve done in quite awhile.”
On
his website, http://www.mikegarrigan.com,
Athenaeum’s guitarist/vocalist Mike Garrigan (a relatively-recent addition to
the band’s line-up) wrote of the Detroit performance, “We hit the stage
around 10:30 p.m.. There hasn't been a more surprisingly well-attended show
since we played Columbia, SC a few months back. Everyone loved it. I enjoyed
myself so much that night that I forgot to take pictures, save the
Blink-182-was-here scribble on the dressing room wall.”
“I’d
say (the audience) was more excited than they are when we play our hometown,”
added Kano. “But that’s
probably at least partially because we haven’t played (Detroit) in about 3
years. It was raining, so we weren’t expecting a really great turn-out, but
the place was packed.”
Athenaeum’s
self-titled album, which was released on September 18th, is their
second for Atlantic Records. “It
did pretty good (the first week),” said Kano.
“Better than the label expected, based on the amount of radio airplay
(first single “Comfort”) has received.”
Kano
said that the single’s on about 20 stations across the country at the moment.
“The ones playing the track are reacting really well, and they’re
getting a lot of calls; it’s charting in a lot of areas, so we’re trying to
build in smaller pockets of the country, so others will catch on.”
While Kano is optimistic when discussing the single’s success,
observing that things are “going smoothly so far,” he conceded that
“Atlantic’s roster is so huge, with so many platinum artists releasing new
records right now, that it’s hard to get a lot of attention.
“The major label experience is equally frustrating and rewarding at
same time,” he continued. “We’re
honored that Atlantic would choose us to record for them, but, at the same time,
they’re such a big label that it’s tough to get noticed sometimes.”
Jack
Joseph Puig, the man with the ability to mix just about any song into a pop hit,
worked his magic on the new Athenaeum album, a task he performed on its
predecessor as well. “We liked
what he brought to our last record,” Kano explained.
“Plus, he’s got one of the coolest studios in the world.”
The aforementioned Mike Garrigan, late of Collapsis, only makes a few
appearances on the new disc, and neither of them involve any guitar work.
(He contributes backing vocals to “Mistake” and “Plurabelle,”
scoring a co-writing credit on the latter.)
Some might argue that this is a bit misleading, since his mug is
plastered all over the album and in the press photos for the record.
“We’d already recorded the majority of the album before Mike
contributed to those songs,” Kano clarifies.
“And when he came into the studio, he wasn’t even in the band yet; we
just happened to be recording close to his house, and we asked him to come in.
It wasn’t until after we’d finished recording that he broke up
Collapsis and joined (Athenaeum).”
Garrigan’s introduction into the band’s dynamic was smooth, simple,
and endlessly beneficial. “He’s
added a new dimension to the group with his harmonies and his guitar parts,”
raves Kano. “Plus, he’s a
wonderful person on top of all of that. It’s
been a blessing. Things have been a
lot easier this time around, playing on stage.
First off, we learned so much from being on the road, supporting the
first record. Things are much more
fun this time; we’re all getting along and really meshing musically. With Mike here, all the parts I did in the studio, he handles
the harmonies and does the second guitar parts; it’s great not to be
frustrated to try to play the songs live and not hear it the way it sounded in
the studio.”
The last time Athenaeum were in Hampton Roads, it was a gig at the NorVa,
part of a triple bill with Angie Aparo and Evan and Jaron. “(Evan and Jaron) called us up; they were fans of ours, and
we remembered meeting them a long time ago.
They’re just the nicest guys, and, basically, they were trying to do us
a favor by taking us out. Those
guys, I tell you, they’re constantly networking, 24 hours a day; they’re
very good at that.”
If the NorVa show was any
indication, one supposes that there were more than a few underage girls to be
seen at the shows.
“I’ve never seen so many 14 year old girls in one place in my entire
life. It was just a sea of
adolescents. Hey, they’re very
excited about music at that age…”
Kano closed by reconfirming his high hopes for Athenaeum.
“I’m really proud of the new album, of the growth in songwriting; a
lot of the fans are saying that they think it’s our strongest work yet.
And, plus, I’m just excited to be on the road again.”
Athenaeum will be at the Abyss on October 7th…headlining, of
course. (This is the southeast,
after all.) But fans of the Push
Stars will still have a chance to catch them as openers, as they support their
own new album, Opening Time.