Spring Break
Groups make hometown switch
Contributed By Waites Laseter
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The Bonapartes, a band hailing from Washington, will find themselves playing Athens Wednesday thanks to the help of local band Iron Hero.
"Iron Hero was looking for a show in D.C., so it kinda worked out pretty well," said Ben Griggs, guitarist for The Bonapartes.
The two bands decided to play shows together in both of their hometowns, so they could get more exposure.
The Bonapartes will play with Iron Hero twice in the coming months: Wednesday at the Caledonia Lounge and again April 11 at the DC9 in Washington.
"The Bonapartes are a great, clever rock band, kinda like if Guided By Voices had gone more post-punk," said Sam Gunn, who sings and plays guitar and keyboards in Iron Hero.
Griggs said his band brings a lot of energy to every song.
"We're not a band to stand around and watch the audience," he said. "Even in practice, we jump around. We're ecstatic about the music. It's not that we think we're so great or anything, we just love playing."
The five-member band released an EP in December, which caused a lot of buzz in its area. This will be The Bonapartes' first major tour.
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"As soon as we get back from this tour, we're going to start recording," Griggs said. "We want to release a full album by July."
Once the full album is released, The Bonapartes are planning a summer tour, traveling as far away as Oklahoma. A possible European tour is also in the pipeline.
"We're really excited about playing Athens," Griggs said. "People are responsive to new bands in good music towns like Athens. We have a day to rest in Athens, so we want to find the ... place that R.E.M. likes, where the guy shouts 'Automatic for the People.' We're all big R.E.M. fans."
Other major influences for the band include The Jam, Gang of Four, The Fall, Buzzcocks and The Kinks.
"We try not to pigeonhole ourselves," Griggs said. "If I had to describe it, I would say we sound like The Jam with bigger and more guitars. We like to think we're epic rock without getting into the realm of hair metal."
Gulshan Begam, a sophomore from Suwanee, heard about The Bonapartes through MySpace.
"The optimism of their music shines through even in the depressing parts of certain songs," she said. "They sound like The Killers mixed in with Death Cab (for Cutie), both lyrically and instrumentally."
Griggs said the name "of course" is in reference to French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
"I got the idea from the word 'bonapartism,' which basically means when the ruler takes over the popular will during a revolution," he said. "We like it because it's complicated. I think it's kind of funny that it evokes both revolution and dictatorship."
"Especially with the amount of anti-French sentiment in this country, it just seemed sort of nice and rebellious," he added.
