The Red and Black

Issue date: 10/31/07 Section: Variety

Media Credit: COURTESY JESSICA HORWITZ Packway Handle returns to the Theatre for its Halloween show. [Click to enlarge]

Josh Erwin of Athens-based bluegrass quintet Packway Handle Band said for him, playing music onstage is a lot like having sex.

"I'm not saying every single strum is an orgasm, but it's the same mentality [because] you're doing an emotional activity," he said.

"It's more of a cruise control than a repetition."

The band, which consists of Erwin (guitar/vocals), Andrew Heaton (fiddle/vocals), Tom Baker (banjo/vocals), Zach McCoy (bass), Michael Paynter (mandolin/vocals), is playing a Halloween show tonight.

Packway Handle Band enjoys covering old folk songs, but Erwin said the members stray from the traditional topics like "trains, wagon wheels, out West, all the whole lonesome stuff" when it comes to writing songs of their own.

Although the band has played alongside Yonder Mountain String Band, Erwin said Packway doesn't fall under the genre "jam-grass."

"We're more of a [bluegrass] genre bent," he said. "It's fun to be up playing, and it's even cooler to have people dig it."

Rebecca Carter, a junior from Hinesville, said she was hooked when she saw PHB live for the first time.

"They put on a great show with so much energy - it's such fun music," she said.

"The point of the show isn't polished solos, but the overall performance," Erwin said. "That's why it's cool to have Effie's and Bling - you're going to see an awesome performance with what these people are doing."

Bling The Children Back Home is a funk/hip-hop band and will be the closing act of the night. Effie's Club Follies is a burlesque revue that, according to the group's MySpace, promises "an effing good time."

Although the three groups differ greatly in performance styles, they meet on the common ground that all members like to dress up.

"In 2005 at our CD release show at Farm 255, Effie's were wrestling in lingerie and roller-skates," Erwin said. "[And] Bling The Children Back Home always have crazy-cool costumes."

Erwin said he enjoys dressing up, and Athens is his favorite place to be on Halloween.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools