The Red and Black

Issue date: 1/11/08 Section: Variety

Media Credit: Photo Courtesy Laurie Holcombe Subrig Destroyer will be performing tonight at Go Bar on Prince Avenue. [Click to enlarge]

Go Bar has been known for its DJs, disco nights and dance music.

Tonight, the bar will attempt to move past that reputation by hosting local thrash band American Cheeseburger and local doom metal duo Subrig Destroyer. Post-hardcore Brainworms from Richmond, Va. will also perform.

Go Bar's management hopes to branch out and reach a larger crowd, said Joel Martin, bassist and vocalist of Subrig Destroyer.

The band still is trying to figure out how to process Go Bar's ambience. The bar's environment stands in stark contrast with venues the band otherwise plays.

"You know what's going to be weird, is playing at the Go Bar," Martin said.

"It used to be one of those old gas stations where it just has two pumps," he said.

Martin said it was then transformed into a clothing store and later turned into the bar it is today.

"They're branching out, they've got (Jason Griffin, drummer of American Cheeseburger) to start doing some booking for them," said Subrig Destroyer's drummer, Chris Holcombe.

Holcombe and Martin have been playing together for over three years, and under the name Subrig Destroyer for more than a year now. They have no problems with their lack of a guitarist, Holcombe said.

"Bass players and drummers are hard to find," he said. "In this town it's like the missing link."

"I was like, 'I play bass,' and he was like, 'Well, I play drums,' ... let's make some music," Martin said as he explained how the band came to be.

The duo has played with guitarists in the past, but has decided that it enjoys the simplicity of a two-piece, Holcombe said.

"Bands are a dysfunctional relationship," Holcombe said.

He said they feel they've found something that works between the two of them.

"Everybody has their own personal tempo that they just do things by and he and I happen to have very similar tempos."

Brainworms will be playing its first show in Georgia tonight after finishing a 10-day tour in Florida.

"We just try to have a good time and do something interesting," said Brainworms guitarist Brendan Trache.

Trache describes the band's sound as "jangling and dissonant guitars and frantic vocals, held together by a strong rhythm section."

Both Subrig Destroyer and Brainworms also acknowledge the influence American Cheeseburger has had on the Athens hardcore scene.

"I've known Jason for a long time, he's pretty much a fixture with (the hardcore) scene," Trache said about the drummer.

"I really appreciate people like that - steady, helpful people that the touring machine could not work without," he said.

"That's the cool thing about Athens, the scene here is very welcoming," Holcombe said.

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