WHO'S Playing In ATLANTA This Week? (July 30 - Aug. 5)

Okay, there's no way around it - this is a slow week.  Most of the music on stage this week is either metal or hip hop, and there aren't even any shows on Wednesday night. The highlights of the week for indie fans are probably tonight's set by the always reliable but familiar guitar rockers Surfer Blood and Saturday night's showcase at 529. 

For the safety and health of their patrons, staff, neighbors and families, and in accordance with CDC guidelines and a City of Atlanta mandate, The Earl and other venues are requiring guests to wear facemasks. These venues value your safety and your business, and appreciate your cooperation with this (hopefully temporary) policy.  As always, please keep in mind that musicians and night-club proprietors lead complicated lives and I'm prone to errors, mistakes, typos, and fubars, so it's advisable to confirm any of the information below on your own before making plans.

FRIDAY, JULY 30, 2021

Surfer Blood at Shaky Knees Music Festival, Atlanta, May 2015

✅Surfer Blood, Worn-Tin & Small Reactions (The Earl, 8:00 pm) - On July 17, Surfer Blood finished recording their 5th album, coinciding with the 10th anniversary reissue of their debut album Astro Coast. Former guitarist Thomas Fekete passed away in 2016, but founding members John Paul Pitts and Tyler Schwarz are now joined by guitarist Michael McCleary and bassist Lindsey Mills, all alumni of the same high school in West Palm Beach, Florida. In March 2012, Pitts was arrested for domestic battery in Lake Worth, but the charges were eventually dropped. Over the past decade, we've seen Surfer Blood numerous times, and they always manage to bring the party.  Their appearance at The Earl should be no different.

Kiesza (Center Stage, 9:00 pm) - For a couple of weeks now and for reasons I don't understand, an image of some woman squatting down looking like she was getting ready to poop on the floor has appeared in my Facebook and Instagram feeds. It turns out she's a Canadian pop singer named Kiesza. This show was originally scheduled to play at Aisle 5 (see above) with a couple of openers.  But instead of saying "moved to Center Stage," that show is now listed as "cancelled" on the Aisle 5 website and tickets are being sold on the Center Stage site instead with no opening acts listed. Between the aggressive social media blitz and the changed venue, I smell an ambitious promoter behind the scenes overly commodifying this performer ("I've got the brains, you've got the looks, let's make lots of money").

DIM, glimmers, abandcalledlove, HZ & Clavicle (Purgatory at The Masquedrade, 7:00 pm) - I have so many questions here.  Who are these guys?  I've never heard of them, but  that's not saying anything. Their show is sold out, but the top video on the band's web site has only 550 views on YouTube.  Who are they? Are they some QAnon band?  The lyrics on that YouTube video begin, "Where we go one, we go all," and later ask "Is tonight the night, that it all goes down? Will we stand up and fight or will we drown?" Will MTG be making an appearance at their show? My "research," limited as it is, reveals that they're an Atlanta pop-rock band, so perhaps the sold-out tickets were all bought by their friends and relatives. I truly don't know. As already mentioned, the show's sold out so we may never know, but if you want to hang around The Masquerade to find out, there's also Sweet Tea, A Queer Variety Show on the Hell stage, and The Groove, an R&B dance party in Heaven.  

Skyzoo & DJ Kerosene hosted by Fort Knox, Senor Kaos, Illastrate, Sixman, Small Eyez (529, 9:00 pm) - Hip hop.    

SATURDAY, JULY 31, 2021

BG.FM, Lo Talker, True Blossom, Sporrs (529, 9:00 pm) - A highly varied line up at 529.  BG.FM is the guitar rock project of Big Jesus' Blake Gamel.  Lo Talker is Andew Shepard, the frontman for Roadkill Ghost Choir. True Blossom is an Atlanta synth-pop band, and I suppose you'll have to go to the show yourself to find out what openers Sporrs are.  This is 529, though, so don't expect to see the headliners until well after midnight.

Snowblind Movie Premier featuring Fiend Without a Face & The Rocking Dead (Hell at The Masquerade, 6:30 pm) - The 2021 movie, Snowblind, not to be confused with Snow Blind, the 2008 documentary about snowboarding, Snow Blind, the Jake  Gyllenhaal thriller based on a graphic novel, or Snowblind, the 2010 indie post-apocalyptic thriller, is a new horror film starring Mastodon‘s Brent Hinds about a fictional metal band. The film is premiering at The Masquerade with a full night of music from Atlanta's Fiend Without a Face, who've been masking since before masking was cool, and The Rocking Dead featuring George Romero protégé Greg Nicotero (make-up supervisor for The Walking Dead), as well as two showings of the film at 7:00 and 9:00 pm.

Left To Suffer, Vatican, Filth, Head Hunter & Faust (Purgatory at The Masquerade, 7:00 pm) - Another sold-out show by a local Atlanta band of whom I never heard.  Apparently Left to Suffer are a deathcore metal band featuring Jacob Wallace of BROJOB & Coldharbour.   

Sam Lewis (Aisle 5, 7:30 pm) - An early set by soulful singer-songwriter Sam Lewis.

Bird Dog Jubilee (Aisle 5, 11:45 pm) - A late-night, after-party set by Atlanta jam-band Bird Dog Jubilee.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 1, 2021

Malayna, Krystall Poppins & Rex Evans (Purgatory at The Masquerade, 7:00 pm) - Malayna is a young (19 years) rapper from L.A. whose career got a bump from a Cardi B repost, but isn't that all of ours story?

MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 2021

Pi’erre Bourne (Center Stage, 8:00 pm) - The Queens, NY producer has worked with Lil Yachty, XXXTentacion, 21 Savage, 6ix9ine, Big Sean, and others.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2021

Between The Buried and Me (Heaven at The Masquerade, 7:30 pm) - Between the Buried and Me is a progressive metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina formed in 2000.  

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2021

Dark night.  Nothing going on at all. Anywhere.  Nada.  Have dinner with some friends.  Watch a movie.  Stay home and I dunno, read a book?

THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2021

Sicard Hollow & The Family Recipe (Aisle 5, 9:00 pm) - Progressive bluegrass quartet.  

And that's it for this week.  The premier of new music venue The Eastern will be on August 6, but I'm not paying "$49 - $99" to see fucking Bright Eyes, and L5P's Variety Playhouse has already sold out its first show (The Mountain Goats) on August 7.  Terminal West reopens on Friday the 13th of August with Maggie Rose.  We're still waiting on word from the Drunken Unicorn on when (or if) they're reopening.