Quiet Hounds at Ponce City Market, Atlanta, October 31, 2015

Even though all my errors on this blog might (or might not, who knows?) be a source of confusion for some, it still helps me keep track of the shows I've seen, who opened for whom, what I was impressed by and what disappointed me, etc.  

Case in point: if you had asked me if I'd seen Quiet Hounds this year, I would have said "of course." One of the sweet advantages of living in Hotlanta (just kidding) is that you get to see Quiet Hounds on a fairly regular basis, but after consulting with my own blog I realized that I hadn't seen the Hounds since November 22, 2014, nearly a year ago, at The Goat Farm.  I would have sworn I'd seen them more recently than that, but apparently not.

Since that time, the Hounds have apparently moved away.  Their Facebook page says their current location is "Canada," while Bandcamp lists home as Austin.  Either way, it's not Atlanta, which is interesting given that so many of their past performance were themed on Atlanta history.

One of the interesting things about the Quiet Hounds is that they endeavor to make all of their performances an event, combining unusual locales, theatrical themes, and printed programs for their sets.  They're the only band I know that typically distributes their set list to the audience before each show. 

Last night was no exception:  the performance was set in Ponce City Market, not at all a music venue but a relatively new shopping/restaurant space in Atlanta set in the enormous former Sears warehouse between North Avenue and Ponce de Leon.  The event was titled Masque, and everyone was encouraged to wear a mask and the members of Quiet Hounds were all dressed up as the devil, a werewolf, a vampire, Quasimodo, a mariachi band, and even Gene Simmons of Kiss.     

They played songs from their new album. Shake Don't Shatter, as well as past favorites like Calling All Gamma Rays.  They even ended their set with a cover of Kiss' I Wanna Rock 'n' Roll All Night as a tribute to their Gene Simmons costume. 

The sound was surprisingly good in the open courtyard of Ponce City Market and overall, the Hounds provided a fun way to spend the Saturday-night, Halloween evening.  

Quiet Hounds

Quiet Hounds at The Goat Farm, Nov. 22, 2014

New song from Atlanta's Quiet Hounds . . . 

Quiet Hounds

The "best parts" of Quiet Hounds' November 22, 2014, performance at The Goat Farm, brought to us by the nice folks at indieATL.

Dude, I Was There!

Quiet Hounds' The Last Days of Snake Nation at The Goat Farm.

Quiet Hounds at The Goat Farm, Atlanta, Nov. 22, 2014

One of the great things about living in Atlanta is that several times a year you get to go to a show by Quiet Hounds.  One of those several times was last night, when they played at their home stage in The Goat Farm.

The Quiet Hounds do a pretty good job of making each of their shows an event, mixing theatricality and other events into their shows.  Last night's show was titled The Last Days of Snake Nation, a reference to the name formerly given to the Castleberry Hill neighborhood of Atlanta back when it was occupied by brothels and frequented by snake-oil salesmen and other characters of ill repute. The show started with a mock debate between a 19th Century reform-minded politician and one of those aforementioned snake-oil salesmen.

There were hand-out leaflets describing the two characters (Jonathan Norcross and Clark Stanley), their political parties (The Moral Party and the Free & Rowdy Party), and their positions.  There was a booth purporting to sell snake oil, or at least glasses of wine.  There were many characters walking around in 19th Century attire.  All of these little flourishes helped elevate the show from just another indie rock performance to something a little more special. 

Past Quiet Hounds performances have been titled An Ode To Lost Souls and focused on the Civil War's Andersonville POW camp, and Swans & Embers and focused on the reincarnation of Atlanta after Sherman's scorched-earth campaign. While I admire their interest in history and theater, I don't think the Hounds particularly need all these theatrical flourishes to make their shows interesting, so it's all the more unusual that they feel compelled to do so.   In any event, the mock debate only lasted about 10 to 15 minutes before the music finally began.

Members of Quiet Hounds have played on albums for CeeLo Green, Gnarls Barkley, Washed Out, Asher Roth, and The Constellations.   Last night, the band included a three-man horn section and an occasional guest second drummer, Julian Dorio of The Whigs. 

Much of the set consisted of songs from The Quiet Hounds new album, The Wild Hunt.

They also included several favorites from past albums as well.

The theatrics resumed before the final song to bookend the performance.

Even though the Quiet Hounds were the only band on the bill last night, they played a nearly two-hour set (including the theatrics), making it a more than full night.

The Last Days of Snake Nation was a recipient of a Goat Farm Arts Center Arts Investment Package, a vehicle that funds, produces and presents experimental and innovative works that “pattern-break” and excite new thinking. The Goat Farm’s Review Board recognizes that consistent vanguard arts programming contributes to Atlanta’s global relevance.

Kudos to the Hounds, the Goat Farm, and the people of Atlanta for putting on, and coming out for, a fun night of music, theater, and history.

Quiet Hounds' Good Bones

Good Bones, a new song by Atlanta's Quiet Hounds, performed back on October 4 at The Swan House as a part of the Hounds' Phoenix & The Swan performance and captured by IndieATL.

Quiet Hounds at The Swan House, Atlanta, Oct. 4, 2013

The Swan House was built in 1928 for Edward and Emily Inman, who had accumulated their wealth from cotton and investments in transportation, banking, and real estate. After their house in Ansley Park burned in 1924, the Inmans commissioned design of a new house on 28 acres in Buckhead. Sculpted and painted swans provide a recurring motif throughout the house and grounds, and the mansion's rear facade is sited at the top of a small hill with terraced gardens and a fountain cascading down the hillside. The grounds now host the Atlanta History Center, and the Swan House served as the Capitol for a party scene in the upcoming film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and as both a backdrop and a character in the Quiet Hounds' performance Swans and Embers on the warm Atlanta evening of October 4, 2013.

The performance consisted of four acts in three locations on the Swan House grounds.  Act 1, Cat In Ashes, began with an actor portraying an Inman family member from 1928. After some brief interaction by the actor with the audience, a female character, The Phoenix, was introduced, who symbolized the City of Atlanta from 1864, the year Sherman burned the city to the ground. 

Quiet Hounds eventually took over the Swan House terrace at the top of a staircase and performed a brief four-song, acoustic set.  

After Act 1, the band reassembled on the lawn at the bottom of the staircase for a brief brass-band number for Act 2, No One Alone, before marching down to the bottom of the hill where a stage was set up for Acts 3 and 4, Reconstruction and We Burn, We Rise, which were basically a Quiet Hounds' performance.

The Quiet Hounds' sound can be called classic indie rock, combining strummed, jangly guitars with harmonic vocals into rousing, anthemic songs, sort of like a less bombastic version of Arcade Fire. Whether or not they need all of the theatricality and dramatics that have come to accompany many of their recent performances is open to debate, but you can't blame a band for stretching a little bit and expanding their artistic boundaries.  They are not a touring band and don't perform live all that often (I believe this is their first performance since a set at Athfest last June), so they make the most of each opportunity when they do.  

The Swan House served as a stunning backdrop for their set, and they didn't project their sigil, Bat-Signal style, onto the house (top photo) until the last song of their set.  The Inman and Phoenix characters made a brief appearance on stage toward the end of their set, possibly bridging Acts 3 and 4, but otherwise the band spent their time onstage doing what they do best - performing their intelligent and enjoyable songs, including a few new numbers thrown into the setlist for good measure.

They included a three-piece horn section to the band for this performance, which complimented their sound nicely.

The whole set wrapped up by around 10:00 pm.  Quiet Hounds have perfected the art of transforming each of their performances into an event, and this one was no exception.  No one, possibly including the band themselves, have any idea of what they'll do next or where they'll do it, and that only adds to the epic sense of the here and now that accompanies each of their performances.   

The IndieATL film crew was on hand recording the performance, so we can probably look forward to some video from the set in the near future.

Rocktober & Quiet Hounds Preview

Rocktober is now in full swing.  Tonight, the discriminating Atlanta concert goer has to choose from among The Dodos and Dustin Wong at The Drunken Unicorn, Ted Leo and Aimee Mann at Variety Playhouse,  Cody Chestnutt at The Loft, and Kisses at Smith's Olde Bar.

Tonight, I'm going to none-of-the-above, and checking out Quiet Hounds at the Atlanta History Center for a special, one-time performance titled Swans and Embers.

Quiet Hounds are no strangers to theatrical, historically-themed performances.  Here they are performing Lost Souls and Pocket Change as part of An Ode To Lost Souls at the Goat Farm on November 17, 2012.  Dude, I was there! (The picture up top is the stage from their February 25, 2012 debut performance.)

An Ode to Lost Souls was performed in one of the Goat Farm's historic, late 1800's industrial buildings.   The Hounds constructed the staging, lights, sound, and artwork for the performance in honor of soldiers who died at Andersonville prison in 1864.

Quiet Hounds might be one of Atlanta's best-kept secrets.  These guys could/should be filling concert halls across the country, if not the globe, but tonight they'll be playing at the ornate Swan House mansion, home of the Atlanta Historical Society.

Dude, I Was There! (Quiet Hounds)

Here's an IndieATL video directed by Matt Rowles of Quiet Hounds' performance at The Goat Farm before a crowd of about 800.  Quiet Hounds constructed the staging, lights, sound and artwork for this event in honor of the soldiers who died at Andersonville prison in 1864.