beatlanta.com

Beatlanta presents: Laertes live at Wonderroot

LAERTES

– emerged in late 2007 the product of 4 friends from high school who now all go to school at Ga Tech. They played the beatlanta/dudecity show (Laertes, Free Ticket and 13 Day Mission for beatlanta) this past Saturday, August 1st. Laertes is David Conrad, twins Patrick and Tim McPherson and Brett Barry. They all switch off playing a variety of instruments ranging from the traditional 3 to sax, trumpet and keyboard…and they play them well. I asked the guys to explain to me a little about Laertes and Tim had this to say: Laertes is about making music that conveys emotion. We want to make songs that are interesting to listen to and that we can believe in. Most of our songs are instrumental, and though we are experimenting with trying to include more lyrics we will probably always be intrumental at our core. The name comes from Hamlet. We really liked that play and thought the name sounded cool.

Here is a video from the show…Laertes live at Wonderroot Sat, Aug 1st 2009…….

They had this to say about the Atlanta music scene…Atlanta is a great place to be in a band. There are alot of venues to play at, alot of different sounds, and alot of great bands. We don’t really shy away from calling our band post rock because thats where most of our infulences come from and where we think we fit in. There’s not really a huge post rock scene in Atlanta but there are a few good post rock bands we’re aware of. We think it is a positive though that no one genre dominates Atlanta.

Laertes can be found listening to the post rock music and some others that inspires them the most including Explosions in the Sky, Deerhunter, Jesu, Broken Social Scene, Boards of Canada, Uncle Tupelo and Bon Iver. Brett rocks post punk but loves some Pink Floyd and a little jam band on the side and David apparently likes happy, upbeat music that does not include a lot of post rock; which draws some laughs from the other band members. The twins, who their friend I talked to in the parking lot describes as ***prodigies***, were inspired to music by the first post rock band they ever heard called Te’ from Japan. They had this to say about Te and some other bands that inspired them to make music the most…We thought they were really cool and they inspired us to make instrumental music. We also take alot from Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Sigur Ros, and Jesu. All those bands make music that sounds like the most important thing in the world when you listen to it. I guess that’s what we’re going for even if that is a pretty lofty goal!

The guys had this to say about the beatlanta show this past Saturday. We all were really happy and excited about how the show turned out. I think it was maybe our best performance ever as a band. When you are a small band I think there is always a struggle to be taken seriously as an artist and not to be seen as just some kids in a garage band. A few people paid us some really nice compliments after the set so hopefully we suceeded in that goal. It was a really fun experience and our first time playing at Wonderroot, which we all thought was a really cool place.

Laertes agreed that file sharing is a good thing for new and young bands and said they want anyone and everyone to have access to their music so they can draw a bigger live crowd as they progress. They did mention how detrimental it may be to major acts today that relied on album sales as a main source of revenue…but times change and so must business. Laertes had this to say about the future of the music industry….The music industry is going to have to find a way to make money without album sales being a huge part of their income. That being said, I’m not really sure what those changes will look like. Maybe they should just start giving music away for free. I don’t think the album is going to go away because at least in the indie world it is viewed as an artistic statement and alot of people, myself and Patrick included, really enjoy the experience of listening to a whole album. Pop artist might ditch it in favor of releasing single tracks. I agree; my (ak from beatlanta) views have evolved a bit since taking on this site as well and although I think digital download shows will be a huge part of the future of music and album sales, I do believe the physical album should stick around; but stick around as an artistic and creative statement. I’ve been going to more shows and bands are putting out some truly awesome artwork on their album covers and I really dig that…so keep it up bands. One band I recently got an album from had about 15 cds to give away for free at their show and each one was a different drawing. I really dug the idea and think it really helps someone enjoy the experience of buying or receiving an album.

Another video….Laertes live for beatlanta Saturday, August 1s, 2009……..

If you want to be in the loop to Laertes shows and want regular updates then find them where they advertise the most for their shows on facebook at www.facebook.com/laertesband. They recommend other local acts Ours to Alibi, O’Brother, Armada, and Pillage and Plunder; they had great things to say about each of those bands. Laertes particular brand of post rock, progressive instrumental is uniquely attractive as it relays a true sense of belonging but still yearns to be noticed and let out. The music is at times melancholy but always manages to emerge triumphant and serene. The vocals, which Laertes only has on one song so far turned out excellent and a great addition to the music it accompanies. Laertes on MySpaCe. Go see Laertes if you like to be inspired and have fun. Be expecting major things out of Laertes in the months and years ahead. These guys are here to stay. –ak 8.2.09

Find more pics of Laertes in our more pics section above and more videos at beatlanta’s youtube station…and as always…

————————SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC———————-