![]() “Nearly every musician we met was humble and kind. A hard drive was an overnighter from DC to Atlanta in our beat-up old van.”ĭuring their time in Atlanta, 10,000 Maniacs forged friendships with a number of other local bands then on the scene, lasting relationships that helped them immensely. Of course, going on the road was different then, he admits. That is when we decided that we needed to get ON THE ROAD!” “We also raked lawns and sold our plasma to make ends meet. “We lived in a house at 44 Waddel Street in 1982 trying to get gigs, meet industry types, and others,” Gustafson recalls. The evening also includes Yellow Brick Road - Tribute to Elton John, and two relatively new Atlanta bands, Dreambrother and Pony League, the latter two of which, whether they realize it or not, owe a lot to the headliners.Įxchanging emails with founding members Dennis Drew (keyboards) and Steve Gustafson (bass), the two remembered well the time when they were an Atlanta band, moving from upstate New York to the then-burgeoning music scene that had developed between Atlanta and Athens. ![]() 4, to headline the fifth annual Rock Chastain benefit concert, with proceeds going to the Chastain Park Conservancy. The band returns to the outdoor venue, now known as the State Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park, this Thursday, Oct. Then, they were capping the success of a decade’s worth of hard work, constant touring, and the release of four major label albums, The Wishing Chair, In My Tribe, Blind Man’s Zoo, and Our Time in Eden, for Elektra Records. It was also 25 years ago that 10,000 Maniacs last played Atlanta’s Chastain Park Amphitheatre. It was 25 years ago that the Maniacs, riding the success of their 3-times platinum MTV Unplugged album, with its cover of the the Patti Smith/Bruce Springsteen-penned “Because the Night, brought in Mary Ramsey to replace their lead singer, making Ramsey’s tenure with the band now twice as long as that of their second vocalist. That, along with traveling in a always-breaking-down van, taking gigs at clubs now long-closed, and sleeping on floors in the homes of friends and fans, all in the name of “touring,” established 10,000 Maniacs with indie cred and as expeditors of the DIY ethos. The album, a collection of intriguing pop songs that melded elements of traditional English folk music with the more torrential attack of punk, garnered the attention of legendary British DJ John Peel. Most notably, it was 35 years ago, in 1983, that they first released their independently-produced and distributed LP, Secrets of the I Ching, on their own Christian Burial label. The band marks a number of significant anniversaries this year. Hell, in 1993 10,000 Maniacs played the MTV Inaugural Ball for President Bill Clinton. The Jamestown, NY-based band was the epitome of college radio cool, second only to R.E.M., and just as politically-correct as the Athens band was perceived. Though their profile isn’t what it was at the height of their popularity in the early ‘90s - after all, who watches MTV when there’s YouTube, or listens to college radio when there is Spotify and Pandora - 10,000 Maniacs have never gone away.
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