In 2008, Dead Confederate opened for R.E.M. at the annual SXSW music conference in Austin, Texas, and was quickly blessed with the kind of good notices every young band dreams about.
“I caught only the last quarter-hour of Dead Confederate’s set,” David Fricke wrote in Rolling Stone. “But even that short shot of the Athens, Georgia quintet’s buckskin-metal racket was enough to confirm (a) Dead Confederate are even better than their name and (b) could give My Morning Jacket a very hard time in Dixie-guitar-hurricane combat.”
This year, Dead Confederate has been on the road with the Meat Puppets and Dinosaur Jr., two of the most enduring and influential bands from the heyday of early ’80s indie rock, and will open for the Meat Puppets Oct. 23 at Masquerade Atlanta.
“Both of those bands were big influences,” said Dead Confederate’s singer/songwriter/guitarist, Hardy Morris. “I was in middle school when they were cranking it up. But they were some of the first things I remember about starting to discover music, at that age when you’re first figuring out that what your parents play in the car isn’t the only music that exists.”
Morris grew up in Augusta, went to the University of Georgia, and later moved to Atlanta, where he formed Dead Confederate in 2006, with four Augusta high school friends — Brantley Senn (bass), Walker Howle (guitar), John Watkins (keyboards) and Jason Scarboro (drums).
After the members settled in Athens, former Capitol Records president Gary Gersh signed Dead Confederate to his new label, the Artists Organization, releasing a debut EP in early 2008 and full-length album, “Wrecking Ball,” in September 2008. Since then, the band has been making the most of its opportunities and getting schooled by its elders.
“We’ve learned a lot, seen a lot, experienced a lot,” Morris said.
“The Meat Puppets are so cool. You learn more about the rock ’n’ roll world in one evening with those guys than you would in 10 tours by yourself.”
Dead Confederate’s howling, post-punk sound and often dark lyrics have drawn comparisons to Nirvana. In concert, the band has been known to work-out on extended feedback anthems, such as Sonic Youth’s “The Diamond Sea.”
“I don’t think of our music as dark,” Morris said. “Our songs are super simple but we build on that. Our music is honest, and sometimes the truth is not the prettiest thing. The whole band has an affinity for late ’80s and early ’90s stuff. But we also love classic rock.”
Recently, Dead Confederate released a free digital download of a live version of “The Rat,” one of the most incendiary songs from “Wrecking Ball.” In November, look for a full-length digital freebie recorded live back in May at the EARL in East Atlanta, that will be for sale on vinyl. And next year, the band will be back in the studio to work on its sophomore album.
Concert preview
Dead Confederate with the Meat Puppets
8 p.m. Friday. $15. The Masquerade, 695 North Ave N.E. 404-577-8178, www.masq.com
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