Their Big Break: 18 local bands get chance at fame, fortune and fans with gig playing to thousands

"They are phenomenal, " she says of the indie-rock band, which for most of its two years has played such tiny local venues as Georgia Tech's Under the Couch and East Atlanta's Echo Lounge. What caught her ear? The band sent its CD --- sans phone number or address --- by manila envelope to her office. It was one of literally hundreds.

"I popped (the CD) in and went, 'Oh my gosh, this is great, ' " Lawler recalls. "I had no way to get in touch with them. So I had to go search for them. They ended up playing a gig at the Cotton Club (which Lawler also books), and now Music Midtown."

The yearly music festival is a plum venue for locals. By putting them in front of people who might otherwise never hear them, it can help a band build an all-important fan base --- and maybe even a career.

"Lucy called us up and asked if we'd like to play Music Midtown, " says Chocolate Kiss drummer Kip Thomas. "We just recently realized it meant that we were playing in front of thousands of people."

Thomas admits that the group is a little nervous. "You don't want any broken strings, and you want to make sure everybody's on the same page."

While Chocolate Kiss wasn't specifically angling for a Music Midtown slot, many other bands do. How do staffers decide among them?

Credit: PHIL SKINNER

Credit: PHIL SKINNER

Alex Cooley, Lawler's boss, described the process this way: "(Local bands) submit to us, and five people go through things. They winnow it down, and then listen again. We try very, very hard to put groups on there that merit it."

It's not just listening to demos, though. "I go out almost every night of the week and see bands, " Lawler says. "I feel like I'm obligated. Otherwise, I'm not gonna know who's stirring up a buzz. That sort of narrows my list down. I also speak with Steve Craig, '' the 99X Locals Only DJ. ''Usually, we have the same identical list."

Music Midtown can be especially helpful to a young band because it broadcasts music to a different kind of audience. "Not everyone is an avid clubgoer, " says Metroscene vocalist and songwriter John Phillips, whose Brit-pop-tinged band is performing at the festival for the first time. "We've never played anything quite this big."

If nothing else, Music Midtown can make a band's press release look good. As Phillips points out, "This will probably be the only time you'll see Oasis open for Metroscene, because, technically, they are playing before us."

Everyone hopes to be the next Shawn Mullins. The local singer-songwriter had been playing acoustic clubs for years without attracting much attention. But, three years after securing a spot on the Locals Only stage in 1995, he was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Other locals have moved up to the big stage. Singer-songwriter Angie Aparo and rock foursome Billionaire share this year's Budweiser/99X stage with the likes of Oasis and Creed. Now a Melisma recording artist, Aparo also reckons that Music Midtown is great exposure: "I played the Locals Only stage, and now to be playing the 99X stage in my hometown is just going to be really exciting."

Even folks who've been part of Atlanta's music scene for years feel the effects of landing a Music Midtown gig. Tim Nielsen played the festival once before, in 1998, with long-serving Atlanta rockers drivin n cryin and takes his latest band (actually the reformed Kathleen Turner Overdrive) to the stage this year.

"It's been a great motivator, " Nielsen says. "We just put the band back together. It started off as just something fun to do, but now we're looking at getting a record deal."

Of course, there are no guarantees. For every Mullins or Aparo, there are bands such as Fatt Root, which played in 1995. Remember them? Neither do we.