Alan Andrews and Devon Shirley should be in bed, but instead the Photo Atlas singer-guitarist and drummer are powering forward, sitting on the oily concrete of a downtown parking lot talking about their lucky (and exhausted) existence.
After a six-week tour (with bandmates Bill Threlkeld III and Mark Hawkins) that climaxed last weekend with five shows at Austin’s South by Southwest music festival, the Photo Atlas is looking down a gun barrel: The Denver band’s new record, “No, Not Me, Never,” was recently released on Stolen Transmission, an Island imprint, and if the band is to burst into the national rock consciousness, its time is now.
“I’m surprised we’re here, where we are,” says Andrews, whose shriek defines the group’s manic dance-punk aesthetic. “At one point, we’d become a big local band, and then we became a national band without us even knowing it.”
The Photo Atlas is still playing rock clubs, mind you. But suddenly the paychecks and crowds are larger. It’s getting magazine press and Internet buzz.
“We left on this tour with about 10,000 friends on My-Space,” Shirley says. “We came back with more than 16,000 friends. That was, um, surprising.”
The group’s dancey, itchy sound has been compared to The Faint and At the Drive In. The songs are jittery with antsy, angular guitars and a bold rhythm section that dares you to dance. Andrews’ high- pitched voice was the topic of a recent negative review in Blender, and while it might drive your parents up a wall, the Photo Atlas isn’t making music for your parents.
Andrews’ wail is the ideal pairing for his band’s relentless brand of punk rock, and fans – skewing mostly toward the teenage, rock-club-dwelling set – have been known to completely lose themselves at Photo Atlas shows.
The band plays Omaha’s Sokol Underground tonight with friends Little Brazil, and then both bands play CD-release shows Saturday in Denver at the Hi-Dive. Next weekend sees more CD-release parties – at Colorado Springs’ Black Sheep on March 30 and Centennial’s Lifespot on March 31.
Then the Photo Atlas has 10 days before the touring kicks back into high gear, starting with a high-profile April 12 date at famed San Francisco club night Pop Scene. That gig launches a two-week tour with Schoolyard Heroes. That’s only the beginning.
“Two New York trips ago we were walking through the label’s offices,” says Andrews, “and (Island A&R guru/Stolen Transmission president) Rob Stevenson was like, ‘Hey guys, wanna go on tour with the Bravery?’ And we were like, ‘Of course.’ He said he would make it happen, and yesterday we got the dates confirmed.”
The Photo Atlas will tour with New York dance sensation the Bravery for five weeks through May and June – and then it’s onto the Vans Warped Tour for another two weeks.
“We’re trying to play in front of as many people as possible,” says Shirley, “and this last tour we were playing with guarantees to crowds of 50-75 kids, and that was great. But now it’s nice to know that we’ll be playing to bigger crowds of 500- 1,000 kids.
“Touring this much is like starting all over again as a band. … It’s the four of us in a van still, but now we’re in that van for a longer period of time – and we’re away from home for longer and longer stretches, and we have to relearn how to be around each other.”
But don’t be fooled by Photo Atlas’ rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, its major-label contract, its shiny new 15-passenger Chevy van. The members may be sneaking into (and getting kicked out of) burlesque parties in Houston and partying on sponsor buses in Orlando with pro skaters and Florida beach girls, but they’re still roughing it.
“We’re absolutely personifying the starving musician’s life,” Andrews says. Adds Shirley, “We’re as surprised about all of this as everybody else.”
Since its modest inception, begging for shows at the Hi- Dive in the club’s infancy, the band has felt the support of the community that has been behind it – and in front of it, dancing and sweating and singing along at shows all over the country.
“It never feels like it’s just us out there,” says Andrews. “It’s like everybody we know – this scene, our friends, this family – is always with us out there, fighting for it all.”
Pop music critic Ricardo Baca can be reached at 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com.
| The Photo Atlas
Denver’s dance-punk heroes are celebrating the release of their major label debut, “No, Not Me, Never,” with three Colorado shows in the next 10 days – the last time local audiences will see the band until it comes through in June, opening for the Bravery.
DENVER|Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway; 9 p.m. Saturday|$8 at the door; hi-dive.com.
COLORADO SPRINGS|Black Sheep, 2106 E. Platte Ave.; 8 p.m. March 30|$8-$10 through TicketWeb; sodajerkpresents.com.
CENTENNIAL|Lifespot, 7562 S. University Blvd.; 8 p.m. March 31|$10 at the door; lifespot.org.
3more
STRING CHEESE INCIDENT
If you have tickets for any of this Boulder band’s gigs this week – tonight and Saturday at the Fillmore and Monday at Vail’s Dobson Arena – consider yourself lucky. SCI continues to grow not only in its home market but abroad. The jam band is a fixture on the international festival circuit, something that makes its homecoming shows all that more special.
DIRTY ON PURPOSE This disarmingly sweet band specializes in the kind of sugary pop music that sates your sweet tooth. A hit at the recent South by Southwest music festival in Austin, their show Monday at the Hi-Dive – also featuring SXSW fave Besnard Lakes – will surely be one to remember.
,WENDY WOO It’s always news when Wendy Woo releases a CD – and her latest, “Luxury,” is the first from her latest band, the Wendy Woo Trio. The singer-songwriter’s voice is quite familiar in these parts – and for good reason. The group releases the CD at a party tonight at the Fox Theatre in Boulder.
– Ricardo Baca
