As AthFest prepares for its 25th spin this weekend, the three-day music and arts festival in Athens continues to mirror the growth and change of the vibrant scene around it.
The very first festival in 1997 was decidedly low-key.
“The bands played on the courthouse steps, and the acoustic shows were in a 10-by-10-foot tent with a chair and a vocal PA,” AthFest booking chair Troy Aubrey recalled. “The second year, I became stage manager, and then I started booking the bands. It has grown every year, and I believe this year will be the biggest one we’ve presented. It’s certainly the most diverse.”
This year, more than 100 acts will play on three outdoor stages for tens of thousands of people. But one constant remains, Aubrey said.
“The focus has always been on presenting the current trends and sounds. We still pepper in those classic Athens bands that everyone knows about, but we really enjoy showing what’s happening in Athens, in the moment,” Aubrey said. “We like to focus on what’s going on right now, so people can get an overview of how quickly things evolve in Athens.”
AthFest also serves as a major fundraiser for AthFest Educates, a nonprofit that awards grants to music and arts education for K-12 students in the Athens area.
One of the musicians with his foot in the festival’s past and present is singer-songwriter and guitarist Mike Mantione. As founder of Athens-based Five Eight, he and his longtime band have played the festival since its early days.
“I think we played the first one,” he said. “I love how it’s exploded.”
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This year, he’ll lead Five Eight in an incendiary, punk-injected set at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Then, he’ll close out the main stage at 7:20 p.m. Sunday as frontman for the buzzworthy rock collective The Bad Ends, which released a powerful debut album, “The Power and the Glory,” earlier this year.
The Bad Ends is made up of prominent Athens and Atlanta musicians, though the biggest name comes from one of the bands that put Athens on the map: Bill Berry, a founding member of R.E.M. who lives near Athens, helped form The Bad Ends after around 25 years of retirement.
“I ran into Mike one day and he said, ‘I’m making a record. Do you want to play on it?’” Berry said. “I hadn’t made a record since 1995. The idea of making a record in Athens and not having to leave home really appealed to me.”
The 1995 record was R.E.M.’s “New Adventures in Hi-Fi,” which was released the next year at the peak of the alt-rock band’s popularity. It was R.E.M.’s 10th and final album with Berry, the band’s drummer. Berry suffered a cerebral aneurysm onstage in 1995 and successfully recovered. But he left R.E.M. two years later and bought a farm near Athens, where he has lived since.
Dave Domizi (Fuzzy Sprouts, Abbey Road Live, Cosmic Charlie), Geoff Melkonian (Josh Joplin Group), Christian Lopez (Curley Maple) and John Swint (Modern Skirts) round out The Bad Ends.
“The Power and the Glory” is “kind of like the members of the band,” said Mantione, laughing as he describes the overall tone of the record. “It’s all over the place stylistically.”
One element that unites the album is an often-harrowing batch of tunes that ruminate on dark themes including mortality.
“It is kind of heavy,” Domizi said, “but the overall effect is a feeling that, you know, we’re all in this together, so the whole thing becomes more of a cathartic release rather than a downer.”
He has savored the responses to the music. “People can take different things from them, and that’s the core of good art — to give people something to think about and to really move them in some sort of way,” Domizi said. “These songs definitely elicit an immediate response.”
Mantione said he wasn’t intending to dwell on transience but decided that “it’s inevitable.”
“With the old blues songs, the very core of rock and roll, they were looking at some really heavy stuff, too. And as we age, it’s even more evident,” Mantione said. “We’re just taking all of the elements of what we see and experience and put it all out there for people to see. Now, the thing is, we also like to rock, so you can take these as pure rock and roll songs. But if you want to look deeper, there’s a message in there as well.”
Mantione has never shied away from somber topics. Five Eight often delves into the recesses of human experience.
“Well, I guess I can’t help it,” he said. “It’s just a fact that we are living in some unusual times. Especially right now. People die, people live and these are some of the reactions to all that. It’s life. We’re just doing it in a sort of Americana folk-rock approach, and I think it works. We did these songs at South by Southwest this year and the crowd loved it, so the Athens show should be insane. I can’t wait to see how it goes.”
Courtesy of AthFest Educates
Courtesy of AthFest Educates
The immediacy of the material mirrors the nature of the band.
“I originally started this as a solo record,” Mantione said. “Then it grew from there. Dave came along and then it sort of took off in its own direction organically. Then Bill came along, and it really became a band.”
Quickly labeled by eager publicists as a “supergroup,” The Bad Ends members seem aware of the fleeting nature of their convergence.
“There are a lot of moving parts to this thing,” Mantione said. “But right now, we’re making some incredible music. They’re pushing me, and I think we’re all just enjoying it as it happens.”
Domizi agrees. “This band is one of those things that could only happen in Athens because it’s so unique. We’re having a blast, and I think the AthFest show will be our best one so far.”
Considering their schedules and other commitments, it’s hard to know how long a collective like The Bad Ends can last. AthFest, which should be marking its 27th anniversary but was canceled in 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic, likewise reflects the fragile nature of plans.
“I love these guys,” Berry said. “But I’ve never harbored the capacity to predict future outcomes.”
FESTIVAL PREVIEW
AthFest
June 23-25. 5 p.m.-10:30 p.m. Friday. Noon to 10:30 p.m. Saturday. Noon to 8:30 p.m. Sunday. Outdoor shows are free. Club shows vary by venue. Downtown Athens: Washington Street between Pulaski Street and College Avenue, and Hull Street between Washington Street and Hancock Avenue. 706-548-1973, athfest.com.
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