A Fir-Ju Well's music has been compared to the rock tunes on the Beatles' "White Album;" the poppy, garage-rock sound of the Whigs is reminiscent of the Strokes; Talking Heads and the Selmanaires share the same dancy beats; and God's America takes a cue from Slint with its abrasive post-rock sound.

Now consider this: What would you do to see the Beatles, the Strokes, Talking Heads and Slint perform all in one night at an intimate venue?

The beauty of local music is the opportunity it presents for the discerning music lover to discover the next big thing before it's the next big thing. And on Nov. 17, WMRE and The Spoke bring some of the area's best local talent to Harland Cinema. Atlanta natives A Fir-Ju Well will headline the event, which also includes Athens' Whigs and Atlanta's Selmanaires and God's America.

"This is a really once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get all these awesome local acts in the same place," General Manager of WMRE and College junior David Ogles said.

The event is not just an evening of free music but also a salute to the support of local music, something WMRE strives to do on a regular basis.

Herb Harris, who handles vocal, guitar and percussion duties for the Selmanaires, said local music is important because it fosters a sense of togetherness.

"Music is part of a community, part of everyday living in an area - an identity in a way," he said. "Local music - gives people something to get excited about."

His bandmate, bassist/vocalist Tommy Chung, said the Atlanta music scene in particular has "picked up the pace" and produced some notable bands.

"We wanted to pick bands that had a strong following," Ogles said. "Anyone who's followed the local scene knows about these bands. A Fir-Ju Well's been at Music Midtown, and the Whigs have a really huge following in Athens."

While these bands are fairly well-known in the sphere of the local music scene, Locals Fest breaks the Emory bubble, bringing the scene to campus. With relatively short sets ranging from 30 to 45 minutes each, the concert will satisfy even the shortest attention span, and all within an atmosphere Ogles described as,"like standing in the balcony of the Tabernacle."

"Whether there's five people there or 100, I'd personally be happy," said Parker Gispert, lead singer and guitarist for the Whigs. "I think with the combination of bands playing, it'd definitely be a great night to go see some live music."

 

A Fir-Ju Well

Simply put, A Fir-Ju Well's sound is stunning. A skillful blend of trippy psychedelia and garage rock with Southern influences, the band's songs are passionate but also have a point. Not content to deal solely with lyrics about relationships, the band delves into deeper topics, including politics, while still maintaining an elevated beauty severely lacking in other music of today.

A Fir-Ju Well is also remarkably versatile. Several members of the group have mastered a wide range of instrumentation, all of them switching off on various instrumental tasks. This flexibility ensures that a live A Fir-Ju Well show is never boring.

The members also take a cue from their classic-rock influences and throw their entire bodies into every performance. By the end, the band - not to mention the audience - is drenched with sweat and utterly spent. Considering A Fir-Ju Well is the headlining and final act, this will definitely be a memorable and fitting end to Locals Fest.

 

The Whigs

The Whigs play straight-up, guitar-heavy garage rock with no false trappings. Unlike bands that describe their sounds with strings of hyphen-linked adjectives (think alt-post-pop-punk), the Whigs cut through the B.S. to get to the heart of the matter.

"We have a guitar, a bass and a drum, and then there's also a piano that gets played a little bit," Gispert said.

While the band's influences range from classic rock like the Rolling Stones and the Kinks to country to funk to soul, the band distills these genres into its straightforward sound. This stark honesty comes through in Gispert's unpolished vocals and sloppy guitar. But instead of sounding amateurish or just bad, the band achieves a dirty, catchy sound. The Whigs have opened for bands as diverse as Drive By Truckers, Franz Ferdinand, the Killers and even Jessica Simpson.

"It was pretty fun, but [we] were playing for 40-year-old men and their daughters," Gispert said of the Simpson show. "No one's there to see you, so you're just playing as people file in."

Locals Fest will give the band the attention it rightfully deserves. Onstage, the Whigs maintain their integrity to their songs, their sound and their minimalist philosophy.

"We try to be somewhat catchy, and we don't jam," Gispert said. "It's pretty straightforward - We get up there and play."

 

The Selmanaires

"The main thing is dancing," Chung said. "At our better shows, people will dance like crazy."

And with good reason - the Selmanaires' hypnotizing yet brisk beats combine with capable instrumentation for a danceable sound that manages to avoid frivolity. The band effortlessly combines trippy, artistic experimentation straight out of '60s British rock to snarling guitars à la old-school punk from the '70s. But despite its punk influences, the band's live show won't devolve into a frenzy of moshing.

"I think it has certain aspects of energy like a punk show but without the violence," Chung said.

Often, one song will switch between airy, roundabout noodling to intense, rapid-fire assaults that combine all the instruments in unison. Meanwhile, the vocalists switch off between celebratory ooh-ing and ahh-ing and Michael Jackson-esque hiccuping. While their voices aren't particularly strong, the vocalists make the best of what they have, incorporating intricacies like vibrato. In fact, the band deals in taking the simple and developing it through detail.

Nowhere is this more evident than on "Devil's Note," a tune that could be confused with a Beatles instrumental. The dark song is eerily beautiful and subdued, with clean drum trills and repetitive guitar. But despite the song's intense nature, it's still the sort of thing that can get an audience on its feet - a definite characteristic of the band's live show.

"We definitely try to have a positive vibe going - trying to let the crowd have a good time and have a good time playing ourselves," Chung said.

 

God's America

Admittedly, the concert's opener is the least refined band. God's America formed earlier this year when a group of three friends decided they wanted to make music and do something different. They chose to do this through rough, experimental punk. But what the band lacks in professional polish, it more than makes up for with energy.

"We're all about having fun," vocalist Sarah Case said.

Case's half-spoken, half-chanted vocals often take a back seat to the convulsive drums and distracted guitar. The overall effect is disjointed but unique. While the band lacks the clean sound of the rest of the groups sharing the bill, its live show gives Emory students the opportunity to see a developing band before it really hits its stride.

And in the end, that's really what supporting local music is all about.