Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Review of last weekend’s big Archers of Loaf show, by Jason Bugg:
For those of us in search of the revelatory this-says-everything-about-what-is-happening moment at Saturday night’s Archers of Loaf reunion show at The Grey Eagle it came close to the end. As the band launched into the opening of “You and Me”, a much-loved track from the band’s first album (1993’s Icky Mettle), the crowd joyously began singing the opening verse before lead singer Eric Bachman could begin his vocal: “I’ve been so down lately/You’ve been so low lately/Nothing seems to work out for you/And me.”
Bachman’s eyes widened and a smile came to the faces of the members of the group. If the band ever wondered about the impact that their music left with their fans, a few hundred people happily singing Bachman’s major bummer lyrics quelled those thoughts.
But the show wasn’t just big Springsteen-like sing-along moments. From the opening chords of “Wrong” to the show’s sweaty final drone, the Archers set about, in their own unassuming way, to firmly place their foot down and announce themselves as a more muscular Pavement. The band’s off-kilter guitars and pounding rhythms suggest AC/DC and The Fall in a no-holds barred death match with the soul of independent guitar rock at stake.
Paragraphs could be written about the sweaty and enthusiastic show, but the Archers’ simple and understated approach really underlines the fact that this wasn’t a cash grab, this wasn’t an effort by the band to reassert their legacy. Instead, this was four old friends playing music in their hometown for what may be the first of many times. Or the last.
The future may be unwritten and uncertain for the Archers of Loaf, but Saturday night at the Grey Eagle the band was perfectly willing to revel in their past.
