Bloodkin

[Jahfin]

I had a chance to see these guys back in the mid-90s during one of my first trips to Athens, GA but ended up at the 40 Watt Club instead to see Bryan Cook (Time Toy, Hindu Love Gods) and Goober and the Peas (which may or may not have included Jack White at the time). Bloodkin are playing here soon but it's the same night as the Gourds. Seeing as how I've already seen the Gourds once this year I may have to check out Bloodkin instead.

BAND OF THE WEEK: BLOODKIN

LAZARUS, DIG YOURSELF: THE EPIC, UNTOLD STORY OF BLOODKIN (OR: WHY YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF ONE OF THE GREATEST ROCK ’N’ ROLL BANDS OF THE LAST TWO DECADES… UNTIL NOW)

By Steve LaBate

Photos by Ian McFarlane

Hometown: Athens, Ga.

Band Members: Danny Hutchens (vocals, guitar), Eric Carter (guitar, vocals), Eric Martinez (guitar), David Nickel (bass), Aaron Phillips (drums), William Tonks (dobro)

Album: Baby, They Told Us We Would Rise Again

For Fans Of: Rolling Stones, Black Crowes, Drive-By Truckers, Carson McCullers

It’s a scorching summer afternoon in Athens, Ga., the last day of Athfest 2003, and a few hundred people wait in the middle of Washington Street for the next act to take the hastily assembled outdoor stage. Finally, about 20 minutes late, local shoulda-beens Bloodkin slither onstage, ghostly pale, disheveled and sweat-soaked, hiding behind mirrored aviator shades. Frontman Danny Hutchens is dressed head-to-toe in black, his long, brown hair starting to gray from years of diving headfirst into places deeper and darker than most civilians could dream. But even more frightening is the sight of Hutchens’ best friend and lifelong musical partner-in-crime, the Keith to his Mick, guitarist Eric Carter. The nice way to say it would be to quote Kris Kristofferson’s classic-country tune “To Beat the Devil”: Carter looked like he “was about a step away from dying.” Really, though, he looked more like someone who’d overdosed, been buried a few days, then dug up and had a Les Paul Jr. shoved into his bony hands.

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