The Makebelieves: Someone threw a Tiger out the Window (LP)

Free MP3 download & GTRNR sticker

2004 was a heady time in Athens. The first iPhone was still three years away. City infrastructure was such that Napster access fully depended on the weather, which generally wasn’t great most of the time. And drugs were cheap, if my addled memory is to be trusted. Athens was still a place, tucked all by itself into the Southeastern Ohio hills, where the doors-at-9-show-starts-whenever social circle relied on the record collection, with many a twelve pack fueled argument about said collection, to gauge worth.

And what a record collection these guys had. The charging rhythms of MC5-era Detroit, the ripping harmonic alchemy of every Thin Lizzy period, a filthy punk thrust that was inherently Athens, and whatever you’d call the swarthy magic Johnny himself conjured out of the damp, smoky air. The roar of a Makebelieves show all but guaranteed you’d be worthless at work the next day, shaky from bomb shots with a brain blanket full of exquisite ringing.

There’s a reason people flock back to Athens when these guys pull their shit back together. Nostalgia plays a role in that, to be fair, as anyone in Athens while the Makebelieves were an active band were certain to be living a pre-real job existence, partaking in all that Lou’s often lawless Union had to offer. More than that, though, these are simply good goddamn songs. The confluence of such blistering, raw Rock & Roll dirtbags like these doesn’t occur very often. Twenty years later, these fellas still manage to hold you in their sweaty palms, most certainly with some kind of smell you can feel.