Georgia:
Dark Meat
CITY: Athens
SONG THAT GOT US: “Freedom Ritual”
ON THE TUBES: MySpace
RECORD LABEL: Orange Twin, Volcom Entertainment, Vice
WHY THEM? One of the biggest, sloppiest messes of a rock show you’ll ever stumble on, Dark Meat packs upward of 10 or 15 people (depending on the performance) onstage, dons war paint, and blows confetti all over the crowd while a confusing splattering of horns, electronics, guitars, and (usually) doubled-up drummers go on a free-form skid under Jim McHugh’s Southern depravo-psychedelia. There was a point in the Butthole Surfers’ career, around Hairway to Steven, where this sort of thing seemed like a viable next step. Instead, 20 years later, we have Dark Meat spilling out of a school bus to pick up the pieces.
BONUS BITS! The band’s official full name is Dark Meat/Vomit Lasers Family Band/Galaxy. Several members of Dark Meat live at Orange Twin, a 100-acre “eco-village” (and record label) based outside of Athens.