This month we take a look at a band that has been playing their own brand of blues stomp rock around Augusta for a little over a year and are now starting their takeover of Atlanta clubs such as PJ’s and the Wreck Room.

FAMILY JEWELS’ roots go back to the spring of ’91 when guitarist/vocalist Fred McNeal and drummer Patrick Turner teamed up to create a vehicle to work on original material. The time together has created a bond of friendship and creativity that has helped FAMILY JEWELS survive and move through a number of obstacles. These obstacles include lokal cover club bands that have criticized them (probably out of creative jealousy) as well as time lost while trying to replace their original bassist. FAMILY JEWELS, which also includes guitarist/vocalist Paul Sieg and recently acquired bassist Brian Stachura, began as a lokal teen favorite and hope to come back and play for the youthful audience again real soon. Not long ago I sat down with Fred and Pat and discussed these and other topics that concern FAMILY JEWELS.

LL – So how’s Atlanta been treating you guys?
PT – Atlanta’s real cool. We get accepted great and people dig us more than in Augusta. People have more access to us there so we can build a better foundation.

LL – What are some of the differences between Atlanta and Augusta?
FM – Atlanta’s a lot more receptive to original music and people don’t expect you to play fuckin’ Pearl Jam covers and no rednecks yelling out “Freebird” every other song.
PT – Just bigger and better. Like us!
FM – The only decent places to play in Augusta are the Post Office and the now defunct Coffee Shoppe.

LL – I hear when it comes to Augusta you prefer playing for the teens.
PT – Money doesn’t matter when it comes to playing for the kids.
FM – They seem to have more of a grip and appreciation for original music.
PT – You’d think it would be the older people who would rather listen to originals.
FM – They close off their ears when they turn 30.

LL – So when are you planning on returning for a teen show and will it be alone or with some other bands?
FM – We’re talking about doing something in April with Tijuana Park.
PT – We definitely want to do something together locally soon for all-ages.
FM – Especially since we have a 4-track bootleg that has been circulating around Augusta without our help.

LL – What lokal bands do you see possibly breaking out of the Augusta scene within the next year?
PT – I think SOUL DAMAGE has the best potential to break out of Augusta.
FM – I don’t know. There are so few original bands around here and those that are original are more concerned with musicianship than songwriting.

LL – What are FAMILY JEWELS common influences and where do you think they fit in?
FM – Hanoi Rocks, Led Zeppelin, the Stones, Motley Crue, Sex Pistols, GNR, Crowes, KISS, Dolls and anyone else that has a clue.
PT – We don’t just rip people off, we adopt concepts and ideas and apply them to us.

LL – If you had a chance to tour for a major label band, would you and who would you prefer it to be?
FM – Hell Yes!
PT – Hell fuckin’ yeah! Either the Crowes or GNR.

LL – What is the possibility of any FAMILY JEWELS material being released? I heard your tape and I think it’s great.
FM- We’re thinking about putting out some 8-track stuff we did with David Bradberry. We’re already selling tapes in Atlanta and hope to have something in Augusta by March. Since we’ve taped every one of our live shows, we might throw in a couple of very drunken strange thing on it.

LL – Now that the readers know who you are, how about a little band history for those who might not know.
FM – Pat and I started jamming in ’91. We just clicked and started writing songs not too long after that. I think it was November/December when we started to put together a band. We got Stoney (Cannon) to play bass and Pat went to school with Paul and we thought that he was obnoxious enough to fit in. Our first show was a keg party over behind Golden Dragon and we got busted for playing too loud (twice – Rhineharts complained) which seems too happen anytime we play parties. Stoney left in the summer of ’92 and we went through more bass players than underwear. Then we met Brian who shared the same basic influences and ideas as us. So now we have a solid line-up again and we’re just trying to go out and shove it down peoples throats.

LL – What can we expect from FAMILY JEWELS in and out of Augusta within the next year?
FM – We’re gonna try to get and eastern club tour lineup up opening for someone decent.
PT – As far as Augusta goes we’ll just keep trying to put together shows with other bands and putting out tapes.
FM – We’ll either open people’s ears or deafen a few.

LL – I appreciate you taking the time out to chat. Any last comments or advice for any of our readers who may want to tackle the lokal or Atlanta music scene or even just a message for Augusta?
PT – As far as advice goes, stick to your own stuff and believe in yourself and don’t be afraid to ask advice frompeople who are a little more ahead of yourself. And try not to make too many enemies (laughs).
FM – Anybody doing good original stuff has our 100% support and we’ll do whatever we can to help em out when we’re in a position to do so. I’d also like to say to any amateur musicians, don’t be so overly concerned with the technical aspects of playing your instrument. Playing 64th scale notes, flams and plegms is nice and fine but the average person could give a shit. I mean, you can say what you want about the guy, but Keith Richard’s songs, or Jimmy Page’s for that matter will sell more records than all of the Yngwies of the world together. Think about the context of the song and your band rather than how to make your instrument stick out.

Originally a part of CONFUSION, drummer Ricky Garner and vocalist Jason Crowden were eventually joined by Thomas Stark on bass and guitarists Donnie Terral and Darryl Cliett. Together through 1992, they played several parties and the Martinez Community Center to promote their ep release – “Welcome to Reality”.

They eventually split in June 1992 with Ricky, Jason and Donnie leaving to form MOTHER MAY EYE with bassist Jesse Crim in a mixture of funk and metal. Introduced to the public for the first time Augusta 15th at the Coffee Shoppe on opening night of Rockwars ’92 and have appeared on two other occasions as well as opened the Hurricane Relief Concert in Grovetown. Their set in August was hot enough to secure them a spot in round two of Rockwars on October 24, though they will be playing without Jesse who left for personal reasons.

About the same time in August, Thomas and Darryl were joined by former CREMATION members Michael Dinkins and Blaine Prescott on drums and guitar and were set on moving in a heavier, more metalized direction. Spurred on by bands like Metallica, Pantera, Sabbath and the Sex Pistols, they set forth to make music that appeals to their personal beliefs and built a set of 95% original fury. Classified as one of the progressive metal bands, they see their brand as simply metal and nothing else.

HEIR TO RIUNS’ first show was also at the Coffee Shoppe on September 26th with MOTHER MAY EYE and SPLIT DECISION and they also played a blistering set in Grovetown. Now with a new guitarist (Blaine left the band for personal reasons) these aggressive rockers can get back on track. HEAR TO RUIN along with their counterparts MOTHER MAY EYE will eventually grab you and whip you into a state of confusion.

Formed in mid-91, the members of this North Augusta quartet consist of guitarist Matt Keenan, bassist Randy Adamek, drummer Danny Neu and vocalist Dale Lewis who have stuck together despite the usual occurances that attempt to stop lokal bands plus a few not so usual obstacles that would halt many a young band on any level. The questions LOKAL LOUDNESS now wants to ask of SYMON SEZZ are: What happened to the comeback show? The magic return? The new conquering of Augusta? For those of you out there that are at odds to what I am mumbling about, well here’s a short summary.

SYMON SEZZ, who happen to be one of my favorite lokal bands were said to be a tight knit group of non-quitters, but I was quite disappointed to go to the Post Office January 27th and find myself watching another group (IN LIKE FLYNN- who did put on a great show but you know what they say about expectation) when I was hyped on seeing the return of SYMON SEZZ. The triumphant return of Matt Keenan, the killer basswork of Randy Adamek and the overall rockfest that Augustan’s call SYMON SEZZ.