Reptar at Art on the Rocks

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With wild dance music and a T-Rex band name, Reptar brings their loud personality to Birmingham next Friday to get the Art on the Rocks crowd bouncing. The band hails from Athens, GA, but after coming out with Lurid Glow this year and garnering a growing following, the band will be touring all over the states this summer.

Drummer Andrew McFarland talks the band’s tastes and humor as the Birmingham Museum of Art gears up for their arrival, and the Q&A reads like a profile for the best friend you wish played your house parties. Come out to the museum’s arts and culture summer kickoff next Friday the 12th for a Reptar dance party powered by hip vegan eats.

Katy Ward- Everybody wants to know the band’s story. How did you all meet, and how did you compile musical tastes?

Andrew McFarland- William, Ryan and Graham have all been friends since childhood and played in a band together in high school. I met William at UGA and we started playing music together and with a couple other bands in Athens. Over Christmas break 2008-09, William invited me to come jam with Ryan and Graham in Atlanta. We got together for a couple days and decided to have a show in grandma’s bedroom the day after Christmas. After that we all moved into a house in Athens summer of 2009, and really started focusing on the band. After that summer we were all still going to school in different places, so over the course of the next year we would get together on the weekends and practice and play shows.

I think we all had pretty similar musical tastes, but each of us have different interest- for instance William is really into African music, and Graham is way more into dance music. I think we are able to start on somewhat of a common ground but then reach into these other interests of ours to make the music more interesting for us.

KW- What has surprised you the most about becoming a professional musician and completing an album with a band?

AM- When we started the band we were really unambitious, hence the name Reptar. That being said, I think we are all still pretty amazed that anyone even likes our band. Same goes for making records, I think we are all just pretty amazed that we get to do what we do and work with the people we get to work with. Ben Allen is incredibly talented, and Andy LeMaster, who we worked with on Lurid Glow, is definitely one of my favorite people I’ve ever met, not to mention one of the best engineers I’ve ever heard or worked with.

KW- Do you have a favorite lyric from one of your songs?

AM- That’s a really good question. Yes, everyone probably does have a favorite lyric, but I can only speak for myself here. I personally really like the lyrics to a song called “Hard Way,” which is on the B side of Lurid Glow.

KW- Art On The Rocks is about blending the best of Birmingham culture (music, performances, food, and more) with the beautiful Museum environment. In the spirit of fusing music and art, if the BMA was to curate an exhibition based on your band, which artist(s) would make”Reptar” art?

AM- It would honestly probably just to be an exhibition of a lot of our friends’ work; our friend Addison Adams who did the covers of both “Oblangle Fizz” and “Body Faucet,” Ross Brubeck who’s done a lot of videos for us, etc. It’s a long list. I feel like I can say this because I’m not William, but William has been doing some totally amazing installation work recently that is very much of a similar aesthetic.

KW- In Birmingham, we have a really great food culture. If your music was perfectly paired with a delicious meal and cocktail, what would be on the menu?

AM- Meal: First course: slivered wasabi almonds and wasabi ginger lays potato chips, crushed to centimeter squares over a tossed Lacinato kale salad with quick pickled red onion and daikon radish and a light thai peanut dressing.

Entrée: vegan pad thai pizza

Dessert: ice cream, duh.

Cocktail: “The Heeby Jeebser”- 1.5 oz green chartreuse, 1.5 oz Electric Blue Mad dog 20/20, 1/2 oz. Orgeat stirred together with ice in a can then strained into a collins glass, fill with Creature Comforts Athena and garnish with a twizzler straw.

Reptar performs at Art on the Rocks on June 12, with an opening show by Breathers. Art on the Rocks starts at 7 p.m. The Music starts at 10 p.m.

Katy Ward is an artist and journalist who loves all things Birmingham. Her artwork, articles, and special projects can be found at katywardcreative.com.

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