A few weekends ago, Atlanta got to join together at The EARL in EAV for the premiere of the much-delayed sixth installment in Brendan Canty (Fugazi) and Christoph Green‘s film series, Burn to Shine. In the legendary underground films series bands all from the same city, play a house that is about to be demolished. Producer Brendan Canty and Director Christoph Green filmed 6 editions of Burn to Shine between 2004 and 2007, which included the likes of Wilco, Sleater-Kinney, Shellac, The Shins, Eddie Vedder, Tortoise, Will Oldham, Ted Leo and many more. Each film was a fascinating look into the current music scenes in their respective cities including Washington, DC, Seattle, Portland and more.
The latest installment, Burn to Shine 6: Atlanta, was curated by Lee Tesche of Algiers and was shot “on a brutally humid southern day in the summer of 2007 in a blank single-family home in a rapidly changing part of East Atlanta.” After years of delays to release this film, what was a series looking more into the current music landscapes in their cities, now turns into a retrospective look back into a magical time the filmmakers captured, a piece of history for Atlanta. Featuring performances by Mastodon, Deerhunter, The Black Lips, The Coathangers, The Mighty Hannibal and others, the film features bands that have moved on, bands that were starting to break big and still on top of the scene currently, and bands like The Coathangers who were still very new to the scene yet have gone on to big things. And for Atlanta, it’s another big check mark for the local music scene that deserves the respect that cities like LA and NYC garner.
Burn to Shine 6: Atlanta
Immersive Atlanta did a stellar job capturing the backstory of how Tesche became apart of this, put together the lineup, and the story behind the delays. It’s an inspiring read in itself. Read: BURN TO SHINE: How Lee Tesche Helped Capture A Magic Moment In Atlanta Music History
Burn to Shine 6: Atlanta full line-up includes performances by Shannon Wright, The Selmanaires, The Liverhearts, Deerhunter, the Carbonas, The Black Lips, The Mighty Hannibal, Delia Gartrell, The Coathangers, All Night Drug Prowling Wolves, Mastodon, and Snowden.
For those unable to make the premiere, you can now stream Burn to Shine 6: Atlanta at www.burntoshineatlanta.com
Watch the trailer:
The screening of the film wasn’t the only thing Atlanta got to experience on that Saturday evening; there were also special guest sets by Algiers and Moon Diagrams (Moses Archuleta of Deerhunter) and our Jenny Thomas was there to capture the energy in the room when Algiers took to the stage.
Algiers is a band born in Atlanta, with members Franklin James Fisher, Ryan Mahan, Lee Tesche and Matt Tong spread between London and NYC. While they don’t currently reside in the A, Atlanta will always have a special place being their hometown, and with Lee curating the lineup for Burn to Shine 6, this was quite a magical evening for the band as friends, family, and the Atlanta Music Scene (some Algiers own heroes of the past) came out to celebrate. Algiers released their self titled debut in 2015 to much critical success. Combining elements of gospel and post punk, among other influences including synth rock, Algiers delivers a powerful set of protest music that brings the energy in the room to a boil. Algiers don’t quite sound like anything else out there today, yet that raw power could scoop up the ears of almost anyone.
Check out Jenny Thomas‘ photos:
