C'mon, Lets Do The Method

Treading the same “postpunk/powerpop/messthetics” water as our friends over at Hyped2Death Records, Washington D.C.’s Acute Records released earlier last month the 1980-81 recorded output of Athens, GA’s much loved and underappreciated Method Actors whom some guy named Peter Buck states as “a kind of secret history of the Athens’ scene.” This Is Still It compiles the band’s early singles as well as selected tracks from their full-length double LP, Little Figures.

No amount of accolades could properly lay tribute to the amount of influence David Gamble and Vic Varney had on future bands who chose, and still choose, to present their music via the simplistic setting of a guitar and drum-kit only.

That being said, the thing that really gets me is just how powerful the Method Actors sounded with hook-after-hook-after-hook-laden songs consisting of staccato-style guitar playing the occasional slashes and drums that came off like a hurricane, no doubt due to the size of David Gamble (pictured above) who probably towered over any size drum-kit put in front of him. But the band also had a funky side not unlike anything Gang of Four did, whom the Method Actors would probably compare the closest to should one be looking for immediate comparisons.

Go here to listen to arguably the Method Actors’s greatest song, the herky-jerky twist of “Do The Method,” a song that was my only impression of the band for many years before finally receiving This Is Still It in the mail last week. Words alone cannot say how HIGHLY RECOMMENDED this compilation truly is!!!

(from the Acute Records CD, This Is Still It, 2010)