Flatt City tonight

Photo from Charleston City Paper Left to Right: Chris Robinson, Stephen Schabel, Dave Okey, John Svenson, and Michael Bruner

Steiners and I are off to a crimble party this evening, but we'll be making our excuses and sneaking out by around 9:30ish so we can catch Flatt City at West Ashley Bait and Tackle. They don't sell bait and they don't sell tackle, but the do have a pickin' porch where the grass is blue and the bourbon flows.

Here are some excerpts from this week's music feature in the City Paper:

Often, the best parties are pickin' parties. Whether it's a bonfire or a living room, after the milling about and catching up, it's time for all capable hands to find an instrument and chuck, strum, or bang away.

The guys in James Island-based Flatt City agree. They've taken the drink-and-play impulse, polished it up, and put it on stage. They recently bought suits ("It feels good to play in a suit, as long as you're not sweating too bad," they say), adding an air of respectability only slightly contradicted by the multiple cans of PBR strewn about the stage at a typical show. Their fingers only seem to move faster as the night goes on, unfazed by the multiple whiskey shots folks seem to buy them at every performance.

"It takes a lot of practice," explains mandolin-player and unofficial spokesman Stephen Schabel. "But I heard the recordings sober, and there were still people clapping."

-snip-

How these five players came together is a puzzle of mixed bands, gigs, and chance meetings. Okey and Svenson grew up together in Charlotte, playing together in a blues/punk/rock band in high school. Schabel was half of the acoustic duo Wheelhouse, who won City Paper's best album of the year award in 1998. He hooked up with Okey, who was living with Svenson and Robinson, and late night jam sessions soon commenced.

"They lived in a party house where we could go and pick until four in the morning and not have to worry about making anybody mad," says Schabel. "Except for that one guy who threw a log in the window."

-snip-

Judging by the quality of their songs and their synchronicity with each other, you'd think Flatt City played full-time, but it's really a just-for-fun, couple-nights-a-week hobby. Svenson's getting a PhD in molecular biology, Schabel is the education director at the International Center for Birds of Prey, Bruner is an award-winning glass artist, and Okey and Robinson both work at NOAA, as a web developer and an image analyst ("what the hell is an image analyst?"). Still, they're as polished as many full-time touring groups.

Yippee-yay.

- Mr. Ed