The three founding members of ADD/C met on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga in 1999. Guitarist/singer Daniel, bassist Grady and drummer Cole all found that they shared a common interest, other than pre-1800’s English Literature: punk. Soon, they were practicing together and quickly integrated themselves into the local scene, playing shows in houses, dive bars and other DIY venues around town. Touring and writing songs quickly became more exciting than writing another paper.
It wasn’t long before they started recording handfuls of songs, each one better than the last. They appeared on comps, CD-r’s , criminally rare cassette releases and 7”s. These early blasts showed their obvious love for local bands in our scene, but also had a very strong voice of their own: smart, cocky, critical of local apathy, but also critical of themselves. It took almost 5 years for the band to finally get around to recording their first LP. While other bands around Chattanooga were seemingly becoming more “pro”, ADD/C went down into Daniel’s basement with the mysterious Ron Cobra, an armload of broken microphones and a cassette 8-track to self-produce an 18-song record. After a lot of time and effort, they emerged with something that showed an honest portrayal of the band in that moment and then threw it into the world like it was an afterthought: glued on covers, flubbed notes and hastily scrawled liner notes…and it was excellent! It was another chapter of what was happening in our city and it was made for us, the local punks… since we didn’t think anyone else was paying attention. It’s the kind of album you can only authentically write when you’re young, punk and insane.
In the later 00’s, the band brought in a 2nd guitarist/singer in the form of Harry, whom most of the members had already spent time with in other bands and tour vans. They were already focusing on writing new songs and having Harry’s skills in the mix brought an added melodic energy that seemed to recharge them. They brought that focus and drive to their 2nd LP, Busy Days. They still recorded it in Chattanooga on their own terms, but with a higher lowered standard. They produced fifteen songs and there’s not a dud in the bunch. Artistic friends swooped in to deliver unforgettable and potent artwork. It wasn’t their intention, but ADD/C set a benchmark for punk in the region with an album that only gets better as the years sail by. Driven by hopeful negativity and hooks for days, it not only sticks in your head, but it moves in to live there on the couch, rent-free, for eternity.
By this time, “Region Rock” had already made a name for itself in the vernacular of DIY punk. While coastal fanzines and non-southerners smirked about jangly chords, attempting to define our southern US scene with their own interpretation of what Region Rock is, they missed the point entirely. The region was never about a sound. It was about an upended isosceles right triangle that formed a road map full of maniacal friends playing any music they wanted. It was about shared ideals and inside jokes forged through barely functioning instruments. It was about a family.
For the next 10 years, the band never broke up, but took time off to move around (4 different states), raise children (6 between them all), get a PhD (one) and do a lot of living in an increasingly weird world. Sometimes, it takes a plague to remind you of your artistic roots. The band started writing songs remotely during lockdown in 2020. Daniel, Grady and Cole got together in Bloomington, IN in September 2021 to keep hashing out ideas and thought that they might put out a 7”. With Harry’s input, things kept snowballing until they realized that they had 17 songs. The band practiced in shifts, never all meeting in the same room until they found themselves in the studio in the summer of 2023. Sure, one might worry that a long-running band separated by many state lines, logistical acrobatics and varying life paths might reconvene and produce an embarrassing turd, yet it sounds like they somehow never missed a day of hanging out together in the basement. That doesn’t mean that their new album, Ordinary Souls is a rehash of what they did before. I always wanted a band that grew older with me, but retained the wild spark that made them special and ADD/C does that. There are melodic tributes to friends who have kept their head up through unthinkable tragedy (“Fireflower”) as well as tales of utter heartbreak and brutal honesty (“Fatherloss”). They tell us that we’re losing time in this world, so it’s worth it to show those you love that you really care (“Dead Deeds”). There’s the sad ode to the DIY punk world that has held us for all these years (“Ghost Ship”). Themes ping-pong out in all directions, but the critical eye and humor with which ADD/C has always examined the world remains sharply focused. We couldn’t ask for more.
But what does the name ADD/C stand for? I’ll tell you on the next record.
-Greg Harvester Jan. 2024
