Two Purple Pigs, May 31, Manchester, TN – the MusicTree Festival will be welcoming local band, Uncle Atlas. They have been making tunes together for a few years, now. It was over a year ago the last time I got to jam with Uncle Atlas, and, well, this old man who loves his pedals, modulations, and change-ups will admit the he had a hard time keeping up with the youngsters.

Gerilyn, Jack, and Taylor took some time out of their hectic schedules to introduce themselves and their groovin’ alternative jam rock.

How long have you been playing? How did you get together?

We initially started as a four-piece band around one year ago. We all went to the same high school. It was a bit of a stretch on paper, with the crazy differences in taste and styles of music we enjoyed and/or enjoyed playing, but when we all got in the same room it somehow molded into something we liked… so we kept going with it.

What do you do for fun? You know, besides music…
Taylor plays pool.. we know that much

What’s on your personal playlist this week?
“Taylor – Mastodon, Gojira, Lamb of God
Gerilyn – My Morning Jacket, Radiohead, mewithoutyou
Jack – Umphrey’s McGee, Periphery, Dirty Loops”

Can you pin-point the moment that you knew you wanted to be a performing musician?
A long, long time ago…

What are your goals as a musician? How far would you like to go, what do you see as the next big hurdle?
We want to take it to the road. Do this for real. But for now, we’re still a “young” band, so figuring out how to get our name and music into others’ hands is a big part of it for us. We’ll be recording with our great friend Rob over at Triton Studios this June, so hopefully that will help tremendously!

Describe one of your most memorable moments in music.

A lot of the memorable ones, I don’t remember”” – Taylor
I played a spontaneous house show in Murfreesboro a few years back after a guy cancelled… It turned out to be one of the biggest crowds I’ve ever played for, and my entire set was an off-the-cuff, whatever happens happens improv style with a handful of random pedals. By the end of the night I was jamming with another band and the whole block was just going crazy. It was pretty amazing. -Jack.
I met Joel Cummins at an Al Green show, that was pretty awesome. -Gerilyn”

What song makes you dance when you’re cleaning house?
PYT by Michael Jackson – Gerilyn
She’s A Bad Mama Jama by Carl Carlton – Taylor
Copchase by Jason Mraz – Jack

Tell us about some of your musical influences.
We draw influences from more bands than we could list in a day, but for the sake of space (and time) some of the bigger ones range from Umphrey’s to the Gorillaz, with some hard rock/metal and funk thrown in for good measure.

Where would you choose to build a vacation home?
California (Gerilyn says the San Francisco Bay area is nice)

How did you learn of Music Tree?
There was some buzz around town, and between that and the book of faces, I contacted Ryan French about it and started the process to get on the bill

How do you feel about being a part of the Music Tree Festival?
It feels great! The win-win situation of being able to play shows right in our hometown and help prepare for Bonnaroo by being part of the first Music Tree Festival is a great combination for us. It was awesome to see our name on the official lineup

Do you have plans for Bonnaroo?
Be there. It’s going to be a good year.

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