By Scott Roberts
I
met with vocalist Linda Hopper and guitarist Ruthie Morris at The Star Bar for
a sound check that never happened – typical scheduling confusion. And though one of us was disappointed about the
cancelled couple of songs, the ebullient, open, and warm Atlanta-based rockers,
who have been making music together in their band Magnapop for nearly 20 years,
were unruffled and simply happy to be playing more regularly again.
Since 1990, the band has never stopped
performing – sometimes sporadically, sometimes incessantly. Lately it’s been
somewhere in between as the band, also consisting of “new” rhythm section Scott
Rowe on bass and Chad Williams on drums who have been with the band for the
last five years, gears up for this summer’s Chase
Park, its first release since 2005’s Mouthfeel. In addition to the Star Bar show, Linda &
Ruthie (as they are billed) will be doing an acoustic duo show with Alejandro
Escovedo at Eddie’s Attic on April 14 (sold out!), and Magnapop will present their
usual full-blown rock set at The EARL on April 27 opening for seasoned Washington,
D.C. singer/songwriter Tommy Keene. The
band will also take their annual trip to Europe this summer where their
slightly-jagged pop-rock, propelled by Morris’s muscular yet melodic guitar
playing and the inviting innocence of Hopper’s voice singing cryptic, often
impenetrable lyrics, has always been inexplicably more popular than in most areas
of the U.S., including Atlanta.
Chase
Park, named after David Barbe’s studio in
Brian Paulson (Wilco, Beck) and will be the first CD to be independently released
by the band. “We’re still so excited about being creative,” offers Morris, “and
as long as people are excited to hear us, we’ll get the music to them one way
or another.”
Magnapop opens for Tommy Keene at The EARL,
Monday, April 27. Tickets are $10 and doors open at 8:30 p.m. Get your tickets here.
