Now It’s Overhead Ready to Open For Rock Greats R.E.M
By Randy J. Klodz
Although it may be less than a month since Now It’s Overhead played Chicago’s Abbey Pub with Rilo Kiley and Tilly and the Well, the Athens, Ga. light-rockers Now It’s Overhead will be making a yet another Chicago stop, this time opening for one of rock’s most famed bands, R.E.M. The tour hits Oct. 25 at Auditorium Theatre.
Calling Athens, Ga. home is something different for Now It’s Overhead as the band’s record label, Saddle Creek Records, based on Omaha, Neb., typically works with bands that have Nebraska roots. Athens, Ga. is also a musician’s breeding ground as Georgia is where R.E.M. first made waves.
But, Andy LeMaster, frontman for Now It’s Overhead, has deep Saddle Creek roots. Most notably, LeMaster has worked extensively with Bright Eyes, one of Saddle Creek’s most notorious bands. “I’ve been kind of a part of that [Saddle Creek] family for years, just because I have always worked on Bright Eyes records and stuff and done a lot of touring with them,” he said. “So [Athens, Ga.] is kind of the extended, east-coast version of Saddle Creek.” Joining LeMaster, Now It’s Overhead also includes Orenda Fink on bass, keys and vocals; Maria Taylor keys and vocals; and Clay Leverett on drums and vocals.
LeMaster said that his band plans to play tracks from both 2001 self-titled debut as well as “Fall Back Open,” the band’s most recent release which hit stores in March. Though much of Now It’s Overhead’s music is in what LeMaster described as, “a little in that slower, moody category,” LeMaster envisions his band playing more of a rocking set for the set of five dates in which his band will support R.E.M. “It’s probably going to be an overall more energetic set than many sets that we’ve done in the past,” he said. “It’s definitely not a sleeper set, by any means.”
The “Fall Back Open” opener “Wait in Line” has a Michael Stipe-meets-floating guitar vibe and “The Decision Made Itself” has a bluegrass twang groove. The expansive “Antidote” may be the band’s best masterpiece yet, with its light guitar groove and LeMaster’s frail vocals, while “Surrender” is not yet another cover of the Cheap Trick classic.
Auditorium Theatre is at 50 E. Congress Ave. Tickets for this all-ages show are listed for prices ranging from $48-$73. Show start time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. For more information on Now It’s Overhead log on to www.nowitsoverhead.com.
| Now It's Overhead | Photo: c/o Nasty Little Man |
