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 Scott Creney

Moments In Song #5 – Reptarz2 ‘Phonetics’

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THIS IS THE BAND REPTAR NOT THE BAND REPTARZ2

This is a picture of the band Reptar, NOT the band Reptarz2.

By Scott Creney

I try not to write about my hometown too much. This is a Brisbane-based blog after all. But geographical differences don’t mean what they used to, as we shall soon see.

So there’s this band from Athens, Georgia called Reptar. I’m not here to praise them or to criticize them, but it’s essential to our story that you know who they are.

They have an album coming out this week on Vagrant Records called Body Faucet that a lot of folks in town think is going to be a big deal, a smash hit of global proportions. You can stream the entire thing by clicking the link up there. A year ago the NME seemed pretty impressed, but now, like someone waking up from an ill-advised one night stand, it seems they might be reconsidering their love.

Regardless, there may not be a bigger local draw in town right now (excluding certain local legends). A couple of years back the local alt-weekly, a place not known for its gushing enthusiasm, referred to them as a “phenomenon”.  I suppose time will tell. But I’m not that interested in examining a band who encourages their fans to come out to a show by posting “Y’ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL! Cum party with ya boiiiiizzzz”, on their Facebook. I’m interested in the way a few local artists reacted the other night to the buzz and the hype surrounding Reptar.

Billing themselves as Reptarz2 (or Reptarz II, or ReptarzTwo), the group has previously performed under the name Freedom Tickler. They’ve also put on some bizarre art/performances at their studio space, cruised around downtown in a Volvo station wagon playing freaky electronic free jazz during music festivals, gone to university readings and handed out photocopied books of their trashy pornographic poetry with the title ‘Cancer Humbled Me’. And a couple of weeks ago they were part of a group of art kids who rented out entire sections of a rundown hotel on the outskirts of town and turned the rooms into installation pieces.

Art Installation at Bulldog Inn

This is not Reptarz2 either, but some other artists from the show.

So when word started to spread that these guys were playing a show this past Friday and calling themselves Reptarz2, you had to wonder just what they were up to. On the day of the show, people kept coming into a local record store after seeing a flyer in the window and asking what it was all about. Would Reptar be playing? Was it some kind of secret show?

(continues overleaf)

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