Left Front Tire, a genuine gem of a rock band from Georgia, will take a special road trip to Columbus tonight to play at High Five along with several local bands, including an Ohio State student band Theory-of-Revolution.
“The band is really big in Georgia, but it has never played outside of the Southeast. This will be the first foray out to a new land,” said Tony Aubrey, Left Front Tire’s manager. “We decided to take a road trip and hit a really cool town, a big college town.”
Left Front Tire is an oddity in music today – a quartet that grew up together, started a band when they were 13- and 14-year olds and stayed together since.
The band’s members, Chip Dillard and Brent Dobbs on vocals and guitars, Josh Davis on vocals and drums and Brent Reems on bass, grew up in rural Georgia.
“Left Front Tire is unique in that these four guys are from Habersham County – this small mountain town. It’s four kids from up in the mountains who play punk pop music,” Aubrey said.
Dillard said the members all started getting instruments at the same time, and just decided to start a band. The Georgia roots still run deep for the band members, and they hope to hold on to that, wherever fame may take them.
“We’re very proud of where we’re from. We come from a really small town with two or three red lights. Small-town life is what we’re used to.” Dillard said.
The group’s song “Bring You Down,” from its album “Social Icon,” was featured on the “American Pie 2” soundtrack, a notable achievement in that it was the only “unknown” group on the album, which also featured tracks from Green Day, Blink-182, American Hi-Fi and Sum 41.
“A lot of this stuff was kind of unbelievable, like being proud of the record we put out,” Dillard said.
Despite its newfound commercial success, Left Front Tire still just likes to put on a good show.
“Our favorite thing is live shows. I think it’s the most adrenaline anyone can ever have,” Dillard said. “It’s you against the world. It’s really fun.”
Left Front Tire was invited to play in Columbus by members of the OSU band Theory-of-Revolution.
“We’d seen them play in Atlanta, and contacted them to see if they’d want to play a show together,” said lead singer Tim Jordon, a senior in political science.
The band, made up of Jordon; guitarist Andy Topetzes, a junior in political science; bassist Mike Liquete, a senior in business and drummer Tony Kaliszewski, a senior in sociology; can be best described as rock ‘n’ roll, although its influences are varied and diverse.
“We’re a rock band with influences from punk to metal to indie rock,” Jordon said, citing influences for the band including Strung Out, Thrice and Jimmy Eat World.
“We all come from different backgrounds. Andy is into blues, I’m into punk and melodic hard-core, Tony is a metal head and Mike is funky and into ska,” Jordon said. “We put everything that’s good about those in, and something comes out that’s better.”
Theory-of-Revolution has released a seven-track CD called “The Suicide Season,” and performs live as often as it can, usually once or twice a month.
“We don’t care about being a big name, we just want to rock,” Jordon said.
The show, which will also feature the bands Rivin, Victim and Trepidation, is at 10 p.m. tonight at High Five, 1227 N. High St. Call 565-7625 for information.
