Rat Babies

To Tandi Murphy-Hall, the vocalist for speedy crust-punk outfit Triangle Fire, the Up Your Athens Punk Fest is as much a call for unity within the local community as it is a showcase for outsiders. "Everybody [was] sitting around all the time complaining about [how] there's no unity in the scene," she says.

So she did something about it. With 17 bands playing two Caledonia stages, the second iteration of this nascent event differs from the first in its inclusion of several nonlocal bands. Still, it features a truly diverse lineup of hometowners, from doom-metal outfit Rat Babies to the post-hardcore newbies in Nakusa. Also, Murphy-Hall stresses, it's an all-ages happening—a tragically rare Athens occurrence.

Indeed, though the tunes are aggressive, the party is inclusive. "It's not gonna be friendly for toddlers or anything," she laughs. But with monitors checking for underage drinking and helping to keep the show safe, Murphy-Hall says parents shouldn't hesitate to allow their teens to attend.

"I've got kids of my own," she says. "I remember being their age and going to [shows in] Atlanta, and everybody came out to everything. If there [were] less than 100 people there, it sucked. And now, if you even have 50 people, it's amazing. I wanna change that for the kids."

Murphy-Hall aims to put the Up Your Athens Fest together twice a year, in order to keep up with the ever-rotating cast of local punks. "Here in Athens, the crowd changes every year, with people moving in and moving out. We've got a lot of travelers that come in… and then they leave."

Despite the constant changing of the guard, Murphy-Hall says the underlying support system must remain intact for bands to survive. Her goal is to assist in this regard.

"Just to build everything up," she says. "It's hard to keep the scene alive."