Progressive, mainly electronic Fort Worth singer-songwriter Alex Atchley, the mastermind behind Naxat (read about the project here), the video-game-obsessed novelty-esque pop-punk band The Hack and Slashers, and the straight-ahead punk band Bad Times, will be relocating to Olympia, Wash., in about three weeks, ending his “25-year residency” in North Texas, he said. But he’ll remain busy up until the time he splits. He plans on releasing three albums in which he’s had a hand “within the year,” he said. All of them were mastered by Michael Dufault (Automorrow, MicroD).
This week, Atchley will release the debut EP of Bad Times, featuring Star Commander drummer Ryan Schefsky and bassist Donovan Ford (who also plays in New Science Projects).
Atchley started writing Post-Punk Depression nearly three years ago. “After two albums’ worth of recorded material scrapped, re-recorded, re-scrapped, and scrapped again, this album has been stripped down to the best 14 minutes.” The album was recorded live in one afternoon by Peter Hawkinson (from Denton’s Magnum Octopus and Minneapolis’ Bozart). Bad Times has a couple of shows lined up, including at 1919 Hemphill with Fort Worth’s Prognosis Negative and Denton’s Wiccans on Fri., Mar. 4, and Mon., Mar. 7, with Atlanta’s The Wild. On Friday, download the album via http://hotdogstorm.com/badtimes and/or http://badtimes.bandcamp.com.
Last week, Atchley released The Hack and Slashers’ debut album, Play the Game, featuring some of the band’s earliest material but recorded with the current lineup. The songs revolve around references to Dungeons and Dragons, wizards, and trolls, and the album includes a cover of the Dooms U.K.’s “There Are Elves Beneath the Cities of the World.” The album was recorded by the Dooms U.K.’s DJ Geeky C at his home last summer. The album streams for free at http://thehackandslashers.bandcamp.com/. “Hopefully,” Atchley writes, “my move won’t hinder future adventures with this band.” No shows are planned for the immediate future.
The third and final pre-move release is not Atchley’s handiwork but represents his inaugural foray into recording and producing. The means by which Star Commander’s The World Was Sinking and I Was Hardly Surprised hasn’t been decided yet, but mastered tracks are streaming at http://starcommander.bandcamp.com/.
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