Steve Wildsmith

The good folks at publicity company Crash Avenue recently decided to share some of their favorite tracks, one of them being a demo of a song by Knox vets Superdrag that appeared on the band’s most recent album, “Industry Giants.” The song? “Live and Breathe,” and it’s a lo-fi demo by frontman John Davis.

Here’s what the Crash folks had to say:

We at Crash Avenue listen to a lot of music, and we’ve been trying to share it with everyone. Sure, during the day we try to share music with the writers and media we work with, but now it’s time to share some of our absolutely favorite tracks with absolutely everyone through the first issue of our monthly compilation!  Each compilation will not only feature songs from the artists we work with, but exclusive tracks from some of our friends and favorite artists, as well as bands that we’re just really digging right now. And each comp will feature a bad pun on an influential media outlet because, well, we’re immature, but it’s benevolent and with love. A couple of notable exclusive first-listens in this month’s compilation include Panda Riot’s Northern Automatic Music and a solo John Davis demo version of Superdrag’s Live and Breathe.

Click here to get the 10-song compilation album.

While scrolling through the website for Knoxville-boys-gone-big Superdrag, I came across this juicy nugget:

“I know some of the Superdrag faithful and message board regulars have been waiting on this one for quite a while, so I’m very pleased to announce that 30 AMP FUSE is back! It’s ON! It’s going down Friday, July 9 at Barley’s Taproom in Knoxville, TN. Openers and special guests TBA. The guys (Mike Smithers, John Davis and WARTHOG’s Joey Sanchez) will perform the classic Wind-Up record in order from start to finish. If you’re a 30 Amp fan… you might want to consider making a road trip for this one.”

SWEET.

Speaking of “Funhouse” dudes in my aforementioned post, Mr. Senter gave me a tip about another upcoming Barley’s show, this one on Friday, Feb. 26. The Barley’s calendar simply lists the band as “Warthog: A tribute to the Ramones,” but a visit to the Superdrag website reveals some additional information:

“Back in March of 2009, Superdrag’s ‘Senator’ Tom Pappas, John Davis and Sam Powers enlisted the help of unstoppable drummer Joey Sanchez to put together a short set of Ramones covers for a Joey Ramone’s Birthday benefit gig in aid of lymphoma research at Nashville’s Mercy Lounge. They christened themselves Warthog for the occasion to honor the late, great Dee Dee Ramone, who penned the song of the same name (which also happened to be in the set that night). Anyway, they had such a great time playing, they’re bringing the Ramones tribute back for a couple more shows! They’ll be playing a half-hour set at The Basement’s fifth anniversary show on Feb. 6 in Nashville, and a proper headlining set at Barley’s Taproom (200 E. Jackson Ave.) in Knoxville on Feb. 26.”

Admission to that show will most likely be $5. Read last year’s cover story on Superdrag here.