Five awesome Chattanooga bands that I just learned about

For the past few years, I’ve been to just a handful of local music events. This is a damn shame and something I hope to correct in the near future. Chattanooga’s live music scene was one of the reasons I moved to the city in 2001. As freshmen at UTC, we all had fake IDs made during the first couple of weeks of the semester. I would go to places like The Local to see Milele Roots. We’d sneak into T-Bone's and shout requests for obscure Steely Dan songs to Lumbar Five, which they’d always play. Late nights at The Attic (now Raw) and Ziggy’s were common. I have incredibly fond memories of drunken revelry at JJ’s Bohemia and Discoteca. Sloppy Roast Beef was so hip back in the day with their Garcia-meets-Dave Matthews sound. And then I started working and basically forgot how to have fun for a few years. I’m ready to change that.

Earlier this week, I started a thread on /r/chattanooga asking for people to suggest their favorite live bands/artists from the Chattanooga area. The results were eye-opening. In just a few years of domesticity, I’d missed out on some great new bands. The following is a list of those bands I’d never heard of until I made the thread (along with links to some of their music). Please feel free to add your favorite bands in the comments below. 

Shark Week (not to be confused with D.C. band Shark Week)
“You gotta check out Shark Week,” is something I’ve heard people say for, well, weeks. The band had an EP release party on Feb. 15 at Sluggo’s Cafe. Just this (shark) week, they released a new single called "Detroit Jerry" via Soundcloud. I can’t wait to hear more from this band and catch a live show in the future. The song "No. 2" is a new personal favorite. Keep it up, boys. 

Monomath
Monomath has done something revolutionary. They have released an EP in actual CD format. The band released "An EP" a few weeks ago. Monomath is rock/prog rock/experimental and a bunch of something else. The EP is a four-song set featuring some great songs. My personal favorite is a tune called "Hog Jammin'," which has a sort of creepy, driving, electronic beat that makes you wonder what “jammin’” really means in this sense. Worth checking out, folks.

Smooth Dialects
This is straight-up jazzy soul tunes with incredible musicians and sultry lead vocals from Maria Jordania. One of the suggestions said that Jordania “has an amazing voice, not to mention she is hot as hell,” which is something often said about myself by strangers. The songs listed on their MySpace page are great, mainly because they’re recorded live. "Viva Karma" had me hooked from the opening note. "When You Get Back Up" (by Jon Cleary) is delicious. Here’s a video of the band performing “Love Lingual."

The Stacker 3
The Stacker 3 is a band from Chattanooga, but it is also known nationwide as a brand of metabolizing fat burner that may cause death in small to moderate dosages. I’ll be honest with you: I can’t find much information about Stacker 3 online, other than a Bandcamp page. The band describes their music as “cult instrumental,” and there are three tracks for you to listen to. All of them are very good and feature these creepy, weird, Manson girl line drawings. "At Least It’s Better Than Eating Garbage" is easily the best song title I’ve seen from a Chattanooga band. I can’t wait to see The Stacker 3 live. 

Raenbow Station
Next week will be the one-year anniversary of Raenbow Station’s release of their "The Free World" EP. For me, this week was an introduction to their music, which reminds me of a sunny day and sunshine cookies. The band is aptly named, in other words. Their music sounds as if it were created in a rainbow station. I can’t find any tour dates listed anywhere. This band is still around, right? I like them. 

Other bands mentioned in the thread that were not new to me: The Bohannons, Strung Like a Horse, Machines Are People Too, Lon Eldridge, Rough Rope, Telemonster, Roger Alan Wade, Big Kitty, The Beaters, Land Camera, Prophets & Kings, soCro, ElkMilk, The Hearts in Light, Summer Dregs, Rigoletto, Mighty Sideshow, Ryan Oyer, Jennifer Daniels and Moonlight Bride.

You can contact Sean Phipps via email and Twitter with comments and questions. The opinions expressed in this column belong solely to the author, not Nooga.com or its employees.