Playing Ziggy’s in Winston-Salem on May 1, you may see four guys on the stage that you know as Athenaeum, but when the lights go up and the dust starts to settle, a new band will emerge. From that moment and through the foreseeable future, Athenaeum will no longer exist.
Enter: MG4.
This is not your run-of-the-mill transformation. It’s not a matter of the band changing its name and continuing on the same beaten path it has already trod. This transition is an event of great consequence; a shift in the entire makeup of all that was Athenaeum. You will hear few, if any of Athenaeum’s pop-minded chants and tunes. What you will hear are hymns of cerebral mastery that enable the listener to not only hear but think music.
MG4 is the brainchild of Mark Kano and Mike Garrigan. Kano is the last original member of Athenaeum and has been their primary songwriter for over 10 years. Wanting not to step out of the spotlight, but to refocus it, Kano is taking a new “backseat” approach to his songwriting, allowing Garrigan to take the reigns and come into light as the frontman and principal tunesmith.
Mike Garrigan, the namesake of MG4 explains the difference in the two bands. “Athenaeum was more of a pop-accessible band. MG4 is going to allow me, as the main songwriter, to say what I want to say. I am extremely excited about it.” Garrigan is an admirer of “thinking bands” and wants to incorporate a “more-mind-than-heart” approach to his songs.
Rounding out the lineup in Athenaeum/ MG4 is bassist Mike Mitshele and drummer Jeremy Cannon. A former member of Charlotte-based act Jolene (Sire Records), Mitshele replaced Alex McKinney in 2003 and fits snuggly in the future of what MG4 is going to achieve.
Cannon joined the band in early 2001 when original member Nic Brown left to go to college shortly after the release of Athenaeum’s sophomore, self-titled effort on Atlantic Records’ label. Cannon has played with such bands as Tonic and The Connells.
Athenaeum enjoyed a taste of chart success in 1998 when they burrowed into the Top 10 of Billboard’s Modern Rock charts with the catchy tune, “What I Didn’t Know.” That staple led to tours with contemporaries Semisonic, Goo Goo Dolls and Big Wreck. They have continued to be a constant in the local music scene for the last few years.
With all that Athenaeum accomplished, the need for a change has enraptured the members of MG4 and a desire for a fresh restart is being realized in the form of a new batch of songs. The band will head into the studios to record a new EP, complete with new Mike Garrigan originals, this summer. Surely some of the new tunes can be heard in the band’s live show. It would seem that this breath of fresh musical air would undoubtedly bring relief to any Athenaeum fan that is weary of change. This promises to be a positive for Triad music fans everywhere.
When Triad music fans think of area acts that spark a certain feeling or tone, they generally know where to look and listen. Like the Greek translation of its name, Athenaeum is a plethora of musical enlightenment and knowledge.
Athenaeum, whose style has been called a musical trail mix of Cheap Trick and Toad the Wet Sprocket with a frosty Goo Goo Dolls side, has seen its fair share of lineup and situational changes. Now may come the most consequential change of them all.
Archived by J. Hodge
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