Noise Disturbance

Destruction is essential in any creative process and for two decades "Destroy All Music," the weekly Wednesday night noise music program on Georgia Tech's WREK-FM (91.1) has been a catalyst for sonic demolition. A conduit for local jazz, experimental and assertively avant-garde musicians to connect with like-minded folks from around the world insert , Destroy All Music is a staple for subversive music in Atlanta. It gives locally based esoteric acts airtime alongside internationally known noise provocateurs, such as Japanese aural masochist Merzbow and the Baltimore-based free-jazz trio Borbetomagus.

Now, to celebrate its 20th anniversary, long-standing hosts Tony Gordon and Ellen McGrail (who took over for DAM founder Glen Thrasher in the mid-'80s) have organized the Destroy All Music Festival in honor of the show's time-tested presence. "The idea was to get groups who were around when the show started and have them play with a few more recent acts," Gordon says.

For the event, groups as temporally and geographically far-reaching as Borbetomagus, Mouthus (Brooklyn) and the Haters (San Francisco) will play along side local acts Stephen Fenton, Wilson + Heath and Gordon's group Zandosis. Marshall Avett, also of Zandosis, is promoting the event and stresses that even though noise music is often associated with violent and confrontational tendencies, the show will feature subdued sounds as well as extreme noise. "There will be lots of head cleaning and hopefully opening of minds to new ways of perceiving music," says Avett. Gordon continues, with a sinister tone adding, "The lineup is pretty extreme, there won't be too much quiet going on."

The Destroy All Music Festival is at Eyedrum on Sat., Oct. 30, 7 p.m. $15.