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As much as we want to get to know our artists through interviews, YouTube clips and other bounties the Internet provides, sometimes what remains unknown is an artist's strongest appeal. Athens, Ga.'s Harvey Milk remain one of the few who can thrive on an air of mystery. They take seemingly conventional influences - drummer Kyle Spence rattled off Leonard Cohen, Jimi Hendrix and The Who in our conversation - and warp them into a vitriolic combination of folk's heart and metal's force. Their name conjures confusion in and of itself - even if you know the person Harvey Milk as the slain San Francisco City Supervisor and gay rights activist, it's not clear why a band is named after him.
Given their history, perhaps that's what they want you to think. In the mid '90s, Harvey Milk's records were extremely difficult to find outside of Athens due to limited pressings. Even then, they didn't have a strong local presence. Adding to the turmoil of the group was its self-perception.
"We were going out and we were doing four song sets that would be 45 to 50 minutes," Spence said. "All of us kind of came to the conclusion at the same time - 'This is fun and all, but we're kind of turning into what we don't like' - like Tortoise and all this crap that doesn't really rock, but it's supposed to be rock."
Harvey Milk was put on ice from 1998 from 2006 due to vocalist/guitarist/main songwriter Creston Spires' commitments to his wife and daughter and the band's lack of a solid fanbase.
"There was just no way it made sense for him to keep going out of town and missing out on family time while the best we could do would be to play to 100 people somewhere," Spence said.
In hindsight, the initial breakup was the best thing for Harvey Milk. Word of mouth grew while the band was apart, which lead to Relapse reissuing 1994's My Love is Higher Than Your Assessment of What My Love Could Be, 1995's Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men and Spence's debut with the band, 1997's The Pleaser. Relapse's muscle guaranteed the records would at least be in most store, but it took an extra push from another label, Troubleman Unlimited, to convince the band to reform.
"Stephen [Tanner, bassist and songwriter] was living in New York for the last eight to nine years, and [Troubleman] asked him for a live record. He was so sick of people bugging him about... [reuniting] Harvey Milk...that he said instead of going through stuff to get a live record together, why don't we just do a new one for you," Spence said.
Said new record was 2006's Special Wishes, which put Harvey Milk back on the underground's map. Spence finds a little humor in the mystique that built the band's reputation.
"People say it's a cult thing. Well, of course it is if you can't hear it," he said.
From this unorthodox path comes the band's new record, Life … the Best Game in Town, released in June on Hydra Head. Featuring Joe Preston, proprietor of Thrones and sideman to the Melvins, Earth, and High on Fire, playing bass for some songs, Life is a reminder to the music-buying public of what makes Harvey Milk special.
Creston's voice remains as weathered and tortured as ever, and he can wrangle out relentless pummeling or spacious dirges with equal skill. Luckily, the band keeps with Creston's dynamics, such as on the slow-tempo "Decades" and the fierce cover of Fear's "We Destroy the Family." The band faced some difficulties, mainly, not all the members live in Athens.
"All of these songs seemed like really good ideas on demos, but we had never practiced them or spent much time really thinking them out. We just started recording them right away," he said.
Even more fascinating is the album cover - a white wall of Tanner's apartment with only a sombrero and a poster of Iron Maiden's Killers. Familiar elements come together to create something esoteric and thought provoking.
"Everybody's been to a place like that," Spence said.
Despite having been through all the bullshit of being in a band, and then some, Harvey Milk prove that Life really is the best game in town.
Harvey Milk will be playing tonight at Red 7.
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