Atomic 7: Don’t Expect Any Pyro

Although you might not recognize Brian Connelly by name, there is no doubt that you've heard of his previous instrumental group Shadowy Men From A Shadowy Planet. They ended up becoming international stars after they created the theme and all the incidental music for the legendary Kids In The Hall comedy show as well as releasing three solid discs and a plethora of 45s. Now Connelly fronts yet another instro combo called Atomic 7, who released their first disc, Gowns By Edith Head, last year on Mint Records. It's a stripped down, three-piece homage to all things twangy, from Duane Eddy to Ennio Morricone. Amazingly enough, for someone who is so adept at the style, it wasn't always that way for Connelly. "When we formed Shadowy Men," he explains, "I really wasn't into that kind of music. I even kinda of despised that stuff, but the more I got into it, the more I liked it and now I would defend it to the end. Ultimately, we really just wanted to do a kind of 'pay us 50 bucks and we'll do the soundtrack for your movie' thing." Still, whatever you do, don't call Atomic 7 a surf band. "That's just being lazy," he says. "They used to call The Ventures a surf band and they were from Tacoma, WA and if you went surfing there, you'd kill yourself." Despite garnering great reviews for both Shadowy Men and Atomic 7, success is not a major priority for Connelly. And you definitely won't see him playing at anything like the recently passed Canadian Music Week. "Those shows are really designed for roadies," he says with a laugh. "That's the real art being displayed there — the art of the tear down." Even though showcases may not be his thing, Connelly does enjoy playing live, when the weather is nice. "Yeah, we're actually going to give playing live a break now while we work on our second disc. Actually, the real reason for going into the studio is so we don't have to be on the road in the winter." Besides the normal hazards of bad weather, Connelly has also seen his fair share of mishaps on the road. He certainly wasn't that surprised by what happened in Rhode Island a couple of weeks back when a Great White show got out of control due to overdone pyro, causing the club to burn to the ground with almost 100 people dying inside. "We played a Halloween show once at this bar in Buffalo and they had the whole place decorated with cobwebs and all that stuff. There was this bunch of heavy metal knuckleheads playing and they were setting off flash pots all over. I tell ya, I had one hand on the door and one hand on my amp. They were essentially playing in a furnace with oily rags and blasting caps." Until Atomic 7 release their next record, there's still Gowns By Edith Head, which has been doing quite well on the college charts. And even though its instrumentals, Connelly assures us that the titles to the tracks are related to the music. "I'm always influenced by stuff I see walking around or that happens to me. The music and title are all one package." So, that leaves you, gentle reader, to figure out just what tracks like "Save Your Fork There's Pie" and "You Ain't Having Fun Till You're Dialing 911" are all about. —The Mouth