Second Shift: Serious about success

In a one-year span, Second Shift played its first show at Vinyl, opened a March show for Aussie rockers Jet and the Vines, and earned a coveted spot on the 99X Locals Only stage at this year’s Music Midtown. The Gwinnett County quartet takes its music seriously, but not too seriously.

When asked to describe its sound, Second Shift guitarist/co-songwriter Beau Dobbin offered the following image: “that girl that sits behind you in your upper level physics class wearing thick-rimmed black glasses and a short skirt with sheen pantyhose on her legs. You find out she’s working on her Ph.D. in music and she drives a Corvette and has a tattoo of the Beatles on her back.”

“It’s like that feeling you get in your stomach the first time you see porn,” says guitarist Wes Hoffman.

All joking aside, Second Shift’s music is high-energy throwback guitar rock with crafty hooks to boot, and that sound landed them a generous time slot on Saturday afternoon at Music Midtown. The band took full advantage.

“We really felt like rock stars,” says Hoffman, “and our crowd response during and after our set was amazing. I guess it just reaffirms that we don’t suck, hopefully.”

At the festival, Second Shift was one of only two local bands that were interviewed on air by 99X. After the interview, 99X Program Director Leslie Fram introduced frontman Baker to Sunday night headliner Courtney Love.

“Courtney took me back to their bus to hang out and play our demo,” says Baker. “We hung out, had some drinks and talked about current trends in fashion.”

Second Shift plays the Velvet Underground at 9 p.m., Thurs., May 13. $7.