Article - SlowEarth brings Cage back to the stage

One of Atlanta’s earliest electro ands gets rebirth courtesy its offspring

More than a decade before such indie electro acts as This Piano Plays Itself, Tealights and Judi Chicago were gracing Atlanta stages, Cage made an impact on the local music scene with its combination of esoteric lyrical themes, prog-rock guitars, funky bass lines and synth pop electronic flourishes.

By 2000, the band had evolved with added personnel and a name change to SlowEarth, while building on the reputation of Cage. But over the years, fans yearned for the musical output of the original group. This weekend, the members of SlowEarth will unlock Cage once again.

Forming in the early ’90s after singer/programmer Zach Solem and guitarist/programmer Joe Price decided to leave the pop-metal band Seventh Heaven for a more original project, things quickly locked into place. “The whole point of Seventh Heaven was to do something that was unique, but it ended up turning into Color Me Badd with live instruments. That’s when Joe and I made the decision to form what we have,” Solem recalls. “For me, Cage was inspired by Nitzer Ebb and Nine Inch Nails and that kind of stuff I was hearing.” They were eventually joined by bassist Rik Robinson and drummer Richard Farmer, creating the band’s core lineup.

“The first time all four of us got together, we all jammed and thought, ‘This is it,’” Farmer says.

In ‘95, Cage released a self-titled album with material ranging from sensual, seductive tracks (“The Line,” “With Every Move”) to mysterious, aggressive songs (“Light Fade,” “Cirrhosis”). Because few acts, locally or nationally, were fluently melding hard-edged guitar rock and experimental electronica at the time, Cage was often labeled as an industrial act, playing alongside such local bands as Redrum, Synical, Allegory and others more influenced by the mainstream emergence of goth and industrial.

By 2000, the band had added Ben Thomas as a live keyboardist and changed its name to SlowEarth. The next album, also titled Cage, found the group moving toward the purely electronic genres of drum ‘n’ bass, jungle, trip-hop and IDM.

When the band plays a reunion of sorts at Smith’s Olde Bar on Saturday, they’ll also be celebrating a limited-edition rerelease of the original Cage album, featuring new packaging and a bonus disc of previously unreleased Cage songs titled Vault. “It’s been 15 years since the Cage album was released and that’s pretty significant,” Thomas says, considering how Cage has come full circle. “It all came together really easily and naturally.”