Shocked Minds’ Atlanta rebirth

? The latest addition to Atlanta’s punk scene is hardly a new one. Shocked Minds’ local ties date back more than a decade to the all-ages punk rock debauchery of the Rob’s House and Neutron Bomb era.
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? Josh Martin (Carbonas, Beat Beat Beat) moved to New York in 2007 after a tour with his band Beat Beat Beat came to an end. There, he founded Shocked Minds as a solo recording project, leading to 2013’s self-titled LP (HoZac Records). Later, he put together a touring band with friends he’d met in Atlanta. The original lineup included Georgia expats “Punk Rock” Jon Atcheson (Beat Beat Beat) and Dave “the Wave” Klein (Heart Attacks).
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? Seeds for the current lineup were planted on one of the early tours, when Tyler Kinney (Dinos Boys) filled in on drums. “I met Tyler like 30 seconds before, but I knew he was friends with my friends,” Martin says. “Around here that means something, so I knew he was a solid dude.”
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? After that tour, Martin asked Kinney if he would be interested in playing bass down the line in an Atlanta version of the band. Martin had his heart set on reconnecting with his Beat Beat Beat bandmate from 2005- ’08, drummer Mike Koechlin (G.G. King).
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? ??? When he moved back to Atlanta on July 4, Shocked Minds was a second guitarist shy of a solid lineup. “I was thinking about it for a while,” Martin says, “then I saw Chase Noles at the Earl and was like ‘who else would it be?’”
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? Noles (Easy Magick, Dinos Boys, Heart Attacks) was ecstatic to follow in the footsteps of a fellow Heart Attack and collaborate with another longtime friend. “I’d be a little upset if I saw somebody else playing guitar for my boy Dave,” he says. “I’m keeping Dave’s seat warm, though he’s not ever going to take it back. If I saw somebody else, it’d be like going to the Monster Plantation or Billy Bob’s and seeing some goofy motherfucker playing with Josh instead of someone he’s known for 12 years.”
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? Though Noles says he does not look up to other musicians, he has held Martin’s guitar playing and songwriting in high regard since seeing him perform over a decade ago with Knife and the Stabs at former all-ages punk venue the Neutron Bomb. “He was writing songs for that simple band that was just a fun band to play in at the venue, in his mind probably,” Noles says. “But that shit was rad. It was better than the Briefs because it was tougher. It wasn’t sissy.”
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? The new lineup’s take on Martin’s songwriting is not a far cry from the early American and U.K. punk sounds that emanated from the second Lenny’s on Memorial Drive, a time when Beat Beat Beat and the Heart Attacks were inseparable. “It reminds me of Channel 3, 999, and even early TSOL, but darker and tougher,” Noles says. “No one else in the world is going to compare those three bands to us except Tyler’s dad (Drivin’ n Cryin’s Kevn Kinney), because he did compare us to 999.”
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? With three bandmates who share his love for classic punk sounds, and plans to record a second album in 2016, Martin is building on a fruitful history of various bands to secure Shocked Minds a spot in the Atlanta punk scene — in the present and future.
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? Shocked Minds, Barreracudas, Deaf Wish, and GHB play 529 on Wed., Oct. 14. $10. 9 p.m.529 Flat Shoals Ave. 404-228-6769. www.529atlanta.com.