The Constellations

By Lindsey Ibarra; photo by Angela Morris

Flashback to summer 2006. “Crazy,” the track bringing together Atlanta-based hip-hop players Cee-lo and Danger Mouse, is being heard across America. Now fast forward to winter 2008, where a packed out show at The EARL in East Atlanta sees former Gates of Berlin front-man Elijah Jones crooning out blues tinged melodies backed by some of Atlanta’s brightest young musicians. Connect the dots between point A and point B and you get Atlanta’s newest buzz band The Constellations.

What started out as friends playing around in producer and Constellations member Ben Allen’s studio while he finished up production for “Crazy” has evolved into one of the city’s most talked about groups. “It started off as a studio project,” says Allen. “We really had no intentions of being a band.”

‘

Whether or not the basis was to make a record, the marriage of core members Elijah Jones and Devin Donnelly from Atlanta rock outfit Gates of Berlin and Grammy award-winning producer Allen couldn’t have possibly yielded a result that was anything less than special. Add the talents of rotating members Chandler Rentz (Snowden) and Jonathan Hall (Ponderosa) and you’ve got all the makings of an Atlanta supergroup, although Allen is quick to laugh off the hyped-up term.

While the original intentions might seem humble, the boys indeed have a much larger goal in mind. Currently, Atlanta is best known for its contributions to the musical worlds of rap, crunk and hip-hop. Allen and crew are hoping to put a new spin on what it means to live in the Dirty South.

“Atlanta is the epicenter of rap worldwide ... then you’ve got this sort of indie rock side that’s been blowing up,” he says. “We wanted to show there was this dark side to Atlanta, this sort of underground ‘MJQ on a Saturday night at 3 a.m.’ vibe. It’s just about that sort of other side of Atlanta that everybody sees but nobody really knows about.”

Drawing from the grittier aspects of Atlanta’s ever growing nightlife scene, the group looks to shift the spotlight from the blinged-out glamour of hip-hop to a darker, edgier, sex-drugs- and-rock-’n’-roll soaked subculture.

However, the road to a record has been slow in coming, taking nearly two and a half years to finish.

“We didn’t just stop and do a Constellations album in a month,” Allen says. “Time is precious, people have different schedules and it’s been difficult for everyone to focus on just the record.”

The laid back sensibilities of southern culture is one of the many reasons he believes the Atlanta music scene continues to thrive. “It’s not such a rat race here. I can’t imagine being in a band in Brooklyn, it’s got to be hard to get inspired.” Allen continues, “Music is so globalized it really doesn’t matter where you are. Atlanta is so cost effective and for us it’s just a great quality of life here.”

Despite all the hype surrounding them and all the accolades pouring in, Allen and his band mates are keeping everything decidedly low key.

“Right now we’re keeping it simple and just working on as much of a grassroots level as possible,” he explains. But don’t let that casual attitude fool you — the group has a keen eye fixed on exactly what they want and how they’re going to get it. “That’s where you’ve got to be in music right now, you have to be conscious of the things that you’re competing with,” says Allen. “Then the key is to do what you do better than anyone else, so that you create a market for yourself. That’s what The Constellations is really all about, bringing something that really doesn’t exist so we don’t have any competition.”

All credentials and hype and expectations aside, the boys are essentially just trying to get back to what it really means to be in a band. If their forthcoming album is any indication, we’re all in for a wild ride. For all these grand expectations heaped onto the group, Allen asks but one thing in return: “If you download the record for free that’s fine, just make sure you give it to 20 of your friends!” We don’t think that’s going to be a problem.

www.myspace.com/constellationsatl