The Selmanaires
By Julia Reidy
Photo by Biluxi

Strangely enough, The Selmanaires have the day off. This is rare, as the five-year-old Atlanta band works a collective 320 hours a week, by their calculation. Of these, about 40 each is spent at their respective food service gigs, and the other 40 (or more) each practicing, performing and working for their music.

"We put as many hours into the band as we do at work, so that's like 80 hours a week," surmises Mathis Hunter across the lunch table. Hunter is a guitarist, multi-percussionist, and the band's newest member, having entered the fold New Year's Eve 2006. He also serves up caffeinated beverages at Aurora Coffee in Little Five Points. Contributing to both the caloric and auditory intake of the Atlanta music community, guitarist and vocalist Herb Harris works at Kasan Red Restaurant in East Atlanta, drummer Jason Harris mans The Majestic Diner, and bassist Tommy Chung works with Hunter at Aurora. "We're pretty lucky if we find time to sleep, honestly," says Hunter.

They've been putting in overtime since 2003, when Chung and the Harris twins began writing original material together, but they've kicked it into high gear over the past year, readying their sophomore album in between shifts. Entitled The Air Salesmen, it was released January 22 on respected Atlanta label International Hits. For months, they've been relentlessly playing high-energy shows featuring their new material for audiences in their city and across the country. They've shared Atlanta stages with the likes of Pylon, Deerhunter, and Snowden.

Since the release of Here Come The Selmanaires in November 2005, the band has gone on tour half a dozen times, but the one they embarked upon with fellow Atlantans Black Lips in 2007 was their best attended and most intense by far. They played 25 shows in 27 days across the East Coast and Midwest, even picking up an extra set in Fargo, N.D. on a day they could've had free. The quartet throw all of themselves into their shows because they amass most of their fans from live performance. "We've never had a big promotional vehicle behind us," Herb explains. "So really I think the only time people have ever heard of us, they catch us live. We try to put on a really good live show and do the best we can on stage to captivate people."

The Selmanaires enthrall audiences with their post-new wave, world music and punk-influenced brand of rock, peppered heavily with miscellaneous percussive instruments. Arguably, banging on things burns more calories than sedate guitar playing or standing behind a microphone, but that's not why The Selmanaires adopted these performance mannerisms. All four supplement Hunter's cowbell and tom-tom artistry with tambourines and even the occasional baking pan.

"Some people say, 'Your whole band is a rhythm section,'" Chung relates. "Even the way Herb plays guitar is a little different from the way most modern pop and rock guitar players play. He's not showing off what chops he has, because he has chops, but typically he's really playing off what Jason and I are playing, so it's almost like the guitar is a rhythm instrument as well."

The rhythm of The Selmanaires is changing. The Air Salesmen, the first album with fourth member Hunter, explores the possibilities provided by a growing staff. "It's a little more colorful, a little more nuanced," describes Jason. "I think we all sort of view this record as a transition between the three-piece and the four-piece."

The band leaves their restaurant jobs for weeks at a time to tour, but the work never ceases. Each fan they attract with their shows and albums brings them one step closer to leaving food service forever. Someday, contributing musically to society will be their only full-time job, an eventuality all four agree is their ultimate goal.

"What's more fun?" explains Chung, "Making lattes and washing dishes or rocking out in front of sold-out crowds in Washington D. C. and Toronto?"

Until rock provides income, though, the Harrises, Chung, and Hunter can be found behind counters around Atlanta, networking and coordinating days to rehearse.

"I know I work five to six days a week, and these guys do about the same, and so it's very much a fine balancing act. Because you have to pay the bills, and music isn't paying the bills right now," says Jason. "And you take a month off to work to go on tour, then you're at home working to catch up from that month, and by the time you catch up, its time to go on tour again," adds Herb.

"So we bankrupt ourselves every six months," Jason continues.
Hopes Herb, "It's an investment in our futures."

www.myspace.com/theselmanaires