On one hand, this Tiny Desk (home) performance by The Bad Ends is an Athens, Ga., insider's dream, not just because the group features R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry and singer Mike Mantione of the band Five Eight, but because of all the Easter eggs the group placed around the room. There's the cookbook for the much-beloved restaurant The Grit, Jason Thrasher's Athens Potluck — a collection of photos and reflections from local musicians — and paintings by Athens artists like Terry Rowlett, Jill Carnes and even one by Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum.
But this four-song set should feel magical to anyone who loves the loose intimacy you get when a group of friends play in their parents' basement, jamming together while dreaming that it's really for a stadium-sized rock show. The Bad Ends members, all longtime veterans, capture the spirit of their earliest days when anything seemed possible.
The songs they perform here are from the band's debut album, The Power And The Glory, including the closer, a wistful instrumental called "Ode to Jose," which features Bill Berry on acoustic guitar. This is the first band Berry has been a member of — and the first album he's made — since leaving R.E.M. in 1997. Watching him play, lost deep in his thoughts, it's a moment that says, "We've been on this road a long time, but the journey isn't over."
SET LIST
MUSICIANS
CREDITS
TINY DESK TEAM
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
