On a September evening, Harley Wince was assigned to photograph bands at a house venue and fell in love with the Athens music scene.
Too often, touring bands overlook the small town in favor of bigger cities like Cleveland or Cincinnati, she said.
“Here in Athens, we have a fantastic DIY music scene,” Wince, a freshman studying psychology and music production, said. “We have such a great community of music lovers that I think a lot of bands should pay more attention to.”
For the first ACRN Prom, Adult Mom will come back to the rural town they’ve visited a few times before, even after two other Ohio tour stops in the days leading up to the event Saturday.
“Adult Mom is a band that’s really active in the DIY community here, and they play at houses all the time,” Diana Buchert, promotions director at ACRN, said.
The ACRN event will take place Saturday at 8 p.m. at The Union Bar and Grill, and it mainly acts as a fundraiser for the organization’s main event, Lobsterfest, in April. With Valentine’s Day approaching, people can bring a date and enjoy the prom-esque elements with a theme of love. Attendees can pose in front of a backdrop and pay $2 for polaroid photos. Toward the end of the night, people can bid on local donations as they root for prom superlatives, such as king and queen.
Wince said most of the “bedroom pop” bands she listens to, such as Car Seat Headrest, Tank and the Bangas, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, are in the same vein as Adult Mom.
Buchert said the band has played in Athens enough that it deserves a bigger stage and better event to bring them back. ACRN wanted a popular touring band to play at the event, and Adult Mom was planning a co-headlining tour with Chris Farren at the right time.
Farren, a solo performer, hasn’t played in Athens yet but likes the atmosphere of shows in smaller towns.
“There can be a special feeling because people are a little more excited and eager to see something,” he said.
Farren has been making music and touring for about 12 years. He describes his music as light and lyrically more personal because he writes about self-loathing and internalized doubts.
He hasn’t toured with Adult Mom before, but they’ve run into each other on the DIY circuit and have been friends for a few years. The two acts share a similar style with their songs, he said.
“We kind of have a light popp-y sound with more intense, dark lyrics,” Farren said.
Buchert hopes people will just have fun at the event and enjoy the music.
“A lot of people had bad high school proms or they just never went to prom. In college, I know of so many proms that go on like space prom or goth prom that people host in the DIY scene,” Buchert said. “College prom is just way funnier because no one cares as much as in high school.”
