Tonic Mixtape: Dead Confederate

Gary Gersh, former head of Capitol Records, is primarily famous for signing a group of Seattle kids by the band name Nirvana. With that type of rep, you might imagine that he'd want to find the perfect band to launch his own record label, and he found that band in Dead Confederate.

Though originally from Augusta, the Peach State rockers made their mark in 2006 after moving to Athens and releasing their debut EP on Gersh's label early last year. The band's full-length debut, "Wrecking Ball," followed last September. The band's sound is a heavy, spacey, psychedelic mix of Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, My Morning Jacket and Sonic Youth all run through a late '90s rock filter.

So here's the thing with Dead Confederate. Their recorded music, as heard here on their MySpace page, is pretty good. Their live show, however, is phenomenal. The songs build and build towards what sounds like utter destruction before slamming right back into a deep, addictive guitar groove. For this reason, I highly suggest checking out the band live to enjoy the full Dead Confederate experience. Their latest tour kicks off Sept. 7 in Seattle, and a live album will actually follow soon after. In the meantime, check out this live in-studio performance of "The Rat" below (or click link for the official music video).

Photo by Pamela Littky.