“Garage rock” only begins to describe young Austin trio Single Frame Ashtray’s sound, which also includes elements of indie pop, punk, new wave, kraut rock and rap. According to drummer-vocalist Adreon Henry, the band strives for its albums to sound like compilations. “We were really focusing on not having songs that sounded similar,” he says. “We wanted to have a variety, like a mix tape. We wanted to sound like totally different bands.” Yet what makes Single Frame Ashtray so refreshing is that they manage to paraphrase, not directly quote, aspects from past musical movements and fuse them into an original sound of their own. Locals Frox Noxon and Denton’s Faceless Werewolves round out the bill.
This article appears in Dec 12-18, 2002.