Among the ubiquitous small
town cover bands, the classic rockinspired
bands and the open-mic
singer-songwriters, the local band
The Cicadas is a welcome noise.
The largely instrumental trio is
characterized by cacophony, a
technical precision rarely found
in rock music and music that
would make grandmothers cover
their ears.
Michael Wilkerson, guitarist
for The Cicadas, said he has been
pleasantly surprised with the positive
response from local folks to
The Cicadas.
“When we first started playing
music at the Princess (in
Columbus), we didn’t really know
how people would take it,” he
said.
On any given Friday night in
Starkville, art rock is about the last
genre of music one would expect
to hear, but The Cicadas have
been largely successful at its shows
around town.
“It means a lot to us,”
Wilkerson said when discussing
the positive feedback from the
community.
The Cicadas’ drummer, Kyle
Walker said its music is self-consciously
provocative and is meant
to stir something in the listener.
“I would rather it be loved or
be hated; I don’t care for the in
between,” he said.
The music itself resembles the
extremes Walker hopes it evinces,
often swaying from the brash to
the beautiful, from the melodic to
the discordant.
“This is music meant to throw
you off guard,” he said.
The band lists a vast array of
music that has inspired it, from
symphonic to old soul music,
from the esoteric and abrasive to
the intimate and even the inanimate.
“For me personally, I want
to take everything in. I want to
take in old soul, abrasive instruments
and jazz, but I also find
inspiration in anything with a
rhythm, in people that I see
eye-to-eye with, in art,” Walker
said.
She said even the sound of
a UPS truck backing up at the
warehouse he works at can influence
the creative process.
Ben Hodge, the bassist and
newest member of The Cicadas,
said although he has just recently
joined the group, it seems like
Wilkerson and Walker have a
unique writing process.
“I’ve mostly been catching
up, learning their songs, but
their songwriting seems to be
very collaborative. The songs
seem like they are continually
evolving,” he said.
Hodge, who is also a member
of local bands Poacher and
Mortar Kit, said his other bands
often played with The Cicadas
when it was just Wilkerson and
Walker in the band.
“I’ve seen them play a lot, and
I was really excited and a little
intimidated when they asked
me to join the band,” he said.
Hodge said he was a little
apprehensive about adding bass
to The Cicadas’ sound, but
he now thinks the bass can
add another dimension to the
music.
“What they do is already really
good and really progressive,”
he said. “If we’re adding bass to
the mix, I want every song to
be better with bass. Also, it can
play as another counter-melody
to the guitar and the drums.”
Although The Cicadas have
not yet recorded any music, they
plan to keep playing around the
area and are making plans to
record their music in the future.
When asked about the origin of
their band name, Kyle Walker
told an anecdote about a wayward
cicada running into a wall
while they were trying to think
of a band name.
“Cicadas are so abrasive and
scary when they get in your
house,” Walker said, drawing
parallels between the actual
insect and the band.
He went on to say a band
name really means nothing if
the band isn’t any good.
“After all, The Beatles, the
greatest band in the world, are
only named after a lowly bug,”
he said.
The Cicadas are playing at
the Del Rendon Music Show at
Dave’s Dark Horse Tavern on March 3.