Harvey Milk

Named after San Francisco’s first openly gay city supervisor, slow-and-low Athens, Georgia band Harvey Milk revels in being perplexing: Its 2008 release Life… The Best Game In Town opens with a vocalist growling that he’s Santa Claus before setting off on an eccentric run through sludge-rock conventions that ends in a baffling cover of theLooney Tunes theme. The band’s even played an entire live show of just Hank Williams covers. This absurdity carries over into Harvey Milk’s music business strategy. It has released records on several labels including Relapse, Hydra Head, Tumult, Self Rising, and Reproductive Records, and the band tours rarely, spontaneously, and without much fanfare other than the rapt adoration of the legions of bearded-up burly bros the band members attract.

Updated 07/06/2011