Balsa Gliders at Mo Daddy’s: A veritable AHS reunion!

The infectious indie-rock band Balsa Gliders breezes into town for a show at Mo Daddy’s on Friday, May 15. Asheville native Chuck Price is the drummer for the band, and the Friday night show features a bevy of special guests with long Asheville histories (including Asheville High and later Archers of Loaf alums). Doors at 8 p.m. Local Edge radio hosts (880 The Revolution) Blake Butler and Lesley Groetsch will be emcee-ing the event.

The band’s joke starts off: “Two lawyers, a librarian, a banker, a Mongolian miner and a priest all walk into a bar…” because the Balsa Gliders’ lineup is that diverse. Xpress was recently contacted by Price, who had this to say about the show.

“I’m an Asheville native, born and bred there – Ira B. Jones through Asheville High School. My parents have been in Asheville for 45+ years (my dad ran an ad agency in Asheville for 30+ years). While I live in Charlotte, I still call Asheville home.

I got a drum set in the 9th grade (used to take lessons from Byron Hedgepath over at Musicians Workshop). And 20+ years later I finally find myself the drummer in a band.

Long story short – The Balsa Gliders started in D.C. around seven years ago. Four albums and three drummers later, they have evolved into a eclectic collective of musicians from all walks of life in various locales. The current line-up has three lawyers, a banker, a librarian, a doctor, a PhD and a priest. They can lay claim to being the most over-educated band in the country (I’m the only one without a graduate degree, but, then again, I am only the drummer). It’s an interesting task to juggle the music and life, work, kids, etc.

We released our latest album, Danceable in Victor, on iTunes (through Deep South Records) last fall, and we are now playing shows to support it (Asheville, Visulite Theater in Charlotte, The Pour House in Raleigh, etc.).

We are playing Friday at Mo Daddy’s. This will be a reunion of sorts. Viper’s Dream – which consists of Dan Bletz (of The Biscuit Burners) and Steve Shealy (another Asheville native and one of my best buddies growing up) are opening.

We’re also going to have some special Asheville guests as well: Eric Johnson (ex-guitarist of Archers of Loaf) is going to play the last part of the show with us and Matt Gentling (ex- Archers of Loaf bassist) is supposed to get up for a song or two as well. It’s a long time since Eric, Matt, Steve and I were all at Asheville High together and now almost 20 years later we’re all going to be on the same stage. Go figure.”

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