The Features and Glossary Blow It Out at Eastside Bowl

Fans of the Alan Moore-Dave Gibbons masterwork Watchmen might remember a plot device called “Nostalgia.” In the original 1980s comics, it’s a cosmetics product that’s supposed to keep users looking like they did before their world was plagued by fear of interdimensional aliens and nuclear holocaust. In HBO’s 2019 sequel series, it’s a drug that unlocks lucid memories. Trying to get through the terrifying present by ignoring it in favor of whatever you can conjure up from the past comes with a whole host of problems, not the least of which is that time doesn’t slow down, let alone stop. 

But you can gain something by revisiting the past, at least for a little while — especially when the trip is firmly connected to the present and the future. That was the case with the shows organized for Friday and Saturday at Eastside Bowl by Good Signal’s Caroline Bowman-Schneider and Michael Eades. The gigs were benefits with proceeds going to keep some vital broadcasters strong, namely community radio station WXNA and Nashville Public Radio’s news station WPLN and music-discovery station WNXP. Playing the two sold-out shows were The Features and Glossary, two beloved local rock bands who hadn’t graced a stage in far too long. For the fans who missed out on tickets, a whole host of newer-to-the-scene artists also played for free in the venue’s smaller room The ’58.

Glossary was one of the first bands I saw at Lucy’s Record Shop when I moved to Nashville in 1997, and at the time they were fledgling indie-rock upstarts. When I enrolled at Middle Tennessee State University two years later, I came to realize they were already a keystone of Murfreesboro’s musical world. Their sound resonated with fans of Jay Farrar, but they always stood out to me with their ability to incorporate the twin-guitar harmonies of Thin Lizzy or Wishbone Ash — held together by the thunderous bounce of bassist Bingham Barnes, someone who seemingly everyone knows and loves if they’ve been around local music much in the past 30 years. 

As Glossary’s set began on Friday, frontman Joey Kneiser invited everyone in the packed room to try and forget about the world outside for the next couple hours. It was a big ask, considering just how harrowing things are out there: Preshow conversation included the status of thousands of people like myself still without power in the wake of the ice storm, the horrors of the latest Epstein file drop and the profoundly disturbing Brownshirt-esque actions of federal officials in Minneapolis — including the footage of the shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti. Watching Glossary, I saw familiar faces from the B-roll of my college memories light up with enthusiasm rekindled from decades ago. Amid Kneiser’s heartfelt songs about seeking out the best of human nature, we heard his voice entwined with Kelly Smith's and his guitar sparring with Todd Beene’s, over the rhythmic backbone from Barnes and drummer Matt Martin, who was filling in for longtime timekeeper Eric Giles. 

Between sets, I chased another hit of dopamine. At the DJ coffin set up on the Low Volume Lounge stage near the venue’s main bar was Mary Mancini, longtime political thought leader and radio host, former chair of the Tennessee Democratic Party and onetime proprietor of the aforementioned Lucy’s. I was struck by how long she’s been making an impact on Middle Tennessee weirdos. Lucy’s closed in 1998, but its credo — “No racist, sexist or homophobic shit tolerated” — is still something I carry with me. And her DJ set was pretty great too, including Guided by Voices, El Michels Affair and Section 25’s “Looking From a Hilltop.”

I have to come clean: I sort of missed out on The Features the first time around. Friends dragged me to their shows, and I couldn’t escape the records. But as a brooding, pre-therapy 20-something I preferred my music devoid of fun, and The Features’ threads of nursery-rhyme whimsy and XTC-style oddball catchiness were not for me. Even so, the genuine love that fans appeared to share with each other, seemingly reciprocated by the band, was impressive. Time after time, there’d be booming sing-alongs and the crowd throwing up their hands in unison. As long as the band was playing, it felt like we were all a little closer together. 

I didn’t revisit The Features’ music until a few years ago when I interviewed frontman Matt Pelham about The Mahaffey Sessions 1999, a long-shelved early recording by the band reissued by the aforementioned Michael Eades’ YK Records. This time, the hooks were not lost on me, and Friday’s show was my first time seeing The Features as a fan. As Pelham, keyboardist Mark Bond, bassist Roger Dabbs and drummer Rollum Haas bowled through fan faves like “Lions” and “That’s the Way It’s Meant to Be” and somewhat deeper cuts like “This Disorder,” I got to take in the joy in a more firsthand way. I could almost see the ice melting off the youthful hearts of a lot of middle-aged Middle Tennesseans (and some former locals who rolled in) as they clapped and pogoed and sang along to every “whoaa-oh-ohhh” chorus.

Life is a long haul, and on the group’s 2004 major label debut Exhibit A, a then-young Pelham sang about a solid relationship helping him be more comfortable with it in “The Idea of Growing Old.” Hearing the song Friday, the meaning seemed to extend beyond commitment anxieties — all the way to making it feel like we can find our way out of these contemporary Dark Ages and make something new.

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