Arrested Development: Gemini Cricket finds inner-garage sound after out-of-world incident

Nothing knocks out the twee faster than a surprise visit by the cops.

It was a late December night when Blake and Sara Tabb, the married couple forming the genesis of Athens’ Gemini Cricket, were awakened by a cadre of officers on the trail of fired shots – a trail which brought them to their front door.

“A cop said we were shooting guns out our bedroom window, so they surrounded us, came in and separated us to different parts of the house,” Blake said. “We were almost naked because we were asleep. They were pretty intense, disrespectful and really rude . . . they said they had evidence, knew what they saw and know what happened. Our bedroom is used for storage, we sleep in the living room. There’s no guns in the house.”

“I’m a very law-abiding citizen and to have had that happen, it was frustrating,” Sara said. “What’s funny is they asked if there were any firearms in the house and I thought he asked if there was a fire alarm. I said ‘Yeah we have a fire alarm it’s usually right up there,’ and the cop was like ‘Where, Where?’ That was bad.”

But from strife comes revelation. Gemini Cricket, a band writing “aww shucks songs with sweety lyrics” suddenly found an edge, sharpened by the words of a new song Sara kept singing around the house: Tango Alpha Bravo Bravo. A lyric in the song “ACCPD, what you doing coming for me?” would also come with a dirtier sound.

The cops separated the two to different parts of the house, but when it was over, they both headed for the garage.

“I was so angry I had to write something that was fun to get over that,” Sara said of Tango Alpha Bravo Bravo’s garage-band sound. “I’m not so angry with the police anymore, but there was a while when I would see police officers driving by and I would be so tense.”

After years of experimenting and shuffling through a host of bandmates, Gemini Cricket now finds itself as a three-person band with a tight sound, plenty of opportunities to play, and a newly released 7-inch EP showcasing its self-styled garage/surf jangle. The addition of drummer Marie Uhler last year glued the couple’s ideas, allowing the band to forge new musical landscapes.

“Before Marie joined the band, we weren’t all communicating very well and things fell apart, “Sara said. “When we decided to end doing the kind of music we were doing, Blake and I had a talk in Taco Bell, and he went home and ended up writing three or four of the songs on the new record.”

“It’s funny because so many of the songs are about communication but we weren’t communicating very well as a band,” Blake said.

But Uhler knew the language the Tabbs were speaking, and wanted to hop aboard.

“When I saw these guys they were really nice and when they started playing songs it was exactly the kind of music I wanted to be playing at that time,” Uhler said. “I wanted to be playing in a pop band, and this was perfect.”

“Marie’s drumming is super fun and enthusiastic,” Blake said. “With Marie it just fits a lot better.”

With the fit in place, fun is now the operative word, as the three see Gemini Cricket as a release and not a means to an end. Setting realistic goals without overreaching (playing AthFest and Popfest, adding a little more touring here and there), the trio go about their daily jobs only to enthrall when taking the stage, as their shows have been described as joyous, infectious and “absolutely adorable” (guess the twee doesn’t go away completely).

“We need some kind of outlet and we want that outlet to be fun and positive,” Blake said. “That’s always been the focus. We never went into it trying to do this as a career.”

In the coming year, that outlet takes them on a U.S. tour of the South in December, the Northwest in March, and if all goes according to plan, England in the summertime. An LP (possibly with the help of a label) is also in the works.

It’s an ambitious path, but a path the three from small Georgia towns embrace with familial togetherness.

“I pointed out to Sara why we get along is because all three of us are from the country and I think that helps,” Blake said. “I’m from Camilla which is a town of 6,000 people, Sara’s from Moultrie and Marie from Eatonton. In a small town, family is such a big part, and it’s the center of your universe. That tradition carries across to us today.”