It’s a Friday night at The Earl in Atlanta and Jake Hicks is settling in behind the drums to do what he loves best. “Give it up for Jake who’s been kicking some butts and taking some names all night long,” says Josh Rifkind who acts as MC for the 500 Songs for Kids concerts. Rifkind is also the founder of the Songs for Kids Foundation. This show, and eleven more this spring, will help support the foundation’s visits to children’s hospitals around the country.
Hicks tests the drums then leans into the mic for a check. It’s dead. He motions to the sound man. “We need some vocal on the drummer if you can please,” Rifkind adds. Jake leans into the mic again, his “Hey!” comes through the speakers. Audio issues are now sorted, it’s time to play.
Featured Image: Drummer Jake Hicks|Courtesy: Launch Music Conference
“Alright, alright, alright,” Rifkind shouts, “performing The Clash Should I Stay or Should I Go it’s The K-Macks!” Max Shultz and Kevin Craig swing their electric guitars to face each other and pick out the punk anthem’s familiar opening licks. Jake joins in on the downbeat, hammering out a song this trio of friends from Habersham County knows by heart.
“That’s one of our favorite bands,” Hicks explains. “We were filling in that night and Josh Rifkin asked us to pick a song that we know how to do.” Hicks, Craig, and Shultz have known how to do that Clash song since they started playing music together back at North Habersham Middle School. “It was about 8th grade when we started to try to play music.” Hicks laughs, “We started playing punk rock because we were terrible musicians.”
They did not stay “terrible” for long. They kept at it and, during their years attending Habersham Central, the trio gigged all over Atlanta, “We were playing the Masquerade and a place called the Somber Reptile which was a horrible place but still fun.” They performed right up until graduation when Hicks moved off to Athens.
He joined a different band, and saw a good bit of success right away, “I toured all over the country and played South by Southwest (Music Festival) back in 2007.” There was also talk of a record deal but then, on the eve of Hicks’ greatest success, he left the new group to seek out his old friends from Habersham. “I wanted to make music with my best friends again and it was the best decision I ever made.” After being separated for more than a year, The K-Macks emerged and their country-influenced punk rock sound quickly caught the attention of critics and audiences in the Athens music scene.
Listen to The K-Macks early albums on Bandcamp.com
Around the same time, Hicks met Josh Rifkind who had an idea about using music to help sick kids. “We got to talking about what he was going to do and I knew I wanted to be a part of it.” The Songs for Kids Foundation integrates musicians into the lives of children in hospitals and at special needs camps throughout the US. The K-Macks are a mainstay of the foundation’s outreach and Hicks performed at the very first 500 Songs for Kids fundraiser in 2007.
It was an audacious idea, getting 500 musicians to perform 500 songs in 12 shows during a single month, but it worked and 9 years later, “It’s the largest music charity event in Georgia history,” Hicks says. “I’ve been a part of the foundation since I was 18 and I’m about to turn 29.”
All proceeds from the shows support the foundation outreach. Part of that mission is purely entertainment but Rifkind also brings in songwriters to help hospitalized kids write and record their own songs. That strikes a personal chord with Jake Hicks, “Last Friday I played my own songs live at the World Café in Philadelphia and people just loved this country-sounding little kid from Georgia being in Philadelphia. You’ve got to be brave enough to put your heart onto a page with a few chords and be yourself. The feeling you get from doing that is indescribable.”
Hicks’ Philadelphia gig was part of a 12 day tour through the northeast with a musician friend from Nashville. While he stays active with a variety of different performers, Hicks says shows with The K-Macks are few and far between right now. He recently got a “real job” teaching SAT prep for a company in Atlanta alongside band mate Craig. “It has been a little bit slow (for the band) due to time constraints,” he says, but they always find time to do the Songs for Kids shows. “I’ve clung so hard to Songs for Kids because it fulfills so much for me musically and my aspirations of wanting to be an educator. I feel like I’ve found my place in life.”
This year’s 500 Songs for Kids event continues Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, April 30 – May 2, at Smith’s Olde Bar – 1578 Piedmont Ave. NE – Atlanta, GA.
The K-Macks will close out the show on Saturday night singing London Calling by The Clash.
Music starts at 7PM each evening and any size donation will be accepted for admission.
