Dead Confederate is a Georgia band through and through, so it’s appropriate that, when interviewed, one of the first things to come out of singer Hardy Morris’ mouth was about football.
“I’m at a bar in downtown Athens getting ready to watch the game,” Morris said over the phone.
Morris was more than excited to talk about LSU’s loss against Georgia, but even more eager to speak about Dead Confederate’s current tour, which is making its way down to New Orleans this weekend.
Though the southern band has been around for years in many facets and playing under different names, members of Dead Confederate didn’t feel as though they’d truly made it until they reached one integral step: being flown cross country.
“The first times we got flown anywhere, they had us out and paid for our flights,” Morris said. “The first time you fly anywhere, it’s kind of a big thing. It’s not that exciting anymore, though.”
Since then, the excitement of traveling has worn off, and the band will do nearly anything for a day back home in Athens. The majority of the band graduated from the University of Georgia, including Morris with a degree in English — the source for much of his songwriting material.
“I’ve always played music and such; when I was in school at Georgia, I was a history major at first, but I took English elective classes and kind of realized that English was just history from a cooler perspective — from the perspective of the writer,” Morris said.
Armed with this new perspective after graduating, Morris and the rest of Dead Confederate continued to make and record music, and in 2007, the band was signed by Gary Gersh (Nirvana, Sonic Youth) to his relatively new label, The Artists Organization.
In 2009, Dead Confederate broke out with the resounding “The Rat,” and has kept busy ever since. Besides releasing two more studio albums, 2010’s “Sugar” and this year’s “In The Marrow,” half of the band has relatively unknown side projects.
In the band’s downtime, guitarist Walker Howle headlines local shows under a slew of monikers as well as taking time to focus on his artwork. Morris formed the band Diamond Rugs with members of Deer Tick and Black Lips, and he’s recently signed to Dangerbird Records (Minus the Bear, Silversun Pickups) under the name T. Hardy Morris.
Dead Confederate doesn’t plan records in the way that many bands do; instead, the band pens songs, holes up in the studio and records all of the songs in one huge live session.
“Being a third album, it felt very much like us,” Morris said. “We’ve played a lot of records before, so we just got in there [and] were ourselves.”
But there’s a gap between how Dead Confederate sees itself and others’ views.
Dead Confederate — especially Morris — has been compared to a wealth of musicians and bands, most often Neil Young (for his music’s darkness) and Nirvana (for Morris’ decidedly punk voice).
“I think if you listen to us, then listen to a Nirvana song back to back, you won’t hear the same thing,” Morris said. “I grew up listening to lots of Nirvana, and I think you can hear some of the influence; it’s not that similar — it’s kind of a lazy comparison, but at least it’s a band that I like.”
As far as what’s next for Dead Confederate, the band doesn’t plan to listen to anyone else’s opinions.
“The plan is just to record again,” Morris said. “In music, you just kind of do what you do and see what happens. I think rock and roll [as a whole] is in a better place than it was a few years ago — hopefully that will continue.”
You can catch Dead Confederate at 9 p.m. Saturday at Gasa Gasa in New Orleans.

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