Review: SouthBound not bound to iffy preconceptions

matt ward/special to knoxville.com The Wandcore posse is in full effect at a LiL iFFy performance on a recent night at SouthBound in the Old City.

LiL iFFy at SouthBound

Sometimes the draw to a venue is not the venue itself, but the entertainment the venue has to offer. On this specific nightlife excursion, that was indeed the case.

I found myself inside SouthBound in the Old City on a Thursday night for the very first time. Now don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with the bar itself, in fact, quite the contrary. I have a problem with guys like me that go to bars like SouthBound. Middle-aged guys with a baby at home and very little cash to buy drinks let alone tip appropriately. You see them all the time. We stick out like a sore thumb. I don't think that even does it justice. We stick out like a guy in flip-flops at a job interview. There, that makes more sense. I was there with my winter coat-style jacket that obviously is meant entirely for warmth and not for fashion. It was too thick for the weather, but my only other jacket option was too thin for the weather. I from head to toe looks like the guy that isn't going to buy you drinks when you see him at the dance club. That would be correct.

I was at SouthBound to check out LiL iFFy, a nerdy hip-hop phenom and member of the rap group Wandcore. Wandcore as you may be able to infer from their name, spend much of their time rapping about wizards and "Harry Potter"-type topics. The music, however, is as hardcore hip-hop with dubstep influences as you can get.

I arrived in the Old City and found my typical parking space under the bridges just down Jackson from Barley's. My phone was at its recent perpetual state of low charge due to my constantly fluctuating list of priorities that never seem to be near an outlet. The weather was mild for a February evening and the streets were uncommonly busy for this early in the evening, considering it was a Thursday. I made my way to the door at 90 Proof where the LiL iFFy show had previously been reported to be. The door was locked and the doorman waived me over to inform of the show's relocation. It seems they were expecting too many people to fit in the bar upstairs. As I entered I was immediately taken aback at how immense the place was. From the door, the back of the venue was not within site as a bar blocked the view, but I could tell it was not short distance.

I saw my friend I was there to meet and we quickly headed to the bar to acquire some liquid libations. (I know that is redundant, it just sounded too good to pass up.) I surveyed the scene and found a very comfortably dorky crowd had started to fill up the venue in preparation for the show. My friend and I stepped out back to chat as the first band took the stage. As we stood there chatting we were filled in on a loose history of the venue by one of the gentlemen associated with the Wandcore posse. A stage stood in the backyard of the bar where Sundown in the City was once housed while renovations were made on Market Square. He then informed us that Mr. iFFy would not be taking the stage until 1 a.m. Crap.

We talked, and drank, and drank and talked and watched the opening acts and talked and drank. By this time my cold that had burdened me all week was diminishing in noticeability due to my liquid intake. What I do recall, however, was that I really liked the size of SouthBound, and could not get over how little the place looked from the outside the many times I had walked by and glanced in the window to see just a stage and some tables set up. Little did I know that to the back door was a venue that could and probably did likely house 500-600 people at a time on weekends while dance music pumped from the stage and drinks with Redbull in them flowed like wine.

Finally, Lil iFFy hit the stage around 1:20 and proved it was worth the wait. The Wandcore faithful is a surprisingly large and dedicated group. They definitely embrace the dance like no one is looking mantra that often finds its place in niche music scenes. iFFy made some freestyles up that poked political fun at a certain local politician and the group thrashed about on the stage in unison and sometimes completely separately as the crowd lost their wand waving minds.

Double thumbs up to the night: one to SouthBound for having a show my old dorky butt could go to, and two for the Wandcore posse and LiL iFFy for proving that hip-hop doesn't always have to be about clockin' dollars or rolling on sweet rims.

© 2012, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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