The original “Royals” is a sort
of droner, featuring virtually
no instrumentation beyond
Lorde’s grave voice and a
low-key, snapping drum kit
through much of the song.
Sweet Southern Comfort
works a guitar into the mix,
giving the song a little more
bedrock to support the vocal work, which is where
Mangham and Ross truly
shine.
They harmonize with one
another throughout, trade off lead singer
duties from verse to verse and and pull off
vocal acrobatics that might make other
singers reconsider their approach. This is
what Sweet Southern Comfort has that no
other band in Calhoun County yet offers: a
true, conscious plan to make songs beautiful through vocal harmony.
“People say our voices complement each
other, that our voices go together so well,”
said Mangham. “Now that we’ve been playing with each other for a year, it’s so easy to
just look at each other and know which one
needs to do the harmony.”
The band has grown quickly, making big
strides in the year since its inception. A mix
of rising demand and daytime responsibilities (Mangham is a full-time mom raising
a daughter, while Ross works as an English
teacher in Gadsden) means the pair have
to be selective about their scheduling, but
they’ve still managed to perform the opening night at the Dark Horse Saloon in An14
niston and two charity shows, Rock Against
Homelessness in April and Rock Against
Hunger in December.
“I’m not doing this for a living,” said Ross.
“Most of our money we make we use to save
to get more equipment; we’re doing this because we love doing it and we have fun, and
if we can help somebody along the way, that
means the most to us.”
The band wants to keep building by taking
on more shows, both locally and a bit farther
out, writing more original songs together
and recording material.
“We really care about the responsibility of
our day jobs; we’re not just these girls who
want to be out in bars every night,” said
Mangham. “But we’ve experienced so much
happiness and bliss in the last year. Now I
feel like we’re 100 percent being us.” ✤
Check out Sweet Southern Comfort by visiting their Facebook page at facebook.com/
sscomfort.
January 2015
INSIGHT