How lucky am I that on my first day of English Composition I got to meet Mal? Mal Ali Taha Abu-Haltam, who gets her different names passed down from her father, grandfather, and great grandfather, per Islamic tradition, is a drummer. At Front Range she is studying music production, but after her classes, she is an integral part of the bands Dumster Head, Mallory Graham, Tentatively, and the band I got to see play, Atom Son of Man.
Atom Son of Man, composed of Adam who sings, Baz the bassist, and Mal on the drums, are a trio who rock. Earlier this year they got to play the Aggie Theater. Mal told me that “Aggie was a really good night.” She said, “the energy was amazing.”
The show my girlfriend Sophina and I got to see, was at Surfside 7, the bar in old town Fort Collins. The place is like a wide hallway, with old brick walls, and a brown wooden floor, and the deeper you get into it, the closer you are to the music, and the little stage, protruding from a corner of the building. We ordered pickle shots, Sophina’s favorite, and waited for the band to perform.
After an opening set, Atom Son of Man took the stage late into the night. I was just about falling asleep, when the band suddenly re-energized me, and I rushed to get as close to the action as I could. Mal describes the genre they play as, “an amalgam of rock n roll – fusing grunge/punk/classic rock/indie/hip-hop.” I wasn’t sure this would be a style that I’d enjoy. But something about these three musicians brought me to like the rough rowdy playfulness of the room. I was into it. And so were the other people there, some of them really throttling around, while most everybody held at least a steady nod for the sound sparking off of the small stage.
Even as the night grew later, and the crowd got thinner, Adam, Baz, and Mal were each ripping their own improvised solos with untargeted aggression, moving through their set at their own pace, celebrating noise.
Sophina and I went home that night very tired, but also filled up by the excitement we experienced at the show. The next week, when I interviewed Mal, I was surprised to find out that the band has been playing together for less than a year. I’d guessed they’d been with each other for longer based on their collective synchronicity. Mal described to me why she thinks they’re so good together, “It’s cus we all have that energy. It’s not like just half the band is really invested and the other half are just kind of dragging their feet.” She says, “all three of us are just one hundred percent invested, and it’s nice.”
The group is set to perform in the annual FoCoMx music festival this coming April, if you’re looking to see Atom Son of Man play. And when I asked Mal if she had anything to say to Front Range students, she said, “go stream the EP! That’s a threat!” Of course Atom Son of Man’s music is available across all major streaming platforms.
I am glad I got to see the band play, it was awesome. And Mal the drummer, who I was lucky enough to randomly meet in my English class, is just one example of the many cool and interesting students who walk our campuses. So talk to each other! Who knows? You might just end up meeting someone like Mal, and get inspired by whatever they happen to be into.
