Stavros “Steve” Giannopoulos
of the Atlas Moth
Stavros “Steve” Giannopoulos handles the lion’s share of the lead vocals in the Atlas Moth, a three-guitar metal outfit whose towering roar carries bits of ass-shaking southern rock, misanthropic New Orleans sludge, and narcotic psychedelia the way a hurricane carries bits of aluminum siding. (They’re also the only band to date whose Kuma’s burger has involved collard greens and a waffle.) He wears a classic handlebar mustache, often waxed into neat curls at the ends, that makes him look like a medicine-show huckster flogging bottles of Hadacol out of a suitcase. Because he wears his hair short—with a fresh cut, his style is a tad O Brother, Where Art Thou?—he could almost pass for the tenor in a heavily tattooed barbershop quartet. But then he opens his mouth, and out comes a scouring shriek that sounds like a Dustbuster full of aquarium gravel. He shaved a week or so before the Atlas Moth’s show with Eyehategod last Sunday, by the looks of things—if there’s one thing I know about mustaches, though, they grow.