Free Range Human “Will Work for Burritos”

Looking to start your weekend off with a kick? Local metal band Free Range Human is here to help.

The group, featuring a sound heavily influenced by 60s and 70s heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, will perform this Friday in Atlantic Station’s Central Park as part of the Friday Night Live concert series. “We have a catalog of more than 90 songs,” says Van Spencer, vocalist and bass guitarist. “We will be playing mostly original stuff with a few covers.”

Spencer has been rocking audiences for more than a decade now. A military kid whose family moved from town to town, he was living in Dalton, Ga., when he formed Suicide Monkey, which he says was the city’s first metal band. It didn’t take long for a rival metal band to form, however, and soon the two groups engaged in a “battle of the bands” that drew a large and enthusiastic crowd. The experience was not only intoxicating — “after that I just couldn’t stop playing,” Spencer says — but it also introduced him to future Free Range Human guitarist Gary Deems, who was the leader of the rival band.  “Back then I said some really mean things about him,” Spencer admits, “but luckily we became really great friends over the years.”

Since Suicide Monkey, Spencer has been in several other bands, and he put in several years in Athens’ thriving music scene. After moving to Atlanta in 2006, he met Boots Richards, who had played trumpet for 12 years. “Somehow, I convinced him he was a drummer,” Spencer said. Richards had never played drums, but soon got up to speed by learning on a pair of sandals.

Once Richards mastered the sandals and Spencer found someone to donate used instruments and equipment, Free Range Human was officially born. Shortly after, guitarist Ben Davidow, introduced to the group by an old high-school friend of Richards, joined. “Ben came in and asked if I had ever heard of a band called Kyuss, and he was in,” Spencer says.

Free Range Human’s first album, “Eponymous,” was released in March 2011, and the band is currently working on its sophomore album, “Death of a Salesman.” “The message [of the new album] is to get out of the cubicle,” Spencer explains.

Free Range Human isn’t the only way Spencer is indulging his passion for music. He recently started a record label, Tooth Monster Records. The label features half a dozen local rock bands that are just getting started.

The Tooth Monster model is quite different from most record labels in that the focus is on being a source of support to other artists. “The goal is not to make money or own the rights to other bands’ music,” Spencer says. “I think the best way I could explain it is … if you buy my music, great, you just bought my next burrito. We are just working for our next burrito.”

Jokes Davidow: “If someone buys me a burrito after a show I’m happy — we will work for burritos.”