Atlanta’s Improvement Movement gets elevated on the road to Shaky Knees

Your dad can’t believe they sell vinyl at Urban Outfitters now — or that Improvement Movement isn’t a long-lost ’70s band. 

Since releasing their 2022 debut Don’t Delay, Join Today!, Improvement Movement has quickly emerged as one of Atlanta’s most promising acts. Comprised of Marshall Ruffin (The Mount, RUFFIN), Clark Hamilton (klark.sound, Safari Williams), Tony Aparo and Zach Pyles, the folk-pop quartet blends psych grooves with prog-rock punch, crafting harmony-laden songs that sit as comfortably alongside CSNY as they do with today’s indie favorites.

Since dropping their 2024 sophomore album Slump, the band has been in anything but, hitting a steady stride of tour dates and live sessions, including a stop at Willie Nelson’s Luck Reunion and back-to-back opening sets for Khruangbin and Royel Otis at The Eastern. Now, ahead of a run with Unknown Mortal Orchestra, they’re returning home for a set at Shaky Knees. ArtsATL caught up with the band to talk about their whirlwind schedule, what they’re looking forward to at the fest and the kinds of improvements they’d most like to see in Atlanta’s creative infrastructure.  

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

ArtsATL: Where are you right now, and how’s the tour been treating you so far?

Clark Hamilton: We are in Hamilton, Ohio, right now, which is a suburb outside of Cincinnati. We’ve broken our year-long tour into three long sections, and this is the beginning of the third leg. I think we are all a little bit tired but excited to be on the very long road race that we’ve been running.

ArtsATL: Are there any individual or collective rituals that you prioritize while on the road for so long? 

Zach Pyles: A new ritual that we’re experiencing is, oh — what’s it called?

Hamilton: Hong Tai Herbal Inhaler.

Pyles: Hong Tai Herbal Inhaler! Our friend Paul, who opened for us on our previous tour, introduced us to this. I’m just gonna demonstrate. (Inhales) It just smells really good. Paul described it as the only consequence-free dopamine hit. It’s a nice blend of eucalyptus. So that’s a ritual we’re engaging in probably every five to seven minutes.

ArtsATL: Improvement Movement is by no means an “overnight’ success,” but you have found success in the post-2020 musical landscape. Are there any things about your trajectory that you feel have been faster or slower than anticipated? How do you adjust accordingly? Aside from Hong Tai Herbal Inhaler, of course. 

Tony Aparo: The terminology our team has used is that some people take the elevator and some take the stairs. I think we’re experiencing a combination of that. There’s been a lot of taking the stairs and then maybe a few opportunities this year where we’ve gotten to go up a few floors on the elevator.

ArtsATL: What’s been a particular “Oh, this project is actually taking off. We are getting on the elevator now” moment? 

Hamilton: We’ve gotten the opportunity to play some festivals this year, including Shaky Knees coming up. Those are definitely a piece of tape on your karate belt. Not only are you entertaining a larger group of people who’ve potentially never seen you before — and they’re enjoying it because you’ve gotten better from playing a lot — but for the people it matters to in the music industry, so to speak. Those things are important.

Pyles: For me, it’s any show that we go to play in a town that we’ve never been to, and there are people there to see us. It surprises me every time because I’m like, “Who are you? How do you know me? How do you know this music? I can’t believe you’re here!” That will never not be surprising and amazing to me.

Marshall Ruffin: I like our booking agent, John Bongiorno. He heard music we self-financed, things we were doing completely independently, and he validated us by saying that he thinks this is worth something. Not just artistically but also in the sense that this is something you can make money from. As someone who’s only gotten good at art and never at making money, it’s nice to talk to someone who seems to have done both.

Aparo: As our platform expands, the concept of releasing something becomes less daunting. The void is getting smaller, and it’s being replaced by a real community. And even if that community is small in the beginning, if it’s real, it’s better than the void. That confidence is in and of itself a sort of elevator. Maybe not an industry elevator, but internally it is.

Pyles: This is the ArtsATL-evator! 

ArtsATL: What role did the local scene play in getting to where you are now?

Aparo: It’s our everything. Meeting each other. Our friend Brandon at Speakeasy Promotions has been absolutely integral in our growth and success since we were a baby band. He was probably the first person in the local scene to really believe in us.

Pyles: All of the local clubs. The Earl, 529, Aisle 5. We met each other playing gigs in those places. Mammal Gallery, Underground, The Bakery, eyedrum.

Aparo: This project basically started at Mammal Gallery. We had a studio there during the last two years. The first Improvement record was cut there. 

Ruffin: And now those buildings don’t exist. Those people who were working together can’t because there’s not a place to do it.

ArtsATL: What’s missing from Atlanta’s creative infrastructure that would help other budding acts better find their footing?

Pyles: Money from people who have it!

Aparo: Yeah. Access to affordable housing. Cheaper rent for people. Rent control. Renters’ rights. Landlords shouldn’t be able to buy up entire strips of downtown Atlanta and force out the people that have lived there for years, only to build more parking garages. 

Hamilton: Smaller, commercial, rentable spaces. But if you want to rent a commercial space, it’s gonna be like 10,000 square feet, so you can’t have a small venue.

Pyles: It has to be a brewery.

Everyone: It HAS to be a brewery.

Aparo: So we’re just gonna keep getting breweries.

Pyles: That’s the municipal side, but also, as we travel, there are places in all of these cities where someone with the means has taken the time and effort to create something that doesn’t exist solely for quarterly profits. Those places allow things to happen that aren’t necessarily marketable. That energy is the only thing that fights against entropy. It’s someone standing up and saying, I don’t care! I’m gonna make it cool and good for people!

ArtsATL: You’ve been making your rounds through the festival circuit this year. Shaky Knees is an exciting homecoming. Are there any songs you play live that just hit differently in a hometown setting? 

Aparo: When we pop out an in-ear (monitor) and everyone is singing “On the Bus.”

Ruffin: There’s a song written about a venue in Atlanta and an ATM that used to be in that venue. We played that song in that place and looked at the ATM like “Whoa! Weird.” That surreality is cool to experience.

Pyles: And there are songs about people. It’s always gonna make me think of my wife, so if my wife’s in the audience, I’m measuring how often (miming playing the keys) I can look at her. I wanna look but I’m also like “Ahhh I gotta get through this song!”

Aparo: We love Atlanta so, so, so much. And all the things that we know Atlanta is struggling to figure out right now don’t change the fact that the people in Atlanta go the hardest. It’s the greatest city in the world. 

ArtsATL: What’s an Atlanta act you’d love to see on the 2026 Shaky Knees lineup?

Everyone: UPCHUCK! 

Ruffin: Our homie Travis has a band called Lightning Orchestra, but it’s got a lot of members. It’s difficult to tour with a band that’s like 10+ members, so those bands have to do cool, big things in their hometown. They’d blow any other band out of the water. 

Hamilton: Atlanta Space Quartet!

Aparo: Atlanta Space Quartet. They make really well-composed, thoughtful music. And CDSM. They put on probably one of the best shows in town. 

Where and when

Shaky Knees Festival takes place Friday, September 19, through Sunday, September 21, at Piedmont Park. Improvement Movement will perform on the Peachtree stage at 1:15 p.m. on Sunday.

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Lindsay Thomaston is a photographer and culture writer with a background in media and politics. Her work has also appeared in Paste Magazine, Rolling Stone, i-D, Dazed, Fashionista and Immersive Atlanta, among others.