Columbus Alive: Skully’s celebrates 10-year anniversary

Back in 2011, Skully's celebrated it's tenth anniversary, which means the twentieth isn't that far away. The Columbus Alive profiled the bar owned by Earl "Skully" Webb:

To gain an appreciation for how long Skully’s Music Diner has been at the epicenter of Columbus music, simply attempt to count the venues that have opened, closed or changed hands since Earl “Skully” Webb took over the vacant Short North nightclub in fall 2001. You will run out of fingers many times over. 

A decade is a lifetime in the live music business, but Skully’s has managed to remain a central part of the Columbus entertainment landscape from its inception. This week, the bar will spend four nights celebrating that endurance. 

“I wanted to have four different nights to kind of sample what we’ve been doing for the past 10 years,” Webb said. 

A big part of Skully’s success is its ability to be everything to everyone, and this weekend’s lineup reflects that, beginning with the recently ’90s-infused dance party Ladies’ 80s, Skully’s signature event from the start.

Video: Ron House live at Carabar in 2007

Noisy: Straight to Vinyl, Finally: An Interview with Ron House of Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments

Interesting interview with Ron House with Noisy from back in 2015 regarding the vinyl release of Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartment's second album Straight To Video, which was originally only released on compact disc. Here's an excerpt:

Noisy: It could be argued that you’re a main influence behind Ohio acts and the Ohio-esque beyond such as Times New Viking or Psychedelic Horseshit...is this a source of pride, embarrassment? Do you listen to the (ugh) Lo fi music that came in your wake? Or do you see it all part of a larger lineage including Electric Eels and other Ohio freak scenesters? None of the above is also an acceptable answer. 

RH: Ohio music has a great lineage and I am very proud to be a part of it. Electric Eels are getting well deserved attention and I hope it cheers John Morton up! Columbus punk history has yet to be adequately rediscovered and people better not wait for me to do the grunt work.

New Additions: Obsessed by Ron House

Although Ron House had two compilations of material release in prior decades, along with all of his recordings with Great Plains, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments and Ego Summit, 2002 saw the release of his first official solo album: Obsessed. I recently picked up the compact disc (no vinyl version has been released) and was surprised at the quiet restraint. For the most part, gone are the buzzsaw guitars and bombast replaced with introspective lyrics and acoustic guitars.

Know Yer Artist: Ron House

Artist: Ron House

Bands
Great Plains
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments
Ego Summit
Psandwich
Counter Intuits
Moses Carryout
Twisted Shouts

Releases
1986 - Blind Boy In The Back Seat compilation (Old Age)
1997 - New Wave As The Next Guy compilation (Spare Me Records)
2002 - Obsessed album (Moses Carryout Records)

Dispatch: Musicol owner still meeting recording needs of varied clients

The Columbus Dispatch recently chatted with local legend John Hull of Musicol, which records, masters and presses records local, and is responsible for dozens, if not hundreds, of local releases. Check out part of the interview:

Q: At first, you just had the studio. How did you get into the record-pressing business? 

A: We were recording a lot of Southern gospel. There were quite a few of those groups around Columbus at that time. We had a mastering facility, but were sending out to a company in Cincinnati to get the records manufactured. We found out that company had a studio, and whenever we’d send out an order, he’d contact our customers behind our backs and say “Come on down here to Cincinnati to record!?” (Laughs) We found out what he was doing, one of our customers told us, so we said “Why can’t we press records?”

Video: Post Industrial Noise - Symphony Of A Mind (1983)

Columbus Free Press: Records Reviews

Back in 2015 when Medical Records issued The Official Post Industrial Noise Anthology, Wes Flexner (also of Donewaiting.com) included it in his Record Store Day reviews for the Columbus Free Press. Here's a bit of that:

You know how minimal wave can either be really good, or a chaotic layers that never quite lands.
  Well, Post-Industrial Noise builds in the correct places at the right pace. 
The vocals of Dana Riash fit perfectly. Whether it’s the tense “Sketch,” or the minor-key shimmering  dual vocal “Survivalist” the comp starts off strong and never really fails.
  I had to rewind the lyrics on “Compartment Life.” When Dana sings “Where there was farmland/now there is department stores” or “I’m on the patio balcony view/ the women next store is cruising you” one can imagine a feeling of being young and watching early 80’s Columbus develop.

New Additions: The Official Post Industrial Noise Anothology

One of the hard parts of researching music from thirty to forty years ago is simply the lack of access to the music. Most of what was released on cassette is impossible to find, and the vinyl, while a bit more plentiful, can be hard to track down as well. If there are no streaming options, well, that makes shelling out a few bucks necessary to hear it. Sometimes you get lucky, as is the case with Post Industrial Noise. A fairly obscure band from the early 1980s, they only managed two releases in 1983 before separating. However, thanks to the Medical Records label, a reissue is available both digitally and on vinyl, which I was able to scoop up at Used Kids recently. It's minimal early/mid-80s electronic music with some gloomy elements, and very unique to the Columbus scene during that time period.

 

Know Yer Band: Post Industrial Noise

Band: Post Industrial Noise (PIN)

Members
Vocals/Synthesizer/Percussion/Bass/Guitar - Dana Riashi
Vocals/Synthesizer/Percussion - Gerald F. Nelson
Vocals/Synthesizer/Percussion/Drum Programming/Guitar - Robert Crise Jr.

Releases
1983 - 8" flexi-disc Symphony Of A Mind (Not On Label)
1983 - The Official Post Industrial Noise Anthology Album (Not On Label / Medical Records LLC)

Vice (2008): Shitgazers United

Here's an article from Vice back in 2008 during the very early years of "shitgaze:"

Psychedelic Horseshit coined the turn "shitgaze," formed on a whim at a party and made up their name on the spot because it was the first thing that sprang to mind. From Columbus, Ohio, theirs is an unrefined, unpredictable and chaotic mess of sound which leaps in your face like a drunk old guy at the bar demanding change and won’t leave you alone until you’ve kicked him in the balls until it can’t move anymore.

Video: Psychedelic Horseshit - Nothing is Revealed

Stereogum: Psychedelic Horseshit Hates On Wavves, No Age, TVOTR

Here's a 2009 interview with Psychedelic Horseshit head Matt Whitehurst. More accurately, here's an interview Whitehurst did with the Washington Post, which was reposted by Brooklyn Vegan, and then excerpted by Stereogum. Got that? Here's some of it:

Washington Post: Vivian Girls, Wavves – why is everyone in a lo-fi band now? 

MW: I have no idea. I don’t know. It became in vogue sometime in the last year due to a few figureheads talking a bunch of [expletive] on Terminal Boredom. And now it’s exploded into this thing there where Wavves is getting $30,000 to [expletive] crank out this [expletive] generic [expletive]. 

Washington Post: There’s a lot of one-person things now. 

MW: Right it’s one person with GarageBand and a few chords and like — Wavves to me sounds like [expletive] TV on the Radio. That band sucks [expletive]. It’s one of the worst bands to get popular in a long time. They [expletive] trump No Age because I think it’s worse than No Age. No Age is just like, [expletive]. It’s really [expletive].

New Additions: Magic Flowers Droned by Psychedelic Horseshit

My ten-year run in bands ended in Columbus right around when the lo-fi "shitgaze" bands started popping circa 2007 and 2008. I'll admit that, first time around, I was completely oblivious to Times New Viking, Psychedelic Horseshit and others that were making waves in Columbus in the mid-2000s. Thankfully, due to his project I've been able to go back and start reassessing the whole scene, including the first album from Psychedelic Horseshit, 2007's Magic Flowers Droned on Siltbreeze, a long-running label out of Philadelphia that has been home to number of Columbus bands. The music is decidedly not for everyone, yet my I've found my musical tastes expanded rather than contracting as I get older, and even through dense patches of atonal noise, there is some really fascinating melody in the chaos. Again, not for your average listener, but if lo-fi is your thing, worth checking out.

Know Yer Band: Psychedelic Horseshit

Band: Psychedelic Horseshit

Members
Bass/Keys – Jason Roxas
Vocals/Guitar/Keys – Matt "Horseshit" Whitehurst
Drums – "Psychedelic" Rich Johnston
Percussion/Samples - Ryan Jewell
Bass - Michael Bray

Releases
2006 - 7" single Who Let The Dogs Out? (Columbus Discount Records)
2006 - 7" split single w/Times New Viking (300%)
2007 - Magic Flowers Droned album (Siltbreeze)
2008 - Magic Flowers Dubbed album (bumtapes)
2008 - 7" single New Wave Hippies (Half Machine Records)
2009 - 2x7" single Too Many Hits (Columbus Discount Records)
2009 - 12" EP Shitgaze Anthems (Woodsist)
2009 - Golden Oldies compilation album (Wasted Vinyl Records)
2010 - Acid Tape EP (Fan Death Records)
2011 - Laced album (FatCat Records)

614 Magazine: Where Did the Punk Rockers Go?

Interesting question posed by Chris Gaitten of 614 Magazine back in 2015:

In 2008, CDR released the first of the unheard stash, Tommy Jay’s Tall Tales of Trauma, from Tommy Jay, a member of the Quotas. Jay and Rep hailed from a tiny hamlet just south of Grove City called Harrisburg, where Jay had created a practice space and studio in his home. For decades, a rotating cast of musicians known as The Harrisburg Players rehearsed and recorded there, influencing and often comprising Columbus’s underground bands. 

CDR hit overdrive in 2009, starting a singles club in addition to the new releases, reissues, and previously unheard music. They distributed 16 records that year, often at the expense of relationships and showering, Smith said. Over time, they put out releases from lo-fi luminaries like Cheater Slicks, as well as the next generation of bands like Psychedelic Horseshit 

Their production levels decreased in subsequent years, as bands like Bassholes and Cheater Slicks only recorded new music every so often, and the unreleased Harrisburg stash was eventually tapped. Koe-Krompecher had revived Anyway, and other local labels like Superdreamer Records had begun popping up.

Video: Josh Kayser of The Jive Turkeys - Honey,You're The Apple Of My Eye

Cringe.com: Talkin' Shit With The Jive Turkeys

Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, Cringe.com was a staple of daily and weekly Columbus music news and information. In addition to keeping a show calendar (which is still updated), release info, reviews and interviews were up on the site that produced a number of compilation albums, all under the watchful eye of Joel Treadway. In Winter 1999, he chatted with the guys from The Jive Turkeys, here is some of that interview:

Cringe: I think that your music has a remarkably mature and sophisticated sound and this would be true regardless of the age of the musicians involved. But this impression seems to be heightened by the fact that four of the five musicians in the band are in their early twenties. Is there anything in particular which any of you can point to that would account for this? 

Josh: We grew up playing together. We've played the same bars around this town for the last six years. I've known and played with most of these guys since I was sixteen. 

Justin: I've played with Matt since 11th grade. I really haven't worked with another bass player for any period of time. 

Brad: Plus, we all have good ears and like music a whole lot. 

Justin: I can't say this for everyone else in the band, but personally I'm really tired of what types of music are accessible to vast amounts of people now. So I have been going back to the music of [past generations to try and find inspiration]. 

Josh: I have very, very few current albums. 

Matt: I don't have any. 

Justin: Except for local stuff. Local music is the only stuff that is going anywhere for me. I don't know if it's how [most mainstream music] is presented or what, but it all seems so contrived. It all seems geared towards the industry's molds of what is going to make them money. [Bill Heingartner of Heifer fame chimes in at this point by screaming "Where are your hits?"] 

Matt: Yeah, we need a lot more hits.

New Additions: Present The... Night Of The Dragon Lady by The Jive Turkeys

There is obscure, and then there is OBSCURE. Take this release - the 1997 seven inch Present The... Night Of The Dragon Lady by The Jive Turkeys released on Alamount Black Records. I found this at Lost Weekend Records digging through one of the seven inch boxes in the back and was caught off guard. While the band has very little online presence, I knew from memory they had released an album in 2001 called Sounds from the Idiodyssey on Derailleur, as well as a release a few years later called Seis Sonidos. Though were on Discogs when I bought this (I fixed that), this one was completely new to me. I haven't been able to track down either of the other releases (yet!), this one will have to do for the moment to get my Jive Turkeys fix.

Know Yer Band: The Jive Turkeys

Band: The Jive Turkeys

Members
Vocals/Guitar - Josh Kayser
Saxophone/Keys - Brad Caulkins
Bass - Matt Surgeson
Drums - Justin Crooks
Trumpet - Johnny Bachman

Releases
1997 - 7" single Present The... Night Of The Dragon Lady (Alamount Black Records)
1998 - Live Jive EP (Awnsquiz/Johnny B. Productions)
2001 - Sounds From The Idiodyssey album (Derailleur)
2003 - Seis Sonidos album (Not On Label)

Towncraft Movie - National Scene Stories (2007)

Back in 2007, indie music documentary Towncraft was released about the Little Rock, AR punk scene of the 70s and 80s. Part of the website was dedicated to people telling stories about their own hometown scenes, and Columbus was included thanks to a contributor named Skullface. Here's some of that they provided:

The punk scene in Columbus, Ohio from 1999-2006 was slightly reminiscent of the early American hardcore scenes in Southern California, if only coincidently. Upon first glance, it would seem that all the shows were focused around the college town's dive bar, Bernie's Distillery, but kids were making something of their own outside of the nationally-known bands who played there. By 2002, a good percentage of the shows, including benefits and birthday parties, were being held at houses around the area, usually rented by college-aged punks (and those sympathetic to the kids).

Video: Rosie Reunion with Mark Chatfield 9-19-2014

This Week: Rosie Reunion

You never know where rock and roll news will pop up. Back in 2011, the weekly This Week ran an article a Rosie reunion. Here's a bit of that: 

Assembled by former Godz (another Columbus rock legend) guitarist Mark Chatfield, the band came together in Columbus, although the band members were not all natives. Still, Shelor considers Columbus Rosie’s home, if not necessarily his own. 

“Rosie was born here,” he told The Beast last week, just arrived in town for the band’s latest reunion show, Friday night at Lifestyle Communities Pavilion. “It just kind of took off. We made a lot of friends. It was home for a long time for us.” 

Like many bands who seemed to keep just missing their big break, Rosie fell victim to some business and management issues that kept gumming up the works 

“Think about (that time) with some regret,” Shelor said. “We could’ve done so much more. We had some bad deals and legal stuff.”