Video: The Toll - Jonathan Toledo

Coffee For Two Blog: The Toll, “Jonathan Toledo”

At the Coffee For Two Blog, Dan Seeger looks back 30 years to The Toll's debut:

I think of the nineteen-eighties as a time when any band that sounded even the slightest bit like R.E.M. could get a record deal and a concerted push on college radio. I tend to forget that the smash success of The Joshua Tree, released in 1987, rejiggered the algorithm, at least for a little bit. Any band that evoked the anthemic propulsion of U2 (even those that had been around for a bit) could get the brightest spotlight turned on them. The Toll made music that was earnest, political, guitar-driven, and, yes, a little pompous. Surely Geffen had visions of the band planting their boots squarely in the footprints laid out by Bono and the boys. 

The label must have been incredibly confident in the Toll’s prospect for U2-level success. That’s the simplest explanation for the pure bravado of releasing “Jonathan Toledo” as an introductory single. It ran over ten minutes and included a lengthy spoken word interlude railing against historic and ongoing cruelty against Native Americans. Geffen didn’t really trim it down, either. Aside from the mini-epics Michael Jackson was allowed to deliver, the “Jonathan Toledo” music video evidently set a record for the longest clip added to the MTV rotation.

New Additions: The Price Of Progression by The Toll

I didn't know quite what to make of The Toll before I actually got the debut album The Price Of Progression and listened to it. On the one hand, they were on Geffen Records for both their releases, and had some very solid-to-big names appear on the album (Mick Ronson on guitar for a song, Lenny Pickett of Tower Of Power on sax for a song, etc.), yet when I brought the album up to some folks, there was a dismissiveness. I will say, after dropping the needle on the vinyl, the production is very 80s and doesn't do this band any favors. I sought out some live clips on YouTube, as the line was, "great live band, albums don't do them justice," and maybe that's the way to go. 

Know Yer Band: The Toll

Band: The Toll

Members
Vocals - Brad Circone
Guitar - Rick Silk
Bass - Greg Bartram
Drums - Brett Mayo

Releases
1988 - The Price Of Progression album (Geffen Records)
1991 - Sticks & Stones And Broken Bones album (Geffen Records)

The American Prospect: Big Wind From Ohio

From a 2005 entry at, of all places, The American Prospect:

Back in the lo-fi bliss of mid-1980s, the Columbus, Ohio band Great Plains wrote a song called "Letter to a Fanzine." It was a brilliantly Janus-faced take on indie rock's navel gazing, neatly encompassing satire and self-satisfaction. ("Isn't my haircut really intense / Isn't Nick Cave a genius in a sense?") Rock critics of that era rejoiced in Ron House's nasal sneer and the garage-band swirl of organ and guitar laid down by brothers Mark and Matt Wyatt. The question at the center of "Fanzine" -- "Why do punk rock guys go out with new wave girls?" -- remains the band's most-cited bon mot. 

But like any novelty tune, "Fanzine" was a dead end. The ultimate joke-as-epitaph. Great Plains' three records on Homestead went out of print, seemingly buried along with the other trendy labels (4AD, SST) the song name-checks. House's next band, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, found greater success than the Plains ever glimpsed. They copped a major label record with 1995's Bait and Switch (American). 

Thus were Great Plains pegged as court jesters to a long-entombed scene. In some ways, this tag was strangely self-perpetuating. A two-disc compilation released in 2000 on Old 3C Records, Length of Growth, kicks off with an intro from novelty rock king Dr. Demento. A subsequent odds'n'sods collection, 2003's Cornflakes (also Old 3C), includes House and the band bulldozing through borderline psychotic cover versions of "This Magic Moment" and "Call On Me."

Video: Log Live at Little Brothers circa 2004

Log live 2004 "On My Way Back Home" from Old 3C Label Group on Vimeo.

614 Interview With Paul Nini

Paul Nini of Log (and Househearts, among others) is not only a musician, but also a professor of design at OSU. In this 2018 interview with 614, he talks about creating The People's Flag of Columbus:

Nini was inspired by Roman Mars, Newark native and host of the prolific design-focused podcast 99% Invisible. Mars also happened to be the keynote speaker at an industry conference Nini attended in 2015 and the idea stuck. 

“I tried to follow the basic rules of what makes a great flag. The design should be simple and memorable and have meaning behind the forms,” he explained. “It has negative white spaces that come through the center representing Broad and High, with the star as a symbol that we’re the state capital. The fields of blue and green with a semicircle represent the Scioto River and the Franklinton peninsula, the heart of the city, the original area of downtown. Anything more complicated gets tricky.” 

For those who may not know, the current city flag is only the latest incarnation, with several since its inception. Over time, it’s come to incorporate images of the statehouse, Buckeye leaves, and the Santa Maria, along with the typical eagle, stars, and other stuff shared by nearly every flag of the era. But it’s all so cluttered and compressed, you have to squint to even make any of it out.

New Additions: 4 Song EP by Log

Whenever possible, I like acquiring and listening to the first release by a band. Sometimes that's all there is, but often it's the skeletal blueprint of what is to come. I acquired a copy of Log's 1993 debut 7" EP via Discogs and really didn't know what to expect. I had heard they played with a wide array of bands back in the day, including Yo La Tengo, Superchunk, Ass Ponys and Versus, and I can see why, as their sound is prototypical 90s indie rock with a midwestern flare.

Know Yer Band: Log

Band: Log

Members
Guitar/Vocals - Paul Nini
Guitar - Kevin Dimoff
Bass/Vocals - Shirley Tobias
Drums - Kelly Knuth/Greg Bonnell
Keyboards - Mark Wyatt/Chris Nini

Releases
1993 - 4 Song EP (Anyway Records)
1994 - Light The Fuse And Get Away album (Anyway Records)
1996 - My Evil Friend EP (Anyway Records)
1999 - Auto Fire Life album (Old 3C Records)
2004 - Log Almighty album (Old 3C Records)
2005 - The Early Years compilation album (Old 3C Records)
2005 - Logjammin' album (Old 3C Records)

Ohio Magazine: Great Ohio Record Stores

In 2017 Ohio Magazine highlighted a number of record stores around the state, including Used Kids in Columbus. Here is a snippet of that:

“Used Kids was created as a very organic enterprise,” says Bela Koe-Krompecher, who worked at the store from 1990 to 2007 and was co-owner for 14 of those years. “Both Ron and Dan were well educated, but wanted to live a life that existed around music. There was really no intention to make money beyond paying bills and being submerged in music.” 

In the pre-Internet days, record stores often served as a gathering place for musicians and other like-minded people. Used Kids Records became a sort of clubhouse for the Columbus music community, the walls and ceilings plastered with album covers, stickers, concert fliers and photos. 

Cringe.com: Hensley Sturgis Pictures

It was bound to happen, but I didn't expect it to be a band from the 2000s. Normally on Thursday of each week I post a video of the band being highlighted, but somehow Hensley Sturgis seems to have avoided being captured by moving picture. Alas, all we have are pictures posted at Cringe.com (thanks Joel Treadway!) from back in 2001. Here's one, check them all out at Cringe.

Hensley Sturgis at No Depression

Hensley Sturgis released two albums - Open Lanes in 2000 and Cabin Fever in 2001. Both received positive reviews in No Depression, here's an excerpt from the latter:

Not only do Hensley and Sturgis display an increased confidence in their music making, but HensleySturgis also is a full band this time around. The rhythm section, now solidified around drummer Pat McGann (who appeared on the debut) and new bassist Trent Arnold, adds muscle to the mix. The songs are injected with a greater dynamic sense, which makes this record a more potent piece of music. While they may not yet have broken into the alt-country's upper echelon, these Ohio boys do mine a very appealing Midwestern vein of Americana.

New Additions: Cabin Fever by Hensley Sturgis

I wasn't sure quite to expect, but I had an idea when I picked up the second Hensley Sturgis album, the 2001 release Cabin Fever. With Barry Hensley from Big Back Forty involved, I knew this would fall on the country rock spectrum, and I was not disappointed. My only exposure to Jason Sturgis was as the bass player in Big Red Sun, so I didn't have a lot to go on their. There is twang, there are quiet moments juxtaposed with dirty sounds. It's an interesting listen and compared to what was going on in Columbus at the time, it's a pretty unique sound.

Know Yer Band: Hensley Sturgis

Band: Hensley Sturgis

Members
Jason Sturgis - Guitar/Bass/Vocals
Barry Hensley - Guitar/Steel Guitar/Vocals
Steve McGann/Trent Arnold - Bass
Pat McGann/Rick May - Drums

Releases
2000 - Open Lanes album (Blue Rose Records)
2001 - Cabin Fever album (Blue Rose Records)

Alive: Creative minds - The Central City Recording Guys

Columbus has always been home to a number of recording studios, some lasting a few years, and a are few lasting decades. Central City Recording was more the former than the latter, but still has an impact, per this profile in the Alive circa 2009.

The people behind many a recording studio have envisioned their business as a hub and catalyst for the Columbus music scene. Few have been as successful at realizing that goal as the brain trust at Central City Recording. 

“Our overriding mission statement is to provide a resource for the music scene and for the musicians here in town and as far as we can reach,” explained studio president Andrew Dodson. “To that end, it has always been important to us to be as active in everything as possible. If we can help out, we’re going to help out.” 

And they have. Dodson, Max Lewis, Ben Miller and Erik Smith are constantly seeking new ways to support the sounds coming out of this town. 

They’ve had a hand in events including the Rock Potluck, ComFest, Agora, Independents Day and the Here Comes Your Weekend Parking Lot Blowout. They rent their studio, a state-of-the-art facility in a Clintonville storefront, to freelance engineers and offer it for free to charity projects like Blues for a Cure. Dodson, Lewis and Miller teach classes at Jazz Arts Group’s Jazz Academy.

Video: All My Life by Naked Skinnies

Donewaiting on Mark Eitzel (2012)

There aren't many write-ups specifically about the Naked Skinnies, probably due to the fact the band last just over a year and managed just one seven inch single, and Mark Eitzel (as mentioned in more than one article) isn't particularly interested in talking about it. Still, whenever he puts out new material, it occasionally gets mentioned, like this 2012 entry at Donewaiting.com:

Mark Eitzel and Columbus go way back. At one time Eitzel wrote for Tim Anstaett’s The Offence, and his early, Joy Division-esque band Naked Skinnies began here. They were the “hero band” of Ron House, who played lots of shows with Naked Skinnies and helped put out the band’s first 7-inch, “All My Life,” on “Naked House Records” in 1981. Eitzel formed the Skinnies, his precursor to American Music Club, with Greg Bonnell (AMC, Moviola), John Hricko and Nancy Kangas before heading out to San Francisco. Though Eitzel doesn’t recall the period with particular fondness and has yet to permit digital dissemination of the aforementioned 7-inch, it’s better than he remembers it to be and a fascinating look into how Eitzel started out.

New Additions: All My Life single by Naked Skinnies

Some Columbus releases going back thirty or forty years ago are still fairly easy to come by, thanks to plenty pressed and distributed. Then on the other hand, you have something like the Naked Skinnies lone seven inch single, All My Life / This Is The Beautiful Night, released in 1981 on Naked House Records. Fronted by a young Mark Eitzel, the band featured future Log/Moviola member Greg Bonnell on drums, and was (according to a chat with Ron House) released on Naked House Records thanks to a few bucks Ron provided to help get the single pressed. Knowing the career Mark Eitzel would carve house, it's interesting to hear his earliest recordings and musical output.

Know Yer Band: Naked Skinnies

Band: Naked Skinnies

Members
Vocals/Guitars - Mark Eitzel
Bass - John Hricko
Drums - Greg Bonnell
Organ - Nancy Kangas

Releases
1981 - All My Life 7" single (Naked House Records)

YouTube: Cocteau Twins Fever on WBNS

If you're at all familiar with the history of Columbus music, this video should not come as a shock. In 1985, the Cocteau Twins came to Columbus on their first, short tour of the US thanks to the efforts of Tim Anstaett of The Offense Zine and Kurt Scheiber of No Other Records. You can read more about it here at this Dangerous Minds post.

Video: Silo The Huskie Perform Northern Southern on Channel 19

Penny Black Music UK: Interview with Silo The Huskie

After Silo The Huskie signed to Headhunter/Cargo Records for a re-release of their debut album, there was a lot of (deserved) buzz swirling around the band. Here's an interview they did with a UK website Penny Black Music around that time:

DA : Tell me about Columbus, Ohio. Is it a good scene?  

BB : Yes, band wise there are tons of bands, and a lot of different musical styles. It's also real cheap to record and to rent out a place to practice. Unfortunately, most Columbusites seem to like restaurants and sports more than local rock acts, so not a lot of people come to shows. But it's still a lot of fun to get real loaded and play with your friends. It's kind of like baseball...  

PC : Columbus as a city is nice. It's large but it still has a small town feel to it, and it's cheap to live here. Unlike Chicago where the prices are high and there are tons of bands, you can exist in Columbus and be known in "the scene". There are some great bands that have come from Columbus, and some great bands that are in Columbus right now. I think part of "the scene" loves people to fail, and we expected that from people when we signed with Cargo, but there have been people that have been very supportive, and the negative people are the small minded ones who want to be local heroes and not to try and expand out of the city. 

New Additions: Sons Of Columbus by Silo The Huskie

I was lucky to see live and play a few shows with Silo The Huskie back in the early 2000s, so revisiting them for this project was a good reminder of what a great band they were. Like a lot of "local" bands, often times the sheer volume and intensity of their live shows doesn't translate to the recordings. If you were only to hear them recorded, it would be a completely satisfying experience, but on their second and last album "Sons Of Columbus" from 2003, they manage to get as close to the raucous live experience as anything they laid down to tape.