Columbus Alive: Locals Only - Bob City

Back in 2009, after years of inactivity aside from a one-off show, Bob City go together to play at Cafe Bourbon Street. The Columbus Alive dove into the history of the band, including the important aspect of the Athens and Columbus connection, which has a ties going back decades as far as being a musical pipeline between the two cities. Here's a bit of that:

Back in the mid-1990s, Route 33 got a lot of traction from hard-nosed, whiskey-swilling rock bands. Athens and Columbus bands have always mingled to a certain extent, but the set of roughshod rockers who fellowshipped in those days left a legacy that extends beyond the fuzzy memories of a close-knit clique. 

So there’s reason to anticipate the pair of reunion shows this weekend that bring together long-lost rockers Bob City, Geraldine and (at the Athens show only, unfortunately) the Spiveys. 

Each of those bands merits an article of its own, but because Bob City represents the Columbus contingent - and because Grafton, the other Columbus band on the bill, is still together - let’s focus on Bob City, starting with a warmly remembered era of undergrad excess. 

“It started out like any band, just like a fun art project,” drummer Brad Swiniarski said. “The longer we did it, the better we got, the more seriously some of us took it.”

Video: Bob City - Stadium '79

HotBands.com: Bob City Album Review

It's often difficult to track down late 90s/early 00s music reviews thanks to so many fan run sites and blogs going offline if they were actually using Blogger. Luckily a few have survived, like this one from Hotbands.com circa 2000 reviewing the album released on Derailleur. Here's a bit of the review:

Their self-titled CD release, Bob City,  is hard-drivin, hard-rockin blues/metal...kind of a collision of AC/DC and Motorhead. Dual-guitar shredding, thumping bass and driving drums lay down the groundwork for lead vocalist Justin Tesa's raw screaming vocals. 

The first song on the CD "Boystown", is a rocker that should be listened to with the volume on 11!  What can I say?  These guys totally kick ass!  I remember listening to AC/DC, Nazareth, Motorhead and the like back in high-school, and Bob City would have fit in perfectly with my collection! 

Their songs all had great hooks, and kept my interest.  Although it's a bit hard to understand the lyrics (and they weren't printed on the CD), I was able to pick up enough to get a kick out their attitude. It gives the listener a chance to see the world through the eyes of a 20 year old.

New Additions: Bob City / A Planet For Texas split 7" single (2000)

I was lucky in that I got to witness the Bob City (well, Bob City II as they refer to it) back in their heyday when they released their self-titled 2000 album. They were loud, rocking and did I mention loud? Recently I grabbed this split seven inch single with A Planet For Texas that came out the same year as the album on Diaphragm Records. Though not as polished as the album, the pair of tracks have the same urgency and volume (did I mention they were loud?) as the album tracks, and in an era where this style of seventies influenced hard rock was not in vogue, it still a fresh sound.

Know Yer Band: Bob City

Band: Bob City

Members
Vocals - Jeremy Hoar/Justin Tesa
Guitar - Pat Murphy
Guitar - Joachim "JoJo" Kearns
Bass - Donovan Roth
Drums - Brad Swiniarski/Ben Kemp

Releases
1998 - Swamp Buggy Racer / Dead Man 7" single (Burnt Herd)
1999 - Hardball EP (Red Hour Recordings)
1999 - Vent The Spew Vol. 1 compilation (Red Hour Recordings)
2000 - Split w/A Planet For Texas 7" single (Diaphragm Records)
2000 - Bob City album (Derailleur Records)
2001 - Cringe.com/pilation Volume 2 (Cringe.com)

Magnet Magazine: Q&A With Times New Viking's Elizabeth Murphy

Back when Times New Viking released what would end up being their final album, Dancer Equired! in 2011, Elizabeth Murphy was interviewed by Magnet Magazine to discuss the record. Here's a bit of that:

Dancer Equired sounds a lot cleaner, production-value wise, than the previous Times New Viking recordings. It’s less lo-fi sounding. Why did you make that decision?
We finally thought to record in a proper studio and see if we couldn’t allow for the songs to be seen as we see them, without the guise of “lo-fi” even an option as a talking point. We went to an old studio that was a stone’s throw from where we all lived in Columbus called Musicol and had Adam Smith of CD-R engineer the recording. It was the exact change of pace we needed, process and output-wise. Dancer Equired was recorded in about a week, and we all showed up for it in full. Much like the fact that we would now allow for a studio and engineer, as long as it was in Columbus and an old friend, the album title was resurrected from the bottom of our giant cardboard box of original ideas, all captured by way of analogue workmanship: cut, paste, highlight, Xerox. First seen on the insert of that We Were High, We Were Not High CD-R as the deliberate “attendance required,” the statement had re-arranged itself in it’s paper burial, six years later claiming absurdity as our fourth member, not the audience. Like my friend Adam Elliott says, “In the midst of nuclear war, the poems will recite themselves.” 

How do you guys write songs?
As far as our songwriting process goes, we are lucky that it still follows this analogue way of thinking, as well as the democracy we posited as our first rule. And for the record, we would have more to say about being a band rooted in analog than any question leading us to absolve lo-fi.

Video: Times New Viking - "No Time, No Hope"

Columbus Alive: Good Times, Bad Times - Times New Viking bandmates recount the ups and downs of navigating national acclaim

The members of Times New Viking sat down with Joel Oliphint of the Columbus Alive in 2016 to revisit the ups and down of the band. Here is some of that:

At the top of a hill, amid the dorms of Czech Technical University, sits Klub 007 Strahov, a basement venue in Prague that has hosted rock, punk and hardcore shows since 1969. In 2010, Adam Elliott, Beth Murphy and Jared Phillips found themselves at 007, playing a gig with their band, Times New Viking. The venue is half a world away from Café Bourbon Street, which served as the band’s humble North Campus home base before and after the trio’s first show there in January 2004. 

And yet, even on the other side of the globe, the club didn’t feel too removed. It was a small space, and only about 30 people came to the show. “It felt like Bourbon Street, except we were in the Czech Republic,” Elliott said. “Afterward we did shots of absinthe in this 400-year-old bar that had taxidermied birds. I remember Jared and I looked at each other, being like, ‘This shitty little band got us here.’” 

Short, fuzz-coated, in-the-red pop songs recorded onto cassettes in the basement of North Campus rentals took Times New Viking to stages in Prague, Sweden, Munich and London. The three friends shared the stage with some of their favorite bands - underground legends like Yo La Tengo, Wire and the Clean - and eventually signed to not one but two of the most respected, storied labels in independent rock: Matador and Merge records. The highs were high.

New Additions: Dancer Equired! by Times New Viking

This should be "most recent addition" in addition to new, because I've been pickup Times New Viking releases for a while now. Although I'm not always in love with the production aesthetic, like with previous albums, Dancer Equired! has the proper level of sugary-sweet melody to go with harsh sounds that counter balance it. This was released on Merge, with the previous two released on Matador, and it's fairly amazing a band that can be as blatantly lo-fi and noisy can still manage to interest prestige indie labels that need to move units to stay afloat.

Know Yer Band: Times New Viking

Band: Times New Viking

Members
Elizabeth Murphy - Keyboards, Vocals
Jared Phillips - Guitar, Vocals
Adam Elliott - Drums

Releases
2004 - We Were High We Were Not High album (300%)
2005 - Busy Making Love & War 7" single (Columbus Discount Records)
2005 - Dig Yourself album (Siltbreeze)
2005 - We Got Rocket single (300%)
2006 - Present The Paisley Reich album (Siltbreeze)
2006 - Imagine Dead John Lennon single (300%)
2006 - Split w/Psychedelic Horseshit 7" EP (300%)
2006 - Little Amps single (300%)
2007 - My Head 7" single (Matador)
2008 - Stay Awake 7" EP (Matador)
2008 - Rip It Off album (Matador)
2008 - Shred Yr Face Tour split 7" single (Shred Yr Face)
2009 - Born Again Revisited album (Matador)
2009 - Split w/Axemen 7" single (300%/Sleek Bott)
2009 - Move To California 7" single (Matador)
2010 - No Room To Live 7" single (Times New Viking)
2010 - No Time No Hope 7" single (Oslo Grammofon)
2011 - Dancer Equired! album (Merge Records)
2012 - Over & Over 7" single (Siltbreeze)

The Q-FM 96 Hometown Compilations

As mentioned in a few previous posts, Q-FM 96 put out a number of "Hometown" compilations throughout the 1980s featuring an interesting variety of artists over the years. Q-FM keeps a Q-Seum page of their history and includes some screenshots. Nine total compilations were released between 1980 and 1988 - eight on vinyl and the last on cassette.

A lot of the material is expectedly radio friendly 80s AOR, pop and singer/songwriter. Occasionally, some more diverse material made the cut, such as the Willie Phoenix band The Buttons (Vol. 1), Rosie and The Jetboys (Vol. 3), Oswald And The Herringbones (Vol. 5), as well as discoveries like The Guise (Vol. 3) and Columbus (Vol. 4).

Video: Do You Care Anymore by The Press (1987)

Heavy Harmonies: Words - Hot Off The Press Review

In addition to their 1987 4-song EP, The Press recorded an additional four other songs that were compiled into a CD released by Retrospect Records in 2009. The "Hard Rock and AOR" website Heavy Harmonies collected some listener reviews, here's a sample:

From: Rafo Phoenix Date: July 18, 2010 at 12:42
Very Good Pomp AOR, 1987 is the year then... "Words, Do You Care Anymore & Time for a Change" my favs, thanks again to Retrospect Records, 85/100. 

From: rick kerch vzla Date: July 24, 2010 at 22:17 Really a good album!!!...thanks for the recommendation Rafo Phoenix !...Words" a very good song,"Do You Care Anymore" is a fave,really liked it,old school AOR(1987,what can i say...the decade of decades!),"Never Say Goodbye" easy listening,catchy,"Playing Your Game" is a highlight..."Something For Nothing" & "Time For A Change" both with that prog/pomp sound..both likeable!...for persons who are looking for that "nostalgic sound"...then try The Press!.88/100

New Additions: Limited Edition EP by The Press

For someone who enjoys research and crate digging for records, a band like The Press is right up my alley. Here's how I came across their 1987 release Limited Edition EP. I was at Spoonful Records flipping through the local section, and stopped at a sealed copy of The Press 12". The band name didn't look familiar, so I flipped it over wondering what it was, and the name "Jeff Gastineau" caught my eye. How did I know that name? Why was it familiar? I pulled out my phone and searched the Discogs app for the name, which came up with Engineer credits on Razor Penguins and Eurogression, as well as contributing a track to one of the Q-FM 96 compilations. At that point, it didn't matter what The Press sounded like, I was buying the record based on the connections alone. Turns out it's pretty solid 80s pop/AOR, but more importantly I was able to locate Jeff and not long we had an interview via Skype for the book.

Know Yer Band: The Press

Band: The Press

Members
Vocals - Doug Smith
Guitar/Vocals/Synth - Jeff Gastineau
Guitars/Vocals - Dole Shaffer
Bass - Rich Keen
Drums - Sam Hooff

Releases
1987 - Limited Edition EP (3001 Records)

Columbus Free Press: The Columbus Music “Scene”

Back in 2013, veteran singer/songwriter Donna Mogavero penned a Free Press column about what makes a music "scene" and some thoughts around that.

What is a “scene” anyway? What does it look like, sound like or even feel like? What does it mean for a city to have a “music scene?” And if you were asked, “what is Columbus's music scene like?” How would you answer that question? I remember all too well the words of a very old musician who once said to me, “you will never have a strong 'music scene' in a town that is so consumed with sports.” I believe he was right. We all know most major cities across the country have some kind of big sports team. But here in Columbus, the Buckeyes rule, sports are everything and music is just a side note or not played at all. In short, one can take it or leave it. When you think of cities where music rules, which ones come to mind? Nashville, home of country music? Chicago, home of the blues? New York City, home of the eccentric, where “under ground” is cool?

Video: Scratch by Burn Barrel

Sixty to Zero Blog: Burnbarrel - the intersection of Tim Easton, JP Olsen and The Haynes Boys

The Sixty to Zero Blog, which has written on midwest "alt country" whatever that encompasses for over a decade wrote about Burn Barrel, Tim Eason, Beetkeepers, J.P. Olsen and more back in 2007. Here's a bit of that:

Burnbarrel was the name of a 1999 release on the Heathen label, the original home of Tim Easton's "Special 20" album the year before. The "band" was Tim Easton, JP Olsen (lyricist for many of Tim's song and formerly of The Beetkeepers -- more on them in a sec), a coupla Haynes Boys and the bass player from Special 20. Burnbarrel was basically a showcase for Olsen -- he wrote all the songs and sings them, too. It's a fine album -- lots of strange songs and odd characters and, not surprisingly, it bears more than a passing sonic similarity to the mighty 1996 Haynes Boys album. For Easton fans it's significant cuz it features the original versions of two songs Tim would later cover (a stripped down "Far Rockaway"/"John Gilmartin" and a truly amazing version of "Bad Florida"). Anybody who's familiar with the Olsen songs that Easton has done over the years know that his lyrical skills are quite accomplished and rather distinctive -- his songs are often very literary and full of interesting, memorable characters (i find myself thinking of the likes of John Prine and Warren Zevon when i listen to his words -- pretty high praise i guess). Olsen has been in and out of the music biz over the last few decades, balancing a career in journalism with his songwriting. Burnbarrel are supposedly still a viable thing and were slated to have a new album out last year, but i don't remember hearing anything about it lately. 

New Additions: Reviled! album by Burn Barrel

Burn Barrel's 1999 album Reviled! is not that easy to come by, which surprised me. CDs tend to have the lowest resale/easiest acquisition ratio, even more-so than cassettes, whose more fragile nature makes them a bit more scarce. In the case of Burn Barrel, this is the first instance where "addition" simply means "listening on Spotify," because I wasn't able to track down a copy of the album.

While I'm a music collector, the liner notes of albums have have been incredibly important and discovering the links and backstory to many albums and bands, so not having the physical release is disappointing, but it's the music that counts. And the music here is very good. Elements of 90s alternative country tinged with occasional psychedelic freak-out jamming and 70s singer/songwriter balladry all mix nicely.

Know Yer Band: Burn Barrel

Band: Burn Barrel

Members
Vocals/Guitar - JP Olsen
Guitar/Vocals - Tim Easton
Guitar/Vocals - Philip Park
Bass/Vocals - Matt Surgeson
Drums/Vocals - Jovan Karcic

Releases
1999 - Reviled! album (Heathen Records)

Bored Out: Interview with Don Howland

In 2016, Ryan Leach at the Bored Out website conducted a lengthy and in-depth interview with Don Howland of Gibson Bros., Great Plains and Bassholes. Here is some of that:

Ryan: How did joining Great Plains come about? Did you learn bass to play in the band? 

Don: I did. I bought a bass from a kid in a trailer who needed money to buy a gun. Bass isn’t hard to learn. I was good enough to play pretty quick. There were only ten or fifteen people in the Columbus scene. Ron and I knew each other from the record store. Amrep (Michael Hummel) and Jim Shepard were around—all the Ego Summit guys. In a bigger city we would’ve likely been acquaintances, but in a city the size of Columbus we all became compadres I guess. I was the youngest in the group. I was an outsider, being from a white flight suburb, but it was no big deal.  Tim Anstaett of the Offense went to my high school, so when he moved back to Columbus from Florida there were two of us. 

Ryan: You wrote for the Offense and contributed to some of the last issues of New York Rocker. 

Don: That was thanks to Tim Anstaett from the Offense. He gave people free reign. Tim had an insane work ethic. Whatever his passions were at the time, he’d devote thirty-six hours a day to them. He wrote a telephone book-sized tome on bass fishing in Florida. Andy Schwartz and Ira Kaplan at the New York Rocker were very open to the fanzine vibe.  Through New York Rocker—I also sent some of my work with the Offense to him—I got to know Robert Christgau at the Village Voice. I started writing for the Voice. Christgau was a super nice guy. I probably learned more about writing and English from him than from anyone else, and I’ve taught English for twenty-one years. Christgau would spend two-and-a-half hours editing a two-hundred-fifty-word piece. That was a great experience. I started with the Voice in ’81 and wrote for them until the early ‘90s. There wasn’t a whole lot of great music going on then. The early ‘80s were rough. When punk died—and you could tell it died—hardcore came along and it’s like, “Shit. This is not the same. There are no girls here anymore. It’s just like a football game.” I wrote for Spin as well.

Video: Gibson Brothers Comfest 1987 whole show