Video: Great Plains - Letter To A Fanzine (1987)

Robert Christgau on Great Plains

In case you were wondering what the dean of American rock criticism thought of Great Plains, here is your answer. All of Robert Christgau's blurbs are captures in one place, here's an example:

Great Plains Naked at the Buy, Sell and Trade [Homestead, 1986]
If they don't quite live up to titles like "Chuck Berry's Orphan," "Dick Clark," and "Fertile Crescent," who could? If their organ-drenched four-four jams are objectively boring, they'll make you hum and pat anyway. If the organ-hooked "Letter to a Fanzine" is the sole masterstroke, hard-to-resists are almost legion. And if "Why do punk rock guys go out with new wave girls" is part of the parody, I bet these punk-wavers know the answer from experience. B+

New Additions: Length Of Growth 1981-1989 compilation album by Great Plains

It's rare that a Columbus band has a compilation album, let alone more than one, but that's how important Great Plains are to the scene. For a long time, I had only known them as "Ron House's band before Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments." It took until this project to actually dig into the catalog, and while many of their records are worth checking out, the 2000 compilation Length Of Growth 1981-1989 released by Old3C Records is a great primer, capturing nearly every studio track the band recorded.

Know Yer Band: Great Plains

Band: Great Plains

Members:
Vocals/Guitar - Ron House
Guitars/Vocals - Matt Wyatt
Keyboards/Vocals - Mark Wyatt
Bass - Hank O'Hare (Don Howland), Mike Hummel, Paul Nini, Bill Bruner
Drums - Robert David Green, James Castoe

Releases:
1983 - The Mark, Don & Mel E.P. 12" (New Age)
1984 - Born In A Barn album (Homestead Records)
1985 - Naked At The Buy, Sell, And Trade album (Homestead Records)
1985 - Slaves To Rock 'N' Roll Live! album (Not On Label)
1987 - Sum Things Up album (Homestead Records)
1987 - Dick Clark 7" single (Shadowline Records)
1987 - Before We Stop To Think 12" single (Shadowline Records)
1989 - Exercise 7" single (Homestead Records)
1989 - Colorized! compilation album (Diabolo Records)
2000 - Length Of Growth 1981-1989 double compilation album (Old 3C Records)
2008 - Live At WFMU album (Old 3C Records)
2012 - Directions To The Party DVD (Old 3C Records)

New Music From Treysuno

Back before I was a guy writing a book and a blog, I was a guy in a band. One of my favorite bands we used to play with back in the day is back together as Treysuno release a new five-song EP "...everything is fine" on 10/1/2019. You'll be able to get it at all the usual places, including Soundcloud where there will be a limited run of CDs (physical media!). The album was recorded by guitarist Preston Wagner and mastered by Jon Chinn (Pretty Mighty Mighty, Manager).

Also, the band is playing shows!

Friday, November 1 – Columbus, Ohio at The Oracle (1159 Oak St.) with The Kyle Sowashes and Billy Peake

Saturday, November 23 – Toledo, Ohio at The Ottawa Tavern (1817 Adams St.) with Violent Bloom and goLab

Video: Gut Piston - Mo'Money

Video: Gut Piston - No Way Out

New Additions: Gut Piston Puts The Flavor Back Into Smoking! seven inch single

Via one of my many mass purchases over at Discogs in the last year I picked up the Gut Piston seven inch single "Gut Piston Puts The Flavor Back Into Smoking!" from 1995. It's the sort of high-energy/low b.s. sound that Columbus was producing in a variety of styles in the 90s, and slots nicely both into the punk and rockabilly sounds that could be found up and down High St. at that time.

Know Yer Band: Gut Piston

Band: Gut Piston

Members
Brian A.Morgan aka. Dexter Zenith,(Guitars),
John J. Rice aka. Johnny Saturn (Bass)
S. William Thompson aka. Slim Sexer (Vocals)
Bart Stoll (drums from 1992-94)
Damien Wagner aka Cecil Telstar (drums from 1993-1996)
Kevyn Keneagy (Guitar 1996)

Releases
1993 - Split w/Th' Flyin' Saucers 7" single (Eardrop Productions)
1995 - Gut Piston Puts The Flavor Back Into Smoking! ‎7" single (Eardrop Productions)

RickiC614 Blog: Mrs. Children, The Whiles and The Beatles Marathon

Ricki C at his Growing Old With Rock & Roll blog has long post from 2013 detailing his history with Joe Peppercorn, the pre-Whiles band Mrs. Children, and the legendary Beatles Marathon Joe puts on. Here's part of that:

I first met the band's main songwriter Joe Peppercorn in maybe January of 2002.  It was at my day-job at Ace In The Hole Music Exchange, an indie record store in Columbus, when he came in the day after I had co-hosted a local record review radio show.  "Was that you on Invisible Hits Hour last night?" the kid on the other side of the counter asked.  "Did you like the show?" I queried.  "Yeah, it was great," he answered.  "Yeah, that was me," I replied.  He paused for a moment, then said, "What were you gonna say if I DIDN'T like it?"  "I was gonna say it was the white-haired guy who owns the store.  The last thing I need is little 311 fans coming in here hassling me because I bad-mouthed their favorite band and I can't walk away from them." 

Joe laughed, then got serious and said to me, "I just wanted to come in and thank you because five or six years ago you were on that show and you played The Velvet Underground and I had never heard them and got into them because of you."  I just stared at him for a second, then said, "You have just validated everything I've ever gone through to be on that show.  I owe Lou Reed a gigantic rock & roll debt and you just helped me pay some of it off." 

We talked a little more about music & such and when he was leaving Joe said, "I'm in a band.  If we made a record would you sell it in the store?"  "Absolutely," I replied, thinking that was the end of it.  I would say at that point every tenth kid under 25 that came in the store was "in a band, and they were gonna make a record, and would we sell it at the store?" and not more than three of them ever returned.

Video: Already on Your Side by The Whiles (at Helling Yeah! II 2017)

Columbus Alive: Fatherhood Inspires New Whiles Album ‘Mercury Ghost’

Lots of bands come together and burn out in short periods. Luckily The Whiles, while only four albums deep, have managed to stay loosely together and put out material every few years. Here is an article from the Columbus Alive regarding their 2013 album Mercury Ghost.

When Whiles singer Joe Peppercorn and his wife had their first child seven years ago, it changed the way he viewed his role in the universe. 

“I describe being a parent to people as that ‘Back to the Future’ photo, where Marty McFly sees himself start to disappear,” said Peppercorn, clad in a Brian Wilson T-shirt at a Downtown coffee shop. “I think that’s a good thing, realizing how small I am and how many billion people [there are]. I never understood that until I had children and realized how much bigger the world is than myself.” 

That change of perspective worked its way into the Whiles’ excellent new album, Mercury Ghost, which the band will celebrate with a release show at Ace of Cups on Friday, Nov. 4. The lush, melodic pop record is the band’s fourth release on Anyway Records in a nearly 20-year career that has seen the Whiles flirt with major-label success and play alongside many national acts, especially early in its career. 

2012′s Somber Honey ushered in the second phase of the Whiles, in which Peppercorn and his bandmates accepted that mainstream success may never come, and that live performances and releases may be few and far between. But the chemistry and friendship among the members - singer/guitarist/pianist Peppercorn and his brother, lead guitarist Matt Peppercorn, plus bassist Chris Bolognese, guitarist/engineer Jake Remley and Cleveland-based drummer Paul Headley - glue the Whiles together. 

“It’s a very intense connection,” Peppercorn said. “That’s the only reason we’re able to still be a band. We can get together and it clicks. I think there’s an implicit agreement that if we get together and it doesn’t work, that’s when we should probably stop.”

New Additions: Colors Of The Year album by The Whiles

To call this a new addition is a bit of cheat. I did own this record when it came out but during my massive physical media purge of the mid-2000s, it ended up at a record store and all I had were poorly ripped MP3s. I'm glad to have the debut album by The Whiles back in my collection. Colors Of The Year did not connect with me a first, I heard similarities to 2000s Wilco that rubbed me the wrong way at the time, but having returned to it, I hear it with greater depth and understanding of what they were doing. Most of all, I have a better appreciation of what Joe and Zack were doing vocally and have a broader catalog of music to draw from for comparisons.

Know Yer Band: The Whiles

Band: The Whiles

Members
Chris Bolognese - Bass, Vocals
Paul Headley - Drums
Joe Peppercorn - Guitar, Piano, Vocals
Jake Remley - Guitar
Matt Peppercorn - Guitar
Zack Prout - Vocals, Percussion

Releases
2004 - Colors Of The Year album (Anyway Records)
2007 - Sleepers Wake (Anyway Records)
2012 - Somber Honey (Anyway Records)
2013 - Mercury Ghost (Anyway Records)

New Jim Shepard Compilation Available

It's not often I get to post about current events or new releases, but here is one that is very relevant to the project: ever/never records has a new compilation of Jim Shepard rarities titled Heavy Action. Here are the details from Tom Lax of Siltbreeze:

When Charles and Josh tapped me to spill some ink for this project, I couldn’t say yes fast enough. Culled from Charles’s vast personal collection, the contents herein abide no formality and as such, ushers forth an insider’s take into Jim’s frantic, restless genius you’ll not likely find again. Timelines? What are you, some kinda cop? It’s fresh ears all around on this one, folks, none of this material has seen the light of day till now. It twitches, it grunts, it flares, and it soars. It ain’t no one type’ve nothin’, unless that’s Loaded. In my king fu village, this pivotal document to the blood spilt across the floor of an iconoclastic career is right up there with the Velvets, Caught Between The Twisted Stars, Beefheart’s, Grow Fins & those Blorp Essette comps. Who knows if the official vaults will ever be opened? And even if, what you’d likely get is the known entities anyway, trussed up in new boots ’n’ panties. This is mud fresh from the private swamp. And as you’ll soon find out, Jim could make it crackle. 

- Tom Lax, Philadelphia, Pa 3/15/19, From the liner notes, "BRING ME THE MOUSTACHE OF BERNADINE DOHRN"

Video: Hank McCoy & the Dead Ringers - "Will You Remember?" live

Twangin' Ezine: Hank McCoy Interviews Jimmie Dale Gilmore and More

As I have learned, not every band got a lot (or any) press during their time. Or if they did, it was via the print press that was never digitized. That may be the case with Hank McCoy & The Dead Ringers because the pickin's are slim. However, I did stumble upon a text file of the Twangin' E-Zine that was released in May 1994 that features an interview conducted by Hank McCoy with Jimmie Dale Gilmore, as well as a review of the Still Feeling Blue/Lately My Luck Has Been Changing album. Here is some of that review:

The problem with long CDs--and this one is 72 minutes long is that it's hard to listen to them all the way through.  Life intrudes.  The mail comes, your mother phones, dinner burns, your brothers come home from the war, the polar ice caps melt... The last couple of songs on this CD began to take on an air of mystery, like boxes pushed into the back of the closet. So finally I shoved the CD into the player and punched it to #24, "When I'm Gone." A jumpy, uptempo, nose-thumbing number, it turned out to be one of my favorites. But there are lots of other great songs here too:  "Long White Train," a funeral song in the tradition of "The Longest Train," is straight out of church; the covers of the Louvin Brothers' "I Wish You Knew" and Gram Parsons' "Still Feeling Blue" are gorgeous, and the Dead Ringers' version of "Vaya con Dios" is among the sappiest I've heard (and that's a compliment).

New Additions: Hank McCoy & The Dead Ringers self-titled album (1992)

Stumbling upon Hank McCoy & The Dead Ringers during my research for the book gave me pause. Was this really alternative country, in the way that the Haynes Boys or Burn Barrel were alternative country? To my ears, though it might be interpreted slightly differently, there appeared to be nothing "alternative" about it. But then how does that factor into a book primarily about rock music and its various sub-genres? I'm not quite sure yet, I do know that members of a variety of bands, including Greenhorn, Great Plains, Ronald Koal And The Trillionaires, and more.

Know Yer Band: Hank McCoy And The Dead Ringers

Band: Hank McCoy And The Dead Ringers

Musicians
Vocals - Hank Mccoy
Guitar/Vocals - Matt Newman
Bass - Pete Cary, Randy Stockwell, Jeff Passifiume, Trent Arnold
Drums - James Castoe, Charles Lenprere "Prairie" Prince Jr., Jeff Peters
Backing Vocals - Kristi Leigh Jendry, Ricky Barnes, Artie Kelgar, Andy Milton, Chris Allwein, Dan Spurgeon
Additional Guitar/Strings - Brad Westall, M. D. Der Bing, Dave Schramm, Pete Remenyi, Edward Townsend Jr., Sandy Jones
Piano - Jim Maneri, Bob Hite

Releases
1992 - self-titled album (OKra Records)
1992 - Still Feeling Blue / Lately My Luck Has Been Changing album (OKra Records)
1994 - Mohawk Street album (OKra Records)

Columbusmusic.com Compilations

Launched in 1999, Columbusmusic.com was an alternative to the established Cringe.com in covering the local Columbus music scene. While Cringe tended to have a more narrowed focus on bands, Columbusmusic.com covered everything and had the added feature of a message board. They also put on a number of showcases and released a few compilations, featuring bands such as Go Robot Go!, Templeton, Nude, Silo The Huskie, Pretty Mighty Mighty, Kopaz, Maery Lanahan and more.

Video: Alwood Sisters - Barcarolle - Medium

Cringe.com: Interview with Amy Alwood

Before the release of their debut album, Amy Alwood of The Velveteens chatted with Cringe.com in 1998 about the band, songwriting and much more. Here is some of that exchange:

Cringe: You play a variety of roles in the band. Which do you think is your strong point? 

Amy: I think that I can write songs, but I feel that my singing and guitar playing are mediocre at this point. 

Cringe: What are you basing that on? 

Amy: I don't have enough freedom to play the guitar. I can't just sit down and play the guitar for three hours like some people. 

Cringe: Why's that? 

Amy: I don't know. Every now and then I play the guitar for fun, but all of the other times, it's just like work. But I love it. I just don't have whatever it is that lets people sit down and play and have a good time- I just don't do that. And I don't try and force myself; I just have to wait until it comes out. 

Cringe: So what is it which allows you to feel comfortable in saying that you are a good songwriter? 

Amy: To me, the radio and MTV are pretty boring. [And by comparison,] I think that my music is original. I hope its original; [for] it 's definitely a goal of mine to make more original music without being full of self-pity and sensitive artist stuff.

New Additions: Marveline album by The Velveteens

Although I got to check them out a number of times in the 1999 to 2001 period, I never actually picked up a copy of The Velveteens '99 album Marveline released on Derailleur Records. That was recently rectified, and happily so, as the haunting vocals combo of Amy and Meagan Alwood was quick reminder how unique and special this band was for the time. Like so many CD-only releases at the turn of the century, this one is missing from streaming services, so you'll need to grab a physical copy to hear it.